Danie van der Merwe

Postmarks is a decentralised self-hosted Fediverse successor to the old del.ici.us bookmarking service

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 21:43:31 +0200

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

The successor to Web 2.0 bookmarking site del.icio.us is here, but this time, it’s built for the open web and the Fediverse — the decentralised collection of social networks that includes the Twitter/X competitor Mastodon and others. Portland-area web developer Casey Kolderup has launched Postmarks, a Fediverse-enabled social bookmarking service that offers a web interface for saving your favourite links and annotating them, similar to bookmarking sites of years past.

But this time, your links and notes can be shared with your followers both on Postmarks itself, as well as other federated social networks like Mastodon or anything else on the Fediverse.

It is interesting to see that the ActivityPub protocol is not just used for microblogging (like Mastodon and similar) but also for social link aggregation (Lemmy, etc), book reading (Bookwyrm), blog hosting (Shuttlecraft), and now also bookmarking.

This is different from social link aggregation where a link is posted and has related discussion threads as well as voting, and is intended for communal use. Postmarks is more a simple link, with description, tags, and optional association to other tags. Any other Fediverse user is then able to follow your Postmarks feed, or searches on the tags should show up as hashtag results. So, the focus here would be more your personal collection of bookmarks.

It is still early days for this service and I'd hope it gets the facility to import bookmarks from a browser (if that is not yet a feature).

See With Postmarks, social bookmarking is back -- but this time it's built on the fediverse | TechCrunch

The successor to Web 2.0 bookmarking site del.icio.us is here, but this time, it's built for the open web and the fediverse -- the decentralized

#technology #Fediverse #bookmarks #Postmarks #opensource

technology opensource Fediverse bookmarks

How Afripods is trying to grow the podcast market in Africa

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 14:53:59 +0200 zuletzt bearbeitet: Fri, 08 Sep 2023 14:55:40 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

The podcasting market is growing rapidly across Africa, especially amongst its Gen Z population. Afripods, an all-in-one podcast platform, is trying to accelerate that growth. The platform is geared toward African creators and audiences and offers editing, hosting, and monetization tools for podcasters and also serves as a player and podcast discovery tool for audiences.

Founded in 2017, Afripods currently offers Pan-African content in over 50 different languages. Last month, the platform announced it had partnered with over 110 broadcast radio stations to convert their programs to podcast form. Known as “broadcast-to-podcast” or B2P, the company says that African audiences are more familiar with the idea of on-demand radio and sees it as a promising area for growth.

This has a couple of great things going for it, that also help make it uniquely African:
1. Support, and filtering, of around 50 different languages, means users can also find podcasts in their own native tongue.
2. It is focussed on Africa, and Africa has traditionally preserved much of its history and customs through audio storytelling. This makes audio podcasting ideal for this purpose. It allows people to tell their own stories - anyone can be a storyteller.
3. Parts of Africa have no Internet access, and again podcasting is ideal for downloading where there is Internet, and being perfectly usable where there in no Internet.
4. It is easily accessible, and podcast hosting is free. Podcast editing can be done inside the app.
5. It not only helps preserve African culture, but also makes it accessible globally.
6. There’s a lot of opportunity for collaboration among the countries and the cultures.

Awareness is probably their biggest challenge (and same for podcasting and RSS in general). Once people know about it, and how they can use it, it will often be very well used. What I love best about podcasts, are you get to choose when and where you listen, and also that you can be busy with many other activities and listen to a podcast at the same time.

See How Afripods is trying to grow the podcast market in Africa

The Kenya-based platform has partnered with broadcast radio stations to make their content on-demand.

#technology #Africa #podcasting #culture

technology security browsers

Researchers show how Chrome extensions can steal plaintext passwords for popular sites such as Gmail, Cloudflare, Facebook, etc

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 22:39:48 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

In case one thinks this is just for three or four websites, the research measurements showed that from the top 10k websites (as per Tranco), roughly 1,100 are storing user passwords in plain text form within the HTML DOM. Another 7,300 websites from the same set were deemed vulnerable to DOM API access and direct extraction of the user's input value.

The researchers explain that the problem concerns the systemic practice of giving browser extensions unrestricted access to the DOM tree of sites they load on, which allows accessing potentially sensitive elements such as user input fields. Given the lack of any security boundary between the extension and a site's elements, the former has unrestricted access to data visible in the source code and may extract any of its contents.

It certainly needs a fix, and the vulnerability lies with a user installing an extension that deliberately exploits this weakness. So only using reputable extensions will help. But certainly, two other improvements are needed: The Manifest V3 protocol (that many Chromium-based browsers adopted, not just Chrome itself), should have some security boundary between the extensions and the web pages, and of course most importantly, websites should not be storing their passwords in the HTML DOM in plain text.

See Chrome extensions can steal plaintext passwords from websites

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has uploaded to the Chrome Web Store a proof-of-concept extension that can steal plaintext passwords from a website's source code.

#technology #security #browsers

technology security browsers

Inside SA Rugby’s technology data-driven approach to the Boks winning the sport’s biggest tournament

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 13:28:20 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

From Maree’s description, Saru’s technological ecosystem can be delineated into two distinct processes: data collection and data-driven decision making.

The main tool used for data collection is a GPS tracker, called a GPS pod, which each player has inserted into a sleeve in the back of their rugby jersey. The sleeve is designed so that the pod sits tightly inside it to minimise movement. “The one thing you don’t want with GPS is unwanted movement because it is going to affect the readings,” Maree said. The pod is cleverly positioned between the shoulder blades to minimise the chances of collision during rucks, mauls and scrums.

The Springboks use tracking pods made by STATSports, an Irish company that supplies analysis software along with the tracking hardware. “We developed the system a few years ago with our partner, Mobii System – a local company. Our latency, at 0.25s from live, makes us the quickest system in the world at this stage,” Maree said. The very same data is used for post-game video analysis using Hudl Sportscode. “From the GPS pod together with STATSports, there are probably over 200 or even 300 metrics that you can look at".

This is really no surprise, as most average athletes carry smartwatches and other sports tracking devices already for measuring their own performance (and we've long seen racing cars carrying such analytical information). It is not so much the measurement device, but more the power of the available analytics that separates amateur from professional levels. AI also is said to not yet play any role, but I would imagine they are playing with that to see how it compares with human deduction and decision-making, after all AI is all about learning from data, and AI may help give an additional edge in terms of the speed of decision-making in future.

The other thing I'm really wondering about is security. The moment something starts using technology with any form of connectivity, it is potentially at risk to hacking. Whether that is just intelligence gathering by the opposition, gathering of information by the opposition, or a denial-of-service attack, all these risks can potentially be harmful, especially when you come to depend more and more on the technology. So I guess Chief Risk Officer, CIO< etc all take on new meanings for even sports teams.

With today's digital era, and streaming of entertainment media, it would be interesting to see some of the basic data being broadcast during games like max speed reached by a player, distance travelled, etc that could make it more interesting.

See The Boks' secret tech weapon going into Rugby World Cup - TechCentral

Exclusive | Inside SA Rugby’s data-driven approach to the Boks winning the sport’s biggest tournament.

#technology #rugby #SouthAfrica

technology rugby southafrica

The Secret System That Allows Waze to Find Faster Routes Than Google Maps: The difference is more than just cosmetic

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 22:53:34 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Waze might look like "just another navigation app" at first glance, but in reality, the Google-owned software provides a more advanced feature package that you won't find elsewhere.

The first thing you must know is that Waze does not record the location of traffic lights and stop signs for a simple reason: its routing engine doesn't think this data is relevant to how routes are calculated.

Waze was designed to look for faster routes, so it doesn't care about the location of traffic lights. Instead, it's particularly interested in the impact on traffic conditions, so the application doesn't look at the location of a traffic light but how it slows down traffic. Waze always looks for the fastest route, so if a traffic light produces a significant slowdown and long waiting lines, the application eventually searches for an alternate route.

The longer the queue at a traffic light, the bigger the impact on traffic. Waze could eventually flag the road segment before the traffic light as "slow," so the application would no longer favour the main road over secondary streets.

However, no navigation app is actually perfect. Google Maps is better at starting a route without any Internet connection, whereas Waze needs an Internet connection to initiate a route. So they are different, and it is worth having more than one app available for navigation. Therefore, having more than one app for navigation is beneficial, as they are different. Moreover, some apps based on OpenStreetMap have made significant progress and can alert drivers about speed bumps and other obstacles that may slow down their journey.

Of course, Waze's crowdsourced warnings for issues along the way, and even their speed limit warnings, are "streets" ahead of Google Maps!

See The Secret System That Allows Waze to Find Faster Routes Than Google Maps

Waze might look like "just another navigation app" at first glance, but in reality, the Google-owned software provides a more advanced feature ...

#technology #navigation #traffic

technology waze traffic navigation

Stylus is a desktop browser extension that applies better looking styles to your favourite websites

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 11:47:14 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Stylus injects its own CSS into targeted pages and therefore makes you able to override the present design of a webpage. If you know CSS, you can write and create your own styles. Otherwise, you can just install styles by other authors from userstyles.org (USO). You can also search for styles for the current site on USO from within the Stylus extension.

Stylus browser extension is available for Chrome, Firefox and Opera desktop browsers. Note that Stylus is a fork of the Stylish extension. I tried initially to install Stylish, but once it said it wanted to track every single website I visited, it was quickly deleted. Stylus is privacy respecting and open-source software. Not "ish", but "us", as in "us" the actual users, is how Stylus terms it. The extension is being actively maintained and updated.

What I like about Stylus is that you just go to any website and then click on the extension icon for it to quickly search and show you if there are some styles for it (there is no download, save, then import). It is also pretty easy to extend a style by editing it, and you have a choice of your own cloud services you can sync it to (I use two different browsers, so this works to sync the styles between them). It also has an automatic update for the styles.

I see numerous sites are supported such as Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, Discord, Lemmy, Mastodon, X, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, MeWe, and many more. I discovered this extension when I was looking for something to dynamically resize the column widths for the Mastodon site.

See GitHub - openstyles/stylus: Stylus - Userstyles Manager

Stylus - Userstyles Manager. Contribute to openstyles/stylus development by creating an account on GitHub.

#technology #opensource #styles #themes

technology libraries literacy reading capetown

Cape Town City libraries use technology to draw young patrons to the bookshelves: Read something, before you can use a tablet

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 14:33:21 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Waiting times have increased due to the tablets’ overwhelming popularity, prompting the library staff to devise a creative solution. Those waiting their turn must read to a staff member before being allowed to use the tablets. This approach has produced remarkable results, with many young students improving their reading skills and gaining newfound confidence.

Gaming sessions are limited to Fridays, Saturdays and school holidays. To secure a slot, children are encouraged to borrow books, read them and then provide a brief review to the librarians, either written or spoken.

Simple, but brilliant! It's a win-win as the kids get something they'll enjoy, and at the same time their literacy skills improve. These literacy skills are what will make a massive difference to their school learning, as well as their ability to get jobs one day. Gaming itself will undoubtedly also teach them skills, but literacy trumps all. As an added bonus, they also learn that effort equals reward.

The rollout of this initiative began the previous year with the distribution of 66 tablets to 13 libraries. In 2023, the endeavour has expanded further, with 99 tablets allocated to 19 libraries, and this momentum is expected to persist throughout the year. I hope that more such tablets can be rolled out to additional libraries.

Librarians are not just people who sit behind a counter and stamp books out or charge fines for overdue books. I've always found them very helpful (taking you top something instead of just pointing in the distance), and what they do, is more than just about books. Libraries often have computer and Internet facilities, meeting spaces, and more. Many communities really underestimate the importance of libraries, especially to younger children who have a thirst for knowledge. One of the most precious gifts a child can get, is good reading and literacy skills. There is so much knowledge (and entertainment) that is available free of cost at libraries. Reading can inform, relax, motivate, and entertain.

See City libraries use technology to draw young patrons to the bookshelves

Cape Town's public libraries that use technology to engage young readers have so far yielded significant results. The facilities are witnessing an influx of children and adolescents eager to partake in tech-oriented activities.

#technology #reading #libraries #capetown

technology libraries literacy reading capetown

Not only can any RSS reader follow a Mastodon Profile's posts, they can also follow any Hashtags on a Server

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 20:53:58 +0200 zuletzt bearbeitet: Sat, 02 Sep 2023 20:59:15 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

In stark contrast to X yet again (and now the final straw for me) breaking API interaction with a profile, Mastodon makes it way easier to follow posts without even visiting the network. Many knew you could follow a profile's posts via an RSS feed, but now we also find out you can even subscribe to all posts with a particular hashtag as well (again without registering or logging in, or even visiting Mastodon).

This openness combined with ActivityPub itself being declared the standard for social media by the W3C this year, is giving a strong indication of where things are headed for social media in the future. This is likely why even Meta's Threads network has adopted the ActivityPub standard.

I've been testing out lots of different social media the last few years, and it is looking to me like the future will be decentralised and standards based. Centralised and walled garden networks have tended to be abused by advertisers, data mining, whims of a single billionaire owner, censorship, algorithmic feeds, and the ease of also banning a user account. On the other extreme, we have the extreme privacy of P2P networks, but they have difficulties on-boarding and also finding your friends.

Decentralised and federated networks do seem to have the attraction of easy on-boarding (once you have chosen an instance), some privacy in that you need not provide your phone number or even e-mail, extensive connectivity across servers as well as other networks (the Fediverse anyway), control over the home feed without algorithms, and easier discoverability.

The standard protocol applied across many networks means that app developers are also producing many different and useful mobile apps, where a single app can also work for different social networks on the Fediverse.

Many have become fed up also with some social networks pushing negative or alarmist posts into their feeds (despite them not following those posters). Not only for the Fediverse social networks not do such pushing, but with an RSS reader, you can follow your favourite posters or hashtags at a distance without even having to wade through a feed of posts. I certainly find using an RSS reader more relaxing and a less stressful way of consuming lots of news. So why not also for social networks?

Ever thought about why your own social network may not want you to follow posts and updates remotely? They want to be sure you have to login, and consume the feed presented to you. RSS readers also remove you from any of that pixel behaviour tracking analysis as well.

#technology #socialmedia #RSS #Mastodon

technology socialnetworks Mastodon RSS

show all 8 comments

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 17:38:49 +0200

Orion Ussner kidder

OrionKidder@mas.to

@gadgeteer Sure, as a user experience there are some differences.

My understanding though is that having many smaller instances makes a healthier overall network bc big instances don't have the resources to moderate/create a sense of community. Then, those same big instances can then get unhealthy but feel to big to defederate.

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 11:48:47 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Orion Ussner kidder it is certainly so, but for brand-new users to the Fediverse, that would exactly again provide that over complication and decision-making that, so many want to avoid. It is a bit of a Catch-22.

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 18:04:54 +0200

Orion Ussner kidder

OrionKidder@mas.to

@gadgeteer Yeah, true. I feel like there's some UX expert (UXpert) who could think of a way to turn that process into something engaging rather than mystifying.

Valorant, the free-to-play esports first-person tactical hero shooter game, now has servers live in Cape Town

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 10:44:08 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Valorant is a team-based first-person tactical hero shooter set in the near future. Players play as one of a set of Agents, characters based on several countries and cultures around the world. In the main game mode, players are assigned to either the attacking or defending team with each team having five players on it.

Valorant was developed with two main focuses: making tactical shooters and e-sports more accessible to new players, and creating a game that would attract a large competitive scene, while solving many of the points of criticism voiced by professional players from games in the genre. Games aimed at large, active communities and player bases, typically free-to-play games like Fortnite or Riot's own League of Legends, tend to put an emphasis on a wider array of system performance improvements and game stability rather than newer technologies or graphics as a way of making sure they're as accessible as possible.

Valorant has been compared to Valve's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with both games having two teams of five attempting to plant a bomb, and Blizzard Entertainment's class-based shooter Overwatch, as both games have multiple classes and characters catering to various playstyles. Valorant was nominated for Best Esports Game, Best Multiplayer and Best Community Support at The Game Awards 2020. It won the Best Esports Game at The Game Awards 2022.

If you’re from South Africa and using automatic server select, you’ll probably land in the Cape Town server in the game. But you can also select it manually via the dropdown menu in the lobby.

Note that South Africa does not have a Premier zone for the region just yet, so if players in South Africa jump into Premier, they'd still be choosing 1 of the 4 main Premier regions in EU.

So, the good news is the game does not have any overly heavy requirements to play it, and now that it has servers live in Cape Town, it makes it playable from South Africa.

The bad news is the game seems to have some really restrictive requirements around Windows OS (including a kernel driver) and I don't even see it available on Steam Games, so I won't be trying it out on Linux.

See VALORANT’s Cape Town Servers Are Live

Servers up, game on.

#technology #gaming #valorant #southafrica

technology gaming Valorant SouthAfrica

How to enable noise-suppression-for-voice for gaming and other apps on Linux

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 22:58:25 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

noise-suppression-for-voice is a noise suppression plugin based on RNNoise, a noise suppression library based on a recurrent neural network (RNN). A RNN is a class of artificial neural networks where connections between nodes can create a cycle, allowing output from some nodes to affect subsequent input to the same nodes. RNNs are particularly effective for background noise removal because they can learn patterns across time, which is essential for understanding audio.

noise-suppression-for-voice isn’t only useful for gamers who are live-streaming and recording. It can be used to suppress noise in a wide range of applications.

Yes, there is also NoiseTorch and EasyEffects, which both have a nice GUI interface, and are also based on RNNoise, but both have fewer settings for denoising. But seeing noise-suppression-for-voice is selected as an audio input device when required, you can choose when you want to actually use it.

Their GitHub project does also give this warning which should be heeded: Do NOT use any other sample rates, use ONLY 48000 Hz, make sure your audio source is 48000 Hz and force it to be 48000 Hz if it is not. They also recommend using the microphone as mono, and not as a stereo source.

See Awesome Linux Game Tools: noise-suppression-for-voice - LinuxLinks