Danie van der Merwe

This Raspberry Pi project uses AI to tell visually impaired people what's around them

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 11:15:11 +0200

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

This Raspberry Pi project uses AI to tell visually impaired people what's around them

The idea behind this "third eye" project involves the patient wearing glasses with a little camera on them. This camera feeds information to a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 Sense and a Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+, which uses object recognition to work out what's in front of the person. The boards then convert a text-based description of what's going on in front of the wearer and relay it via text-to-speech through the headphones to the wearer.

It would be interesting to hear how the nature of what is described, audibly, is useful to the listener. But I'd imagine too that anything like this can be further trained and improved.

See This Raspberry Pi project uses AI to tell visually impaired people what's around them

Raspberry Pis are making AI models more accessible for those who need help in their daily lives.

#technology #opensource #AI #vision

technology AI vision opensource RaspberryPi

This Raspberry Pi project can identify stray cats in your garden, and safely scare off birds if need be

Sun, 25 Aug 2024 16:27:41 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

This Raspberry Pi project can identify stray cats in your garden, and safely scare off birds if need be

I like this project not only for the recognition and photographing of stray cats (or maybe to identify neighbours' cats straying into your yard), but the bird "scaring" part is nice and safe to use if you have a problem with birds sitting on your window sill and setting off your alarm beams.

The project can probably be adapted for other purposes too.

See This Raspberry Pi project can identify stray cats in your garden

Raspberry Pis have finally found their ultimate goal: looking at cats.

#technology #raspberrypi #opensource

technology raspberrypi opensource

show all 4 comments

Sun, 25 Aug 2024 17:25:10 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Ángela Stella Matutina

A black cat under a garden chair seen through a window. They apparently stopped eating from a bowl to look at the human photographing them. A miniature camera is taped to the glass, with a flat cable running into a microcontroller board taped to the frame.

Thanks I'll see how to add that here - I do add it to my main blog images, but your description was a bit better than mine ;-)

Sun, 25 Aug 2024 17:35:35 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Ángela Stella Matutina actually not sure I can set an alt text as this image is pulled through with the link from the referenced site i.e. I don't upload and insert the iamge inside my post?

Sun, 25 Aug 2024 18:33:34 +0200 zuletzt bearbeitet: Mon, 26 Aug 2024 10:37:17 +0200

Ángela Stella Matutina

angelastella@social.treehouse.systems

@gadgeteer

Oh, I see we ran into one of the inconsistencies in the brave new world of federated protocols. No matter, you tried your best. There goes your boost!

5 SSD specs you should really care about when buying one

Sun, 25 Aug 2024 16:14:39 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

5 SSD specs you should really care about when buying one

The world has, more or less, moved on from hard drives. Everyone knows that an SSD is much faster than an HDD, and an NVMe SSD is faster than a SATA SSD. When buying a new SSD, most users are aware they need to look at the more obvious specifications such as the interface (SATA/NVMe), PCIe generation (Gen3, Gen4, Gen5), capacity, and the advertised read/write speeds.

The linked article unpacks the following concepts in a bit more detail:
* The endurance rating (TBW) of an SSD determines its lifespan; most SSDs with regular use can last for well over 5–6 years.
* The type of NAND flash (SLC, MLC, TLC, QLC) determines the cost, performance, and durability of your SSD.
* Having a high-end controller can improve performance manifold; DRAM can boost sustained write operations.
* The random read/write speeds of an SSD are more indicative of real-world performance in gaming and general desktop use.

So, before just going for the cheapest option per GB, it may be worth weighing up some of these other aspects as well.

See 5 SSD specs you should really care about when buying one

If you want to buy the best SSD within your budget, you might want to look deeper when comparing the most important specs.

#technology #hardware #SSD

technology hardwraeware SSD

40 Chill Games to Unwind From Your Stressful Life With

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 22:05:23 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

40 Chill Games to Unwind From Your Stressful Life With

Video games are the ultimate form of escapism—they can absorb you into their world better than any other form of media. This means they can be a great way to relax and unwind, but not every game is well-suited for that. So today, we wanted to shine a light on the calmer side of gaming, showing off games that take it upon themselves to give you chilled and relaxing experiences.

The linked article has categories for:
* Exploration Games
* First-Person Games and Walking Simulators
* Simulator Games
* Strategy Games
* 2D Sidescrollers
* Puzzle Games
* Survival and Crafting Games

I'd also add Snowrunner to the simulator games and Valheim to the survival games.

See 40 Chill Games to Unwind From Your Stressful Life With

Looking for a game to unwind with?

#technology #gaming

technology gaming

Now Microsoft is bringing Start menu ads to Windows 10, too

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 21:53:40 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Now Microsoft is bringing Start menu ads to Windows 10, too

As Windows 11 slowly becomes inundated with ads, people on Windows 10 have been watching on in horror. Unfortunately, it seems that they, too, will begin seeing ads. Someone has spotted Start menu ads making their way onto Windows 10, and they look very similar to the kind that's currently rolling out onto Windows 11.

As spotted by Neowin, This new "feature" was spotted by PhantomOfEarth on X. If that name sounds familiar, it's because PhantomOfEarth has had a long track record of sniffing out features hidden within Beta, Dev, and Canary builds.

So, the good news is Windows 10 users will be enjoying back ported Win 11 Start Menu in the future, and also the ads are still disabled by default, but the bad news is the capability is all built-in. Microsoft probably has no interest at all in home users, but hopefully users will find hacks to keep this disabled (it can be disabled in Win 11, or not?).

See Now Microsoft is bringing Start menu ads to Windows 10, too

Microsoft said it'd add new features to Windows 10, but we hoped they didn't mean this.

#technology #Microsoft #Windows

technology Microsoft Windows

iOS 18 Notes App: All the New Features: Google Must do Better

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 14:16:05 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

iOS 18 Notes App: All the New Features: Google Must do Better

I only have an iPad left now from the Apple ecosystem, but after testing some of these features out, I must say that Google really needs to just try and catch up with their Notes app. Apple is definitely out-innovating Google here by a mile. Google has really neglected their Notes app quite badly.

Some of the new features I like most with the iOS Notes app are:
* Notes integrates with the Calculator app in ‌iOS 18‌ for a new feature called Maths Notes. Maths Notes is designed to let you solve equations, so you can do things like add up your monthly budget, calculate what people owe for a group trip, or split a restaurant bill.
* Maths Notes with the ‌Apple Pencil‌. Just write out equations by hand.
* All audio recordings that you capture with the Notes app are automatically transcribed in real-time.
* Transcription Summaries.
* If you have long notes with multiple headings, you can now collapse those headings.
* Highlight Colours (Google did release this, but it has not become usable across all my notes yet).
* Smart Script — The feature uses machine learning to recreate your own handwriting style to refine what you've written, making messy writing look neater.

See iOS 18 Notes App: All the New Features

With iOS 18, the Notes app is set to gain several new features. There aren't many updates to the overall design, but Notes has deeper...

#technology #iOS #notes

technology iOS notes

Your 'Max Heart Rate' Is Probably Wrong

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 22:10:06 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Your 'Max Heart Rate' Is Probably Wrong

If you’ve ever worried about your heart rate during exercise being too high or too low, you’ll want to read this. Your "heart rate zones" might be completely wrong. Not only are zones defined differently in different apps, they are also usually calculated based on your maximum heart rate. And that maximum heart rate calculation? It’s incorrect for huge swaths of the population.

Your maximum heart rate is, by definition, the fastest your heart can possibly beat. If a watch tells you that your max is 180 beats per minute, and then you go for a run and your heart is beating at 190 beats per minute, you haven’t gone “over” your max. You have simply found out that 180 isn’t your max at all. Your actual max must be at least 190.

The only way to truly know your max heart rate is to test it with intense exercise. I’ll give you some ways to do that below. Fitness gadgets and apps (and, in the olden days, books and other sources of fitness advice), meanwhile, try to skip that step by using a formula that estimates your maximum heart rate based on your age. The most popular formula simply subtracts your age from 220.

But there are problems with that formula, and even with the alternative equations that have been proposed to replace it. There is no formula that can tell you what your own personal max heart rate actually is.

Quite interesting, as I always went with that 220-age formula (I suppose it is a good rule of thumb), but it is true that I don't shop for shoes base don my body height either. I had always wondering too why I could easily exceed my "max heart rate" by quite a bit for exercises. But in the end I also decided I did not want to be exercising at such a high rate as it is probably better to pace myself rather at 80% to 90% anyway.

See Your 'Max Heart Rate' Is Probably Wrong

Your heart rate zones might be completely wrong. Not only are zones defined differently in different apps, they are also usually calculated based on your maximum heart rate. And that maximum heart rate calculation? It’s incorrect for huge swaths of the population.

#technology #health #heartrate

technology health heartrate

What is Wireguard, and What Makes It a Worthy VPN Protocol?

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 19:11:59 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

What is Wireguard, and What Makes It a Worthy VPN Protocol?

Wireguard is less than half as old as OpenVPN's 22 years, though it's still proving to be fairly reliable. It's also much leaner, at only 4,000 lines of code. That's much easier to audit, incorporate, or build with than OpenVPN's 70,000, and that can be critical for certain sensitive applications. Wireguard's protocol itself also has less overhead than others, which means it uses more bandwidth on your actual data and there's less of a tax on the system.

OpenVPN operates in user-space, which means privilege-escalation attacks aren't likely from the program itself, but it hurts your overall throughput. Wireguard has a user-space application that's very fast, but it also has kernel support. It's significantly faster overall, both in theory and in practice, making it ideal for transferring large files quickly or streaming video from a personal media server.

Wireguard's security philosophy is also different. OpenVPN is flexible, so if there's a mismatch between the client and server, there are options and the connection can still be established. However, the cost of this approach is that there are more potential security holes, and there's much more upkeep required by system administrators to mitigate that risk.

Wireguard is built to be less flexible—each version is based around specific algorithms and processes. If there's a mismatch between two devices in the network, they will not connect. This means that system administrators mainly just need to make sure things are updated regularly. There's a variety of other differences between Wireguard's implementation and traditional VPNs as well. There's a lot of depth once you start to get more technical.

The linked article goes on to say what Wireguard can be used for, as well as some specific disadvantages with using it. I see Proton VPN also has an experimental implementation of Wireguard, but it is a pity they don't offer its split tunnelling in their Linux client app.

See What is Wireguard, and What Makes It a Worthy VPN Protocol?

It has its strengths and some drawbacks to be aware of.

#technology #VPN #privacy

technology VPN privacy

How to Browse the Web in Your Linux Terminal With Lynx

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 16:53:20 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

How to Browse the Web in Your Linux Terminal With Lynx

There is no shortage of feature-rich browsers available today, but most offer largely the same experience. Lynx is a web browser that only displays text, offering a unique and ad-free way to browse the Internet in the Linux terminal.

Lynx is a text-only browser that is designed to allow terminal-based systems to access web pages on the Internet. As it relates to Linux, Lynx is a web browser that runs in the Terminal. Lynx can access any web page available on the Internet just like your normal browser can, though it does have some limitations.

Well, this was certainly a "blast from the past" experience for me! I remember first logging on to BBSs back in the day when everything was text based. I still remember the excitement of the first graphical browser, which arrived whilst sites were all still only serving text.

But apart from the retro feel of all of this, there is something to be said about the speed of just loading text vs tons of graphics and JavaScript code. And yes, tracking code and cookies etc just don't exist with this interface.

I found it already installed on my Manjaro Linux (not sure if I installed it a time back) and it actually loaded my local news site and I could navigate articles. But yes, it is going to break on many of the modern sites, so it's not going to replace graphical browsers I'm sure.

Wonder if we will see some demand in future that sites are required to still serve usable text versions as well? This form of browsing is ideal for example for people with sight impairments, or those with very limited data connections.

I tested it on my own blog, and the featured image for this post (at my blog site) shows what the site renders as in Lynx. It is perfectly usable, and I can navigate easily in and out of my blog posts.

See How to Browse the Web in Your Linux Terminal With Lynx

Lynx is a text-only web browser that provides a unique and ad-free way of exploring the Internet.

#technology #retro #Lynx #browsers

technology browsers Lynx retro

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 17:20:41 +0200

Alexander Goeres

jabgoe2089@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

but all those sites that rely on java script will fail ...

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 23:11:09 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Alexander Goeres yep true, but surprisingly there are many sites that do actually display with plain text.

Organic Maps — Free, Open-Source, Private, Low Battery mapping app for Hiking, Biking, Trails and Navigation

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 13:42:44 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Organic Maps — Free, Open-Source, Private, Low Battery mapping app for Hiking, Biking, Trails and Navigation

Organic Maps is a free Android & iOS offline maps app for travellers, tourists, hikers, drivers, and cyclists based on OpenStreetMap data created by the community. It is a privacy-focused, open-source fork of Maps.me app (previously known as MapsWithMe), maintained by the same people who created MapsWithMe in 2011.

Features:
* Detailed offline maps with places that don't exist on other maps, thanks to OpenStreetMap
* Cycling routes, hiking trails, and walking paths
* Contour lines, elevation profiles, peaks, and slopes
* Turn-by-turn walking, cycling, and car navigation with voice guidance and Android Auto
* Fast offline search on the map
* Export/import bookmarks in KML/KMZ, import GPX
* Dark Mode to protect your eyes
* Countries and regions don't take a lot of space
* Free and open-source

Why Organic?
* Respects your privacy (requires no Google login nor registration)
* Saves your battery
* No unexpected mobile data charges
* No ads
* No tracking
* No data collection
* No phoning home
* No annoying registration
* No mandatory tutorials
* No noisy email spam
* No push notifications
* No crapware

It is based on OpenStreetMaps, so I could see a little known trail in the middle of the Cederberg mountains in South Africa. The great thing though with OpenStreetMaps is, if something dos nor exist, you can just add it yourself.

It installs on iOS and Android phones (including from F-Droid and Obtanium), but I was also p[leased to see a Flatpak install for Linux desktops as well.

See Organic Maps: Offline Hike, Bike, Trails and Navigation