Nostr notes by Danie

Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat Becomes France’s Top Social App Amid ...

2026-10-23T21:00:55Z

Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat Becomes France’s Top Social App Amid Riots and Mobile Network Outage

“Twitter co-founder and current Block CEO Jack Dorsey’s peer-to-peer messaging app Bitchat has climbed to the number one spot in the Social Networking category of the App Store in France and also entered the top ten free apps in any category. The surge in downloads followed a nationwide cost-of-living mobilization on Saturday that saw looting and mass arrests, calls by former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal for temporary, targeted social media blocks, and a nearly ten-hour Orange mobile network outage on Wednesday.”

There are quite a few apps around like this, and Briar also comes to mind, but this one is not only Bluetooth mesh networking (which hops from one phone to the next via Bluetooth), it also uses the Nostr protocol (with Tor optionally enabled too). Nostr is actually a social network that makes use of decentralised relays, and was designed to be censorship resistant. Nostr is another of Jack's projects he is involved in, and he can be seen posting there sometimes.

Both Bitchat and Nostr require no account registration, nor phone number, nor any server to operate through.

If Bitchat is blocked on the official stores in your region, it can also be downloaded from GitHub.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/jack-dorseys-bitchat-becomes-frances-top-social-app-amid-riots-and-mobile-network-outage/
#chatapps #decentralised #opensource #privacy #technology

BeamNG.Earth is a 1:1 scale streamed Earth for the BeamNG.drive ...

2026-10-22T22:00:54Z

BeamNG.Earth is a 1:1 scale streamed Earth for the BeamNG.drive game

BeamNG.Earth lets you drive anywhere on the planet at 1:1 scale, on real elevation and aerial or satellite imagery, with view distance out to a curved horizon. The world is filled in from real data: land-cover ground textures, 3D grass, regional trees with seasonal colours, buildings with local architectural styles, and roads with lane markings, sidewalks, signs, signals and street lights. It also includes bridges, sea and lakes deep enough to sink in, rivers, and airports with marked runways.

Drive anywhere: the physics ground follows the car at 100+ mph, the world origin moves with you (floating origin), and the world streams ahead of you; you never fall out of the world. Buildings, sidewalks, curbs and bridge decks are solid (lean collision meshes near the car keep the physics' collision rebuilds cheap).

The sun, moon and stars follow real local time, the weather is live (cloud, fog, wind gusts that push the car, rain and snow), and gravity is the true value for your latitude and altitude. Stock AI, traffic, police and parked cars run on the real road network with each country’s driving side and speed limits. A world map (M) lets you search addresses, teleport, set GPS routes, and use Autodrive to have the car drive the route itself. Saved places, a status bar showing street, town and country, in-game settings, offline play from cache, and in-game update notices round it out.

This is an open-source Python companion app that runs on your computer. It mods the BeamNG.Drive game (importantly applying this seamlessly and presenting the BeamNG.Earth option under Freeroam in the game. It works for Linux with an AppImage file, or with Windows using an EXE file.

It is not difficult to get started with it at all. For Linux I just did this:* Installed the AppImage file.* Started Steam Games and ensured BeamNG.drive was up-to-date.* Started the AppImage application, and it did the mod and then opened BeamNG.drive.* I went to Freeroam, and clicked on BeamNG.Earth.

I decided to test it out a bit around Cape Town. The Cape Town part of the map does not have the Lidar accuracy that Europe and other areas have, but the general heights are correct and quite a few 3D structures are where they should be e.g. the stadium, lower cable way station, and all the roads. Cars are driving on the left side of the road as it should be. While driving down a road it does display the names, but if you're familiar with Cape Town you'd see the roads are all where they need to be.

I actually drove from the Cape Town CBD all the way to my house, and I could follow the roads by just know which ones to take.

I started out above from the parking area on Signal Hill. That view is perfect, even with the few pine trees that stand up there.

Rounding the bend from the Signal Hill parking area, brings you to this spot where you get another great view of Table Mountain from Signal Hill.

I arrived at the lower cable way station and the building is where it should be. Quite a few buildings though, including stadia and pyramids, are shaped out of standard buildings, so they may not be 3D accurate. It seems though that updates are being done regularly, so this could improve over time.

I'm still at the lower cable way station, and have my door open to enjoy the view over Cape Town CBD with Devil's Peak seen on the right side.

Above, I'm still parked at the lower cable way station. In the background lies Cape Town CBD with Signal Hill on the left.

Now this is impressive! I've driven down through the CBD and past the International Convention Centre, and I've stopped here on the elevated freeway, FW de Klerk Boulevard, and am amazed that the actual elevated roads are shown. OK that on/off ramp on the left does not exist, but still, this is pretty good considering this is auto-generated.

Same location as above, but looking towards Devil's Peak. We can clearly see the elevated freeway curving around towards Nelson Mandela Boulevard.

I'm now where FW de Klerk Boulevard merged into Nelson Mandela Boulevard, and have stopped a bit further along it. You can see Lion's Head in the background, but also the Cape Town Civic Centre, which is the large buildings to the right.

By way of an example, look at the above Google Street View image from around the same location.

Driving up Nelson Mandela Boulevard feels quite correct as it rises gently up towards hospital hill (as we call it). But here I did start to encounter glitches. All along this stretch the overhead pedestrian bridges were not at their correct heights. Even further along Settler's Way, some overhead road bridges were basically flat on the ground. As you can see above, the bridge is solid!

Press m brings up the map view. Here you can zoom out and select any spot on Earth, and then opt to auto drive or to teleport to it. There are also some example locations on the right side, and you can save favourite places there too.

All in all a very nice addition to BeamNG.drive. The game is already so interesting, especially since they added a full-blown rally driving addition too. The whole user interface has been fully overhauled too. And of course it's claim to fame realistic physics is still all there.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/beamng-earth-is-a-11-scale-streamed-earth-for-the-beamng-drive-game/
#gaming #opensource #southafrica #technology

Self-hosting doesn’t actually save you money, and the people ...

2026-10-19T21:00:56Z

Self-hosting doesn’t actually save you money, and the people who promise it does are setting beginners up to quit

Yep it's quite true. If you are just going to host one or two things, you could get away with a Raspberry Pi, but I have about 40+ containers running, and I realise I'm on my 3rd or 4th iteration of hardware.

I don't have anything fancy as my small form-factor server cannot even mount a GPU card. It was a squeeze to just add a riser card with an interface for SATA drives. Then I have two external 6 TB each NAS drives, another external USB drive for 4 TB backup as well, a UPS power supply, a managed switch, a network cabinet, and it uses extra electricity 24/7. With all this I constantly update and maintain the setup. And then too, this all needs replacing at some point again.

Yes it gives better privacy, and you learn a lot by testing different options out, etc. But if you want plain ease of use, some GPU horsepower maybe, and reliable backup, then often it is cheaper to just go with a paid open-source hosted service. This is how many open-source projects survive today, by selling their online cloud hosted service.

One just has to think why you are wanting to self-host, and then weigh up doing it properly, versus buying a few services.

It certainly suits me as I have a passion for tinkering and updating things. But I can see this is maybe not the best option for everyone.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/self-hosting-doesnt-actually-save-you-money-and-the-people-who-promise-it-does-are-setting-beginners-up-to-quit/
#selfhosting #technology

Nice clean metal ;-) You want some of that self-fusing stretchy ...

2026-10-19T20:20:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…7zy9
_________________________

Nice clean metal ;-) You want some of that self-fusing stretchy weather tape wrapped around the coax connector and wire (witha cable tie to keep it unwrapping).

Open-Source Self-Hosted Zer0 URL Shortener A modern-looking, ...

2026-10-18T17:00:46Z

Open-Source Self-Hosted Zer0 URL Shortener

A modern-looking, tiny, fast, self-hosted URL shortener built for Docker Compose. zer0 keeps the redirect path lean, protects public link creation with CAPTCHA, stores links in Redis, and includes a browser admin dashboard for stats and cleanup.

Custom shortlinks are a lot easier to share than lengthy links with variables that follow them, and Bit.ly shortlinks are sometimes banned from use on some sites. Self-hosting ensures privacy compliance for your users and audience, and this service is so lightweight that you'd hardly notice it is running.

The GitHub project does not go into much detail on how to install it, as it requires an image to be built from the code, so this video also helps make that process a bit easier.

Watch

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/open-source-self-hosted-zer0-url-shortener/
#linkshortener #opensource #privacy #selfhosting #technology

The Beginner’s Almanac for Wet Shaving "The first week in ...

2026-10-17T13:00:46Z

The Beginner’s Almanac for Wet Shaving

"The first week in any wet shaving group feels like walking into a conversation halfway through. Somebody posts an SOTD with a three-piece OC and a croap, somebody else asks whether a G5 knot will splay too much for face lathering, and a third person admits their SAD is out of control and announces a 3017. Everyone is being helpful. Almost none of it is in English yet. This almanac is the map. It walks the whole territory in the order you will meet it: the gear, the lather, the shave itself, the routine around it, and the culture that talks about all of it. Each section explains how the pieces relate, defines the words you will see, and points you to the Shave Dad guide that goes deeper."

The excerpt above really says it all about the linked post. It is one of the better guides I have seen. It is not a how-to-do each step, but a good overview to read to get a feel of all the options you may encounter with traditional wet shaving.

Traditional wet shaving is very much like Linux. You have many options to suite many purposes and tastes, and that can be overwhelming for beginners.

I have been totally converted to traditional wet shaving for the last 20+ years and bitterly regret that I knew nothing about it when I learnt to shave. But it was finally the cost of Gillette multi-blade cartridges, and the ingrown airs I was getting, which led me to discovering it. My very first experience was not a great one as I chose a really cheap plastic handled razor that I got in a pharmacy store. Once I progressed (fairly quickly) to a Merkur 34C razor, the real aha moment struck.

Of course today I have a few razors, but I have pretty much settled on using the Edwin Jagger DE89 head with a solid stainless-steel knurled iKon handle. My blade of choice are the Astra Superior Platinum double-edged blades. I use the Tabac hard soap paired with a Bluebeards Revenge boar (synthetic) bristle brush. I use one blade a week, and the soap is good for about 6 months of use.

Of course everyone's skin is different, and there is a three-way relationship between skin type vs razor vs blade. Which is why it is always good to get hold of a blade sample pack, and try them all out, to find what best works for you.

It's also worth noting that traditional wet shaving is a lot better for the environment, as the blades can actually be recycled, and the soaps do not come in aerosol cans.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/the-beginners-almanac-for-wet-shaving/
#environment #shaving #traditionalwetshaving

Data sovereignty in South Africa is not an address I rarely ever ...

2026-10-15T11:00:33Z

Data sovereignty in South Africa is not an address

I rarely ever promote a partner sponsored article, but this one does touch on important aspects around data sovereignty which I wished government design-makers better understood. There are numerous risks to data being hosted (held?) in an external data centre, especially if that data centre is foreign owned.

Why I posted this, is because I also want to mention what was not said in the article. Access and leaking of the data is one thing, as is the holding of your own encryption keys, but like we saw with the ICC recently, you could be denied access to your data too.

But, like with open source software, government IT workers don't have the budgets or means to market or wine and dine their decision-makers, and persuade them. I've seen this battle being lost before with open source software. The software works perfectly well, utilises in-house skills and requires no licensing costs, but those internal IT professionals don't get to take the CEO out for lunch, nor can they promise the building of digital villages, etc.

Unfortunately many corporate decisions, especially in government, don't rest solely around the technical aspects.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/data-sovereignty-in-south-africa-is-not-an-address/
#digitalsovereignty #southafrica #technology

Fairphone’s latest repairable earbuds are smaller, lighter, and ...

2026-10-14T22:00:33Z

Fairphone’s latest repairable earbuds are smaller, lighter, and longer-lasting

“The Fairbuds 2 have been redesigned from the ground up, moving to a stemmed design, available in black or green, and a case that’s 37 percent smaller than the first generation. Despite that shrinking hardware, Fairphone has almost doubled the buds’ battery life, which now totals 40 hours without active noise cancellation, with eight hours on the buds alone, dropping to six with ANC on. Charging is over USB-C, and takes a couple hours for a full top-up. Sadly Qi wireless charging isn’t supported — though it isn’t on Apple’s $129 AirPods 5 either.”

I know I've mentioned this before, and keep repeating it, but I will never forget my pretty expensive Apple AirPods dying about a month or so past their warranty date. I've since bought other brands which has lasted much longer. But I get real peace of mind if batteries can be removed so easily for replacement. These earbuds also have ANC, which is now a minimum requirement for me.

They're not going to be competing with Sennheiser or other high-end brands in terms of audiophile quality, but for most users these would be good enough, and then there is the repairability and ethical build too.

PS: It does come in black colour too!

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/fairphones-latest-repairable-earbuds-are-smaller-lighter-and-longer-lasting/
#audio #environment #technology

Strata is an alternative file manager for Linux written in Rust ...

2026-10-14T21:00:34Z

Strata is an alternative file manager for Linux written in Rust

“This file manager is written in Rust with GTK4 and released under the MIT license, with its lead developer, Pierre, announcing its first stable release a few hours ago. He claims that in 45 days, the project has picked up over 30 contributors and 700+ commits, with ~300K lines of Rust now in the codebase.”

Seems that recently so many alternative apps are coming out in Rust… I wonder why. But the real point is that new apps are also bringing fresh ideas and shaking things up a bit. This file manager has fuzzy search, navigation by arrow keys (in addition to the usual mouse stuff), a preview panel, theming, SMB support, and more.

Seems it is targeting the Arch environment, but right now maybe no AUR installation, as it offers a one line install option from CLI, or interestingly, it also gives a detailed prompt for how to get your AI agent to install it for now (sign of the times).

See or

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/strata-is-an-alternative-file-manager-for-linux-written-in-rust/
#filemanager #linux #opensource #technology

What's the criteria for "best"? Subjective or ...

2026-10-13T22:49:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…eupx
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What's the criteria for "best"? Subjective or objectively based?

2026 Kindles Have Removable Back Panels for Easy Battery ...

2026-10-13T19:36:20Z

2026 Kindles Have Removable Back Panels for Easy Battery Replacement

All I can say is, this was quite a refreshing surprise to me, where everything is going tinier and more glued and sealed up today. True, I've not yet had to ever replace a battery on one of my Kindles, and they've been running for years.

What has appeared to be a dead battery sometimes, just required a trick to kickstart it and get it charging again. But a battery is often what gives in first, so just knowing could be easier to open up and replace, does give some peace of mind.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/2026-kindles-have-removable-back-panels-for-easy-battery-replacement/
#environment #ewaste #technology

Free cybercrime and online scams helpline goes live in South ...

2026-10-13T19:00:44Z

Free cybercrime and online scams helpline goes live in South Africa

“South Africans who have been scammed, hacked, extorted or harassed online now have a free place to turn for help. The Cyber Helpline, a UK charity, has launched a 12-month pilot in South Africa with local social impact organisation MiDO Academy, funded by Amazon Web Services. The service covers a wide range of incidents, including investment and employment scams, phishing, hacked accounts, fake social media profiles, sextortion, identity theft and ransomware. It is confidential and open to anyone in South Africa aged 13 and older – but only to individuals and sole traders, not larger businesses. Victims start with a chatbot on thecyberhelpline.com, which offers immediate step-by-step guidance at any hour. If a case needs more help, it is passed to a human responder.”

To be clear, this is an advice line to help explain what happened to a victim, and what they should do. So it will include relevant referrals, and won't be doing any recoveries. Victims should probably not delay though reporting anything to their banks and the police.

This could still be very useful for individuals and small business, as they often have no idea who to turn to, or what resources are available, and what exactly must be preserved as evidence.

The other big plus is, this may also give far greater visibility to what sort of scams are actually happening, as many firstly don't make it through to the police, and secondly the police drop it into buckets like “fraud general”. We can now possibly get a clearer picture of what platforms the scams take place on, who is targeted, what the cumulative amounts involved are, etc. This not only starts pointing back to patterns around the perpetrators, but could pressurise the relevant computer platforms to take more severe action and preventative measures themselves.

Police statistics just don't go into this sort of granular detail. They do also state “The partners plan to use aggregated, anonymised case data to track emerging threats”.

This is not a government funded service, and is an AWS funded initiative for a period of a year. Hence, they are also running a Cyber Steps Challenge on BackaBuddy, as a fundraiser to try make this a more sustainable service.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/free-cybercrime-and-online-scams-helpline-goes-live-in-south-africa/
#cybercrime #scams #southafrica #technology

I have Kwallet installed that keeps my logins and keys and it ...

2026-10-12T12:15:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…wfre
_________________________

I have Kwallet installed that keeps my logins and keys and it shows keys for brave browser etc. But something is not right as the bunker login also not working even with Tor disabled on desktop app.

Private key login does work but reverts to public key on next start.

@npub1gcx…nj5z very pleased to see a desktop version. I first ...

2026-10-12T10:06:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…d9e7
_________________________

VitorPamplona (npub1gcx…nj5z) very pleased to see a desktop version. I first installed the v1.16 or so with AppImage and that accepte dmy key fine, but upgrading now to v1.18 showed this about not saving the key. Normally it goes into KWallet or somewhere.

No phone signal? LastBar will find the nearest place that has it. ...

2026-10-10T12:00:39Z

No phone signal? LastBar will find the nearest place that has it.

“LastBar is a map of where mobile phones have signal and where they do not, made by the phones of the people who use it. When you are stuck with no bars, it gives you the distance and the direction to the nearest place where your phone will work, and to the nearest water and shelter. It needs no connection to do so.”

This is an interesting South African app that is intended specifically for those who venture into areas where there is no cellphone signal coverage. This app will point you in the direction where you will most quickly find a signal, depending on which network you use. That may be nearby hill, but could be any location where signals were confirmed from. I remember being in a wilderness retreat once for a work session, and the only place you could just get a signal, was at one of the tennis courts. This app would typically point you to such a location. An emergency call can be made from any phone network, so in that type of scenario, the app will navigate you to where any phone network is reachable.

But it is more than just finding a location with a signal. The map also shows water, shelters, huts and caves, clinics and hospitals, police, fuel and peaks, from OpenStreetMap. Tap one for its address and a number to call, where there is one.

The app works without any Internet. What your phone measures shows on your own map at once, with no internet needed. Readings wait on your phone and go up by themselves when a connection returns.

It is not an open source app, but the privacy policy seems to cover all the bases with just the essential information being collected, and anonymised. There is no account that needs to be registered and your name, phone's IMEI, or SIM details are never sent either.

The free version will include ads (and we all know what that means as there will then be basic ad tracking) so the better option is to go for the paid version which excludes any adverts. It is available for both Android and iOS.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/no-phone-signal-lastbar-will-find-the-nearest-place-that-has-it/
#hiking #southafrica #technology #wilderness

You can now tell telemarkers to get lost officially in South ...

2026-10-09T15:00:38Z

You can now tell telemarkers to get lost officially in South Africa

“South Africans can register blocks against direct marketers on the government’s new National Opt-Out Registry now – not from May 2027, as the National Consumer Commission’s (NCC’s) own indicated – the commission has told TechCentral. But a block won’t stop the calls straight away.”

Is it a good sign that this actually went live earlier than expected for consumers? I hope so, and I've already registered today. There was a previous opt-out register, but that was never really very effective, but it does look like this one is being done properly now, and with the teeth to enforce it.

I'd like to see those reporting spammers, getting a share of those big fines, as in incentive to report. So often the effort is put on consumers to do all the reporting, and yet they get no benefit from the inconvenience they have experienced. But government pockets the fine money.

Let us just hope that our registration info on the portal does not get hacked as that includes full names, address, contact details, and a copy of the citizen ID document.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/you-can-now-tell-telemarkers-to-get-lost-officially-in-south-africa/
#southafrica #technology #telemarketers

Best Rolling Release Linux Distros for Every Kind of User ...

2026-10-08T15:00:57Z

Best Rolling Release Linux Distros for Every Kind of User

“Every Ubuntu or Fedora user eventually hits the same wall. The six-month update cycle stops feeling exciting and starts feeling like a chore, or worse, a two-year LTS jump breaks half your configuration in one sitting. Rolling release distributions exist because a lot of Linux users got tired of that rhythm and wanted their system to just stay current, indefinitely, without the ceremony of a version upgrade.”

“A rolling release distribution doesn’t have version numbers the way Ubuntu 24.04 or Fedora 41 do. You install it once, and from that point on, your system receives a continuous stream of package updates instead of being frozen at a snapshot and later replaced by a new one. There’s no scheduled jump from one version to the next. There’s just the same installation, continuously updated, for as long as you keep it around.”

In the beginning, there was Arch as a rolling distro. Yes Arch was not at all noob user-friendly, as sadly neither were its users. Arch has got quite a bit better in two ways. Firstly, the installer is a bit better now to use, and there are also alternative rolling distros that are a lot more friendly from the installation through to package support. Many says too, that the users of these alternative rolling distros are much friendlier as well. Now, whilst that is true of the users, actual Arch users are also a shade friendlier to new users.

Despite all of that though, the Linux kernel, is the Linux kernel, no matter what the distro is. Something that installs on distro A, can be got to install on distro J too. So no-one should break their heads over the endless choices. Linux users just love to have options and choices.

The only thing to watch out for with Linux, is using bleeding edge GIT packages from the AUR. The reason I say this is, not only have they got very new features in, they also sometimes expect the dependency packages to be just as new. This is often the case on pure Arch, but rolling distros like Manjaro, hold back the core packages for more testing, and then you may find that GIT package breaks on updating as it is being paired with “older” dependencies.

Which is why I moved (very easily I may add) from Manjaro to EndeavourOS. Endeavour lets things roll much the same way as Arch itself does.

A rolling distro is still fine, and very stable to use, if you stay away from those Git packages. An alternative is to install a Flatpak or AppImage version of an application. These install on any Linux distro, and they include all their own dependencies, so nothing can break. They use a bit more space because of that, but storage today is no longer such an issue. Think of a Flatpak or AppImage file like a Windows EXE but with the DLL and drivers all rolled inside of one file.

Usually KDE is the easiest desktop flavour to recommend as it is most similar for ex-Windows users. It sounds confusing, but Linux has a kernel at the bottom (OK, near bottom) of every distro stack. Then comes the operating system which is often differentiated by the type of package manager it uses to get package updates (the update command to run, to be blunt), and at the top is the desktop presentation layer (the GUI look and feel and how windows and menus work). Distros are merely different mixes and combinations of these. Which is why Flatpaks and AppImages work across any distro. And also why if you have KDE as the desktop, you can even install a different desktop like GNOME, and switch between them.

Rolling distros are actually perfectly safe for new users if the installer app is friendly, if one sticks to a stable version, and one stays away from Git packages.

Rolling distros are getting more popular, and back when I started on them, Manjaro was the flavour of the day as it had an easy installation process. Today the ones I hear the most about are: NixOS, CachyOS, and Garuda Linux. The last two are especially popular with gamers.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/best-rolling-release-linux-distros-for-every-kind-of-user/
#linux #opensource #technology

Someone Vibe Coded a Free and Open Source Knockoff of Adobe ...

2026-10-08T15:00:56Z

Someone Vibe Coded a Free and Open Source Knockoff of Adobe Creative Suite

“Using Claude Opus 5.5 and the programming language Rust, the creator of these apps, Atlanta-based Brandon Thomas, says he recreated Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Lightroom, Acrobat Pro, After Effects, and InDesign, and made them free to use. The new versions are technically called Photocraft, Vectorcraft, Filmcraft, Lightcraft, Printcraft, Effectcraft, and Designcraft. The overarching umbrella project is titled Artcraft.”

The Photocraft app (alternative to Adobe Photoshop) is a few days old on GitHub, and has been starred 23k times already. I know there is GIMP, which probably still does more than this app does, but many want a friendly and intuitive type interface. It certainly does not (yet) match Photoshop feature for feature, but it likely already has most of what any ordinary user would want to use.

It is fully compatible with Adobe's public specification for the PSD format (read that like Microsoft sticks to their own OOXML published format…). Another plus, is that it is ready for AI agent use, having an MCP server. What this means is that a graphics challenged type of user, like me, could ask my local AI agent to use that MCP server and do things for me in Photocraft.

It installs easily on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Linux has various distro version, but also Flatpak and AppImage binaries.

This is going to be very interesting…

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/someone-vibe-coded-a-free-and-open-source-knockoff-of-adobe-creative-suite/
#alternativeto #graphics #opensource #technology

Dutch tax office ditches Microsoft 365 cloud for on-premises ...

2026-10-08T13:01:09Z

Dutch tax office ditches Microsoft 365 cloud for on-premises alternative

“The Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration has abandoned its planned Microsoft 365 cloud migration in favour of services hosted on infrastructure it controls, alongside European open source alternatives. Email and calendars will move on-premises in 2027, followed by storage and collaboration services later that year and in 2028.”

Yes it is not just for the technical security reasons mentioned in the linked article, as those were Microsoft decisions. Once in such a cloud service, it is very difficult to exit it again, not to mention of course there is the digital sovereignty issue that should concern every government around the world.

Be wary of market-speak that sells convenience, reduced need for own IT personnel and hardware, etc. The truth is, the cost goes up, you have less to fall back on, and your data is no longer under your (and often your country's) control. It is a bit like drugs, just don't do it at all, as it will seem nice, but it will be very difficult to get away from.

Most countries have potentially good skills they can develop, and help grow local businesses. Those investments pay off far better in the medium to longer term. These skills and businesses, in turn, help drive further growth within the country through consulting, training, etc.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/dutch-tax-office-ditches-microsoft-365-cloud-for-on-premises-alternative/

Voicebox can clone your voice from a few seconds of audio on your ...

2026-10-08T13:00:54Z

Voicebox can clone your voice from a few seconds of audio on your own PC

“Voicebox is an open-source and free-to-use voice studio created by Jamie Pine, who is the founder of Spacedrive Technology Inc. It is distributed under the MIT license, pitched as a local replacement for two paid services, including ElevenLabs for voice cloning and text-to-speech, and WisprFlow for dictation. Since it's open-source and everything runs on the hardware you own, using it doesn't require an account.”

This does a lot more than just voice cloning though, and the author describes a few other uses as well. Voice diction may also be on interest.

Linux users will have to build the software as it seems there is still no Linux binary for installation. Make sure you follow the download link from the main Voicebox webpage, as I see the linked article for some reason points to a fork which is not maintained.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/voicebox-can-clone-your-voice-from-a-few-seconds-of-audio-on-your-own-pc/
#ai #audio #opensource #technology

Map Animator makes animated route maps for travel and adventure ...

2026-10-06T20:00:53Z

Map Animator makes animated route maps for travel and adventure videos, right in your browser

“It's made for people who film their trips: motorcycle tours, cycling, hiking, road trips and sailing. Draw the route or use your GPX recording, give it a look, and get a video clip that shows where you went. Everything happens on your own computer. Your projects are stored in your browser and your videos are made in your browser, so nothing about your trips is sent to us.”

A while back when I was looking at doing some travel map animations, I noticed all the reasonably good ones seemed to be paid versions. And if you did not pay, you got very restricted features or limited resolution video output. This does not yet do “everything” but it is pretty good and usable already, and it has received quite a few updates already.

I especially like that you can add your own photos to signs, as that was something I was wanting to do.

Whilst it is not open source, it is free, no account needed, has no adverts, and runs offline in your own browser.

See the website at or the dev's video demo at

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/map-animator-makes-animated-route-maps-for-travel-and-adventure-videos-right-in-your-browser/
#technology #travel #travelanimation #videos

Honor’s Magic 9 Pro Max Has a Shotgun Mic and a 500mm Lens ...

2026-09-30T20:00:42Z

Honor’s Magic 9 Pro Max Has a Shotgun Mic and a 500mm Lens Mount

“The Honor Magic 9 Pro Max launches in China on September 28 with a directional “shotgun” microphone, ARRI cinema color, and a lens mount that takes a 500mm teleconverter. If you shoot video on your phone, the mic may matter more than its two 200MP cameras, and it hints at where flagships go next.”

Very interesting, as my last few phone decisions rested very much around the camera abilities. Most of the other stuff is pretty much the same, or there is enough of it anyway.

A 200MP 1/1.28-inch sensor, with proper stabilisation, is also very appealing.

I was just saying again, the other day, that we really need standard lens mounts across different phones, especially in the Android ecosystem. I'm not going to splash money out on a lens that only works with one phone brand. This would allow an ecosystem of 3rd party suppliers to produce lenses, and make it more worth their while. Even my last camera I bought, was a brand change from Minolta to Sony I think, because the Sony mounted the same lenses.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/honors-magic-9-pro-max-has-a-shotgun-mic-and-a-500mm-lens-mount/
#photography #technology

Veilamp is an open source music player that also streams your ...

2026-09-29T22:00:40Z

Veilamp is an open source music player that also streams your music to friends

You really have to see this cross-platform player to believe everything it does. Apart from all sorts of technical music listening tweaks, it can act as a headless music server on your own network, or you can let friends listen by sharing your friend code with them. It will also scan your network for any mDNS discovery.

It seems to use peer-to-peer connections, but bootstrapping through the Veilid network, so you don't give out any IP address. Your node joins Veilid's distributed hash table (DHT), which is spread across thousands of ordinary nodes. It's a decentralised phone book with no owner. Your node builds a private route: a chain of relay hops through other Veilid nodes that ends at you. It then gets an encrypted "route blob" describing how to enter that chain. The blob doesn't reveal your IP address.

But that's not all by a long shot: It also finds lyrics, radio stations, and podcasts.

It looks amazing by default, and has plenty of skins that can also be loaded, but what I really love, are the stereo analogue VU meters. That just reminds me of my old Hi-Fi system from way back.

It's a Winamp-inspired player with a private, peer-to-peer sharing layer where access is limited to the friends you explicitly trust.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/veilamp-is-an-open-source-music-player-that-also-streams-your-music-to-friends/
#music #opensource #privacy #technology

First for South Africa as robotic exoskeleton aids Table Mountain ...

2026-09-28T10:00:58Z

First for South Africa as robotic exoskeleton aids Table Mountain rescue

I can really sympathise with this situation as it happened to me as well a few years ago. We hiked up the mountain and planned to come down with the cable car. But many hours later by the time we reached the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway at about 4pm, it was closed (due to high winds I think). The only way down, was down Platteklip George, and that is a very steep descent. If you are over 50 or so, it hammers your knees and ankles. We only got down by 8pm, long after it was dark.

An exoskeleton could certainly make things easier. But regardless, the WSAR (Wilderness Search and Rescue) are a group of volunteers who do a tremendous job. Contact WSAR in case of emergencies on 021 937 0300.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/first-for-south-africa-as-robotic-exoskeleton-aids-table-mountain-rescue/
#capetown #southafrica #technology

Microsoft going back to its roots and breaking spreadsheet ...

2026-09-26T09:00:30Z

Microsoft going back to its roots and breaking spreadsheet compatibility

“Microsoft has ended 40 years of single-occupancy for Excel cells and is now allowing multiple values to inhabit the same home. For the time being, this capability is only available in Microsoft Excel for Windows and Mac Beta Channels. And it is opt-in.”

Which is exactly what Microsoft was accused of doing many years ago when they brought out their OOXML standard and punted it as a global standard. Very few fell for that as ODF was already the open document standard, and not owned by any corporation. But they would keep tinkering with things behind the scenes so that if anyone tried to use OOXML, it would still break in practice as features were not supported. This would happen a lot with MS Word where especially all the formatting and layout would often not be the same.

I remember this happening with a South African charity who had to provide business plans to a Department of Social Development. Being a charity, and not having unlimited taxpayer funds, that charity was using a free alternative called OpenOffice, and working in ODF format (which by the way, was the only officially approved document format for that government), but the business plan's template did not load as the Department had designed it using MS Word. Did the Department redesign it into the compliant standard? No, they told the charity to go and buy MS Word!

This was why open document standards were created, and also approved by many governments around the world. It was to reduce the cost of ownership (can use the free software), and to improve interoperability and freedoms of choice.

The correct way to do it, is to propose the change to the standards body, and get it voted on or amended, and then it goes live after approval, giving all other providers a chance to implement it as well so that compatibility works.

It just goes to show that Microsoft still acts the same underneath, despite the PR. It is probably not going to bother me really in 2026, as I'd just respond that the spreadsheet is broken. What bothers me more is Microsoft's attitude and approach to changes like this. Certainly, there could be some good reason for going with this change, but then let's do that process correctly and be good neighbours to each other.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/microsoft-going-back-to-its-roots-and-breaking-spreadsheet-compatibility/
#microsoft #openstandards #technology

F-Droid’s Android open-source app store has been rebuilt from ...

2026-09-25T10:00:32Z

F-Droid’s Android open-source app store has been rebuilt from the ground up

“Virtually every Android device comes with the Play Store preloaded, but there are other ways to get apps. F-Droid bills itself as a community-driven source for free and open source Android apps, but its official app store has gone 10 years without a major update. That’s finally changing: After a multiyear effort, the team has just announced F-Droid 2.0 is rolling out. The new F-Droid client was redesigned from scratch in Kotlin Compose, which is the standard for modern Android apps. This makes the store much more responsive, and there’s optional support for Android’s Material theming. The interface has also been cleaned up considerably, making the most important functions easier to access and hiding some others in overflow menus.”

I've been using F-Droid, along with Obtainium, for a long time. Many open-source apps are not at all on the official Android play store.

F-Droid fetches the public git/mercurial source code for an app, strips out non-free dependencies (like proprietary tracking, ads, or Google Play Services binaries), and compiles the APK on its build servers. Because F-Droid compiles the binaries itself, the resulting APKs are typically signed with F-Droid's cryptographic key rather than the app developer's key.

But this does guarantee that the app you download and install, is true to the published source code. Nothing of course is perfect, but we have seen numerous times that problematic apps have even appeared on both the Android and Apple play stores. So let no-one cast stones from their glass houses.

The reason I have returned twice to Android, is because of the freedoms of being able to install open source software without limitations. It bugs me that both Apple and Google go out of their way to control and monetise apps for the platforms. Imagine if Linux imposed such restrictions? Basically everything installed on Linux is “sideloaded” and guess what, my Linux has been working fine for decades (Better than my wife's Windows has been struggling along).

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/f-droids-android-open-source-app-store-has-been-rebuilt-from-the-ground-up/
#android #fdroid #opensource #technology

OSS Document Scanner is an open source mobile app to scan ...

2026-09-22T18:00:46Z

OSS Document Scanner is an open source mobile app to scan documents to PDF

This mobile app does largely what Adobe PDF Scan or similar apps do, but your scans stay private and offline.

It runs on Android and iOS, with the Android app being available from a variety of sources. It is open source without ads or tracking. It has been translated into 40 languages already.

Features include scanning, document enhancement functions, PDF export, auto edge detection and OCR support. Not only that, but it can also optionally sync via WebDAV to your own cloud storage such as Nextcloud.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/oss-document-scanner-is-an-open-source-mobile-app-to-scan-documents-to-pdf/
#documents #opensource #privacy #technology

Grist is an open source self-hosted spreadsheet with a database ...

2026-09-20T19:00:59Z

Grist is an open source self-hosted spreadsheet with a database hiding underneath

“Grist is a relational spreadsheet-database app that I can host on my own server. When I first tried it, it felt familiar because the basic idea is still the same: I get rows, columns, cells, and tables that I can use to organise information. I came across Grist while looking for something that could replace the spreadsheets I use for everyday work. I mainly wanted a simple way to create tables, organise information, and keep track of things without dealing with a complicated interface. The first thing I noticed was that Grist doesn't try to make spreadsheets feel completely different. I can start with a blank document, add columns, enter information, and use formulas just like I would in a regular spreadsheet.”

I remember way back when the first spreadsheets appeared, many would try to make them work like databases. But the fact is if you have a lot of data, and it needs to reference other data (relational) and be updated, an actual database was usually more robust. Sorting partial columns by mistake in a spreadsheet can completely mess up your data (versus using proper indexes).

So this looks like a pretty good idea. Apart from the database aspect, this can always be available as it does not depend on access to some else's cloud, and it stays private. It is also accessed via a browser so you need not install anything on your devices, and can work on it from anywhere.

See or

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/grist-is-an-open-source-self-hosted-spreadsheet-with-a-database-hiding-underneath/
#opensource #privacy #selfhosting #spreadsheets #technology

OpenCode is an open source alternative to Claude Code OpenCode is ...

2026-09-16T19:00:37Z

OpenCode is an open source alternative to Claude Code

OpenCode is an open source agent that helps you write and run code with any AI model, including free (for now although the free tier uses a limited subset of backend models including Big Pickle) use of its own OpenCode Zen model. It's available as a terminal-based interface, desktop app, or IDE extension.

So OpenCode is similar to Claude Code in that it has agentic abilities, MCP servers, etc. Their Zen model is interesting. You connect to it (so no download or local GPU really required) and it is a curated set of AI models tested and benchmarked for coding agents created by the team behind OpenCode.

OpenCode passes whatever costs are involved in using Zen, straight through without any markup. However, to cover costs, OpenCode adds only a small payment processing fee of $1.23 per $20 balance top-up. The models being used are optimised for coding ability.

What Zen's real offering is, you are paying this one entity, to pool funds, and get access to various backend models, which would normally be separate subscriptions on their own. You could also connect your own front end AI to the Zen service as well.

With over 195,000 GitHub stars, 950 contributors, and over 13,000 commits, OpenCode is used and trusted by over 16 million developers every month. So this is no small project. That said, it is really for coding and technical troubleshooting, and not really for use as a chat service.

See or

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/opencode-is-an-open-source-alternative-to-claude-code/
#ai #opensource #programming #technology

AI Efficiency Could Cost Us the Next Generation of Experts This ...

2026-09-15T11:57:20Z

AI Efficiency Could Cost Us the Next Generation of Experts

This is a very though-provoking that applies much wider than just AI. In fact, its origins go back to long before AI was even around. It is applicable to whenever automation is involved with humans. The problem with humans is they get lazy, and they lose muscle memory over time, and it is even worse if they never gained the muscle memory in the first place.

Examples given are a nuclear power station where, despite the possibility of fully automated processes, humans are deliberately kept in the loop to perform approval and manual processes. This was to keep them current and to practice what they need to do.

The other example was the Air France flight 447 accident which could have been prevented if the humans in the cockpit were not so accustomed to flying on autopilot for years, and they could have still assessed what went wrong using their manual flight skills.

It really brings to the foreground some of the inherent issues we have with humans, and how these can manifest themselves when humans work with, or let AI do their work for them.

The real meat of the article though, is the long term effects, and how junior engineers become senior engineers through hard effort, diagnosing and understanding problems, and struggling for hours to fix something. Most of today's senior engineers and designers went through these stages when they started out as junior engineers. This learning process is vital to later growth and success in most field. What I learnt this way in the 1990s, I still applied many decades later, even with newer technology, as I understood how the fundamentals fitted together and interacted together.

We've already seen signs of this reality with studies about students using AI and where, without the AI in exams, they actually score lower than students who did their studying without AI. Of course there are always exceptions to this, and it is certainly not that AI is just all bad, but it is how we use AI with humans that is important.

Another study I have quoted before, also showed that organisations fared economically better when AI was overseen by humans using it, versus organisations trying to just replace humans with AI.

What is becoming clear, is there is nothing wrong with AI, and it will be part of our future just like telephones are, but we need to think about AI's usage alongside humans to ensure a good future for both. It is no good, in 20 years time when today's senior engineers are due to retire, to then wake up and realise we don't have any suitable senior engineers to replace them.

It also brings home what I have preached before about just outsourcing everything to an external cloud provider. The organisation loses all its ability to deeply evaluate and quality assure any cloud provider because they have lost their own internal skills. If you ever want to withdraw from that external cloud provider, they have nothing to fall back on.

It all comes down to the same final argument in the linked article: “Deliberate inefficiency is not waste. In safety-critical engineering we have always known it as insurance, and we buy it on purpose”.

The linked article is really well worth reading, and should be part of any AI awareness training for senior management. Just looking too at some humans who have committed suicide based on “advice from their AI therapists” we humans have our own failings, and we need to consider how we use and interact with AI to harness it successfully into the future. This is probably going to be really fertile ground for doctoral thesis in the coming years.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/ai-efficiency-could-cost-us-the-next-generation-of-experts/
#ai #skills #technology

Immurok Fingerprint Key Unlocks Linux, Approves SSH and AI Agents ...

2026-09-12T20:00:33Z

Immurok Fingerprint Key Unlocks Linux, Approves SSH and AI Agents

“It is a tiny wireless box that can unlock your desktop session, approve a sudo command, authenticate via polkit, log you into a server over SSH, generate TOTP codes for 2FA, and put a physical touch in front of an AI coding agent. And it does all of that with the same finger, over Bluetooth. The good news is that the core features work. The less good news is that on Linux, getting there was not as simple as touching a sensor.”

So, yes no ready to use graphical interface like Windows, and macOS users get, but it can be setup and got to work, and after that it seems pretty seamless.

You always have your passwords to fall back to, if you leave your finger behind or lose it somewhere.

It is a Kickstarter project, but good to see there is a working review unit, so it is not vaporware.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/immurok-fingerprint-key-unlocks-linux-approves-ssh-and-ai-agents/
#linux #security #technology

Australians Could Soon Opt Out of Social Media Algorithms ...

2026-09-09T21:00:43Z

Australians Could Soon Opt Out of Social Media Algorithms Altogether

“The Australian government is proposing to give social media users the option to switch off the default algorithmic feed, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday. Under the draft legislation, “Digital Duty of Care”, users could opt to see only posts from the people they follow on platforms like Instagram or TikTok, instead of what the algorithm curates for them personally.”

Now this really does make sense for quite a few reasons:

It would go a long way to cutting down on the social media “doom-scrolling” addition that many users have.

It is a cleaner feed which is more relevant to users wanting to follow family or friends.

It is an easy measure to hold Big Tech accountable for.

Most importantly too it should cut down on many viral posts with misinformation etc, as the user should actually not see those being inserted into the feed.

This indirectly also reduces the spread of viral misinformation, as they can't take root across all users' feeds anymore.

It's not going to stop adverts being served, nor metadata being harvested by Big Tech (nor the sharing of that data to data brokers or “partners”). For this, you still want to rather move off to decentralised and federated types of social media.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/australians-could-soon-opt-out-of-social-media-algorithms-altogether/
#doomscrolling #socialmedia #technology

I discovered KDE’s hidden superpowers after installing these 3 ...

2026-09-08T15:00:23Z

I discovered KDE’s hidden superpowers after installing these 3 open-source utilities

“If you've been in the Linux space for a while, you know just how customisable KDE Plasma can be. However, a lot of us only limit that customisation to picking the theme or moving the panel. What surprises me is how many plug-in surfaces Plasma exposes that I barely even touched. On top of that, they sit right next to the Plasma features you probably use daily. Well, the timing is perfect because Plasma 6.7 just arrived back in June 2026. When 6.8 comes out, it's going to drop support for X11 and become Wayland-exclusive. So, all the tools I've picked for this work on Wayland.”

I've been on Plasma KDE for a long time now, because I'm very happy with it, and love the customisation as well as some of the power apps that come with KDE.

But even I forget that things progress and newer apps and features come along. What quite impressed me in this article, was the Panel Colorizer. It really overlays and skins your existing panel so you don't need to configure anything new. You just get to make it look quite stunning and visually appealing. As oner commenter said, Plasma is a never ending journey of discovery. There is always more you can explore and do with it.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-discovered-kdes-hidden-superpowers-after-installing-these-3-open-source-utilities/
#kde #opensource #plasma #technology

Kept is an open-source self-hosted alternative to Google Keep ...

2026-09-06T20:00:20Z

Kept is an open-source self-hosted alternative to Google Keep notes

It looks and feels like Google Keep notes, but is private and tracker-free. It has some extra features too, such as location notifications, CalDAV integrations, collaborative editing, file attachments, etc.

Kept is designed for people who love fast, low-friction note capture. Whether you need a quick checklist, a drawing, or a simple text note, Kept makes it effortless to jot things down and organise them visually with colours and labels.

I imported over 500 of my notes form Google Keep, using Kept's import tool, and they came across exactly as I used them in Keep with same colours, labels, images, and pinned status.

You can host it in Docker on a virtual private server or your desktop, or using the Railway hosting service. Mobile apps are available on iOS and Android, or as a Progressive Web App (PWA).

Watch my video at

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/kept-is-an-open-source-self-hosted-alternative-to-google-keep-notes/
#notes #opensource #selfhosting #technology

“I’m Not Dead Yet!” Reverse Polish Notation Calculators You ...

2026-09-02T18:00:11Z

“I’m Not Dead Yet!” Reverse Polish Notation Calculators You Can Still Buy

“RPN isn’t exactly the way people calculate with pencil and paper, and it certainly wasn’t derived from the slide rule, but there is a similarity in the way you work. With a slide rule, you generally establish some value, operate on it, and continue from the result. When doing a long-hand calculation, you often calculate a subexpression, write down the answer, and use that answer in the next step. You will probably start with the inner parenthesis and work outward, just like someone with an RPN calculator does. RPN formalises that process with a stack.”

I still have my HP41CV, and it still works well 40 years on. RPN is actually a highly effective way of doing complex calculations. Once it is understood, it is quite intuitive. My HP41CV was RPN-only, so I got very used to using it.

It is good to see there are still options available to buy, and I did not know about the Linux AppImage for HP Prime Virtual Calculator. Neither had I seen the CalcTastic Android app — must say it works very nicely, and I do love the many theme options.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/im-not-dead-yet-reverse-polish-notation-calculators-you-can-still-buy/
#calculators #rpn #technology

yes that would take it to a whole different level, but the ...

2026-09-01T14:14:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…m4kr
_________________________

yes that would take it to a whole different level, but the intention with tethering was not automation per se, and more mirroring I think. I suppose though, it could be a link in an automation chain though.

Tether Brings the Apple Continuity Experience to Linux ...

2026-08-31T20:00:38Z

Tether Brings the Apple Continuity Experience to Linux

“Continuity. That is Apple's catch-all term for how iPhone, iPad, and Mac talk to each other. It covers a wide range of small conveniences. Copy something on the iPhone and paste it on the Mac. Start an email on one device and finish it on another. Take a call from the Mac even when the phone is across the room. But, to no one's surprise, there's a gap in its support. It doesn't officially work on Linux. So Zack built Tether, an open source project that replicates pieces of that experience on Linux without requiring a Mac device.”

Yes there is KDE Connect, but apparently Tether goes a bit deeper than that for Apple. So this may be interesting for Apple users to try out with Linux.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/tether-brings-the-apple-continuity-experience-to-linux/
#ios #opensource #technology

Could flipping Raise wrist to wake and Always On Display (AOD) ...

2026-08-31T15:00:38Z

Could flipping Raise wrist to wake and Always On Display (AOD) improve battery life?

This is an interesting option to try (I have a Pebble watch, so battery life is not an issue). The theory is that raising the wrist normally kicks the full CPU on to check time, and that probably triggers quite a bit when you don't want it to.

Turing off the raise wrist activation, but also enabling AOD, could result in less battery usage.

I suppose this may differ between watches and people, so it is something one needs to try and see what difference it makes. The theory could make sense though.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/could-flipping-raise-wrist-to-wake-and-always-on-display-aod-improve-battery-life/
#batterylife #technology

Scientist learns in front of peers why we cannot trust AI Blindly ...

2026-08-29T17:00:37Z

Scientist learns in front of peers why we cannot trust AI Blindly

“Sutter’s cringe-inducing tale perfectly illustrates how many users of AI tools are putting themselves at risk without knowing it, including in the most rarefied echelons of academia. The science world has been inundated with poorly-researched and often unedited AI slop, a major reckoning forcing academics to be responsible for everything they publish — including any potentially embarrassing hallucinations.”

Don't get me wrong here, AI can be extremely useful, but its usefulness comes when it is overseen by humans. You cannot just sit back and assume AI is correct. It does often hallucinate, and needs savvy contextual checking by humans.

Businesses that just let agentic AI loose, have a good chance of failing. In April 2026, the software company PocketOS lost its entire production database and backups after an AI coding agent named Cursor, powered by Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6, autonomously deleted the data in nine seconds. When employing AI, you want to ensure you do have experienced humans watching over it. I still prefer to read the outputs and then manually click allow, before letting AI just update things itself. My AI also has a standing instruction to always back up any file before it makes changes.

It's quite true that AI is little more than a sophisticated next-word predictor. It appears to be very clever, and it wants to please you, but it has no real intelligence despite what marketers of AI tell to CEOs.

Don't discount AI either though, as a person using their savvy with AI and who has some experience of what is being performed, is a lot more effective than someone just not using AI at all today. So I would never ridicule anyone using AI, as it is where the future is going to be, they just need to be cautious as to how it is applied.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/scientist-learns-in-front-of-peers-why-we-cannot-trust-ai-blindly/
#ai #technology

HAMgpt Launches as a Personal AI Copilot Built Specifically for ...

2026-08-28T21:00:36Z

HAMgpt Launches as a Personal AI Copilot Built Specifically for Amateur Radio

“Unlike a general-purpose chatbot, HAMgpt is built around the real operating situation of each ham. It can take into account the operator's license class, country, grid square, radios, antennas and operating history, then combine that station profile with live propagation, space weather, DX activity and current on-air conditions.”

This is quite interesting as it is not just a rebranded chatbot, it actually checks the various live reporting sites that many ham operators use. Just a lot quicker and more broadly, and applies that to the specific operators circumstances. HAMgpt is designed to work like a personal digital Elmer that already knows the operator's station.

It appears otherwise to look like any AI chatbot, so plain English queries work perfectly, making it easy for non-technical users too.

There is a free tier with five AI queries per day, but it does require registering an account.

See or

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/hamgpt-launches-as-a-personal-ai-copilot-built-specifically-for-amateur-radio/
#ai #amateurradio #hamradio #technology

Image Toolbox is an open source Android app for social media ...

2026-08-28T21:00:27Z

Image Toolbox is an open source Android app for social media creators

“For you, as a content creator, the tools that matter the most are batch processing, format conversion, the 61 built-in export presets sized for platforms like Instagram, X, and YouTube, background removal, and watermarking. The latter, background removal, comes in both automatic and manual modes, with a choice of models including MlKit, U2Net, RMBG, and BiRefNet.”

It has many such tools, and is available both on the official Play Store (published by ProgiX), but also on the F-Droid store.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/image-toolbox-is-an-open-source-android-app-for-social-media-creators/
#contentcreation #opensource #socialmedia #technology

The Days Of Broadcast Digital TV Could Be Numbered “When the ...

2026-08-26T18:00:27Z

The Days Of Broadcast Digital TV Could Be Numbered

“When the analogue TV signals were turned off in most places around fifteen years ago, their replacement took the form of a set of digital multiplexes. ATSC for North America, and DVB-T for Europe and other places. This would deliver a multichannel broadcasting solution for the future, and this would be how those not on a cable would consume their telly. It’s a surprise then to find that some governments are already looking at turning off digital TV broadcasting, with the UK in particular wanting to put a date on the switch-off of 2032.”

It always seems bad when radio rolls backwards as it is the ideal medium for disasters and emergencies, but despite that, the trend amongst consumers today is less broadcast TV (having migrated to cable TV, Internet streaming, YouTube) and the same often for audio FM broadcast radio (I listen to podcasts in the car and never the radio, whilst others listen to Facebook).

But actually despite that, radio is still actively used across police, emergency services, ambulances, etc for speed and reliability, especially when teams and groups need to coordinate. One could say something like WhatsApp or Zello could be used, but they aren't used as a primary communications tool in these teams. The problem is apart from the Internet going off for any short periods, phones must have data, users must have apps installed, they must have phones available, etc. And everything short range with phones must travel via that app provider and the phone network (data). Disaster events generally also mean congested phone and SMS networks, delaying those mediums of communication.

Radio bypasses all of that. Most radios don't rely on a network (apart from maybe trunk radio), don't rely on data expiring or being bought, they work instantly at the press of a button, and the devices are provided by the employer, which sets the standard for what will be used by all in the team.

It's why, as much as ham radio operators also have lots of digital modes and satellites etc, we still also rely on the faithful fallback of VHF and HF phone radio — it just works across all users everywhere as it is the one thing all operators have, and were licensed to use.

Given Oudtshoorn's (in South Africa) recent 4 to 5 days without power, it is not a given that power will just stay on at all times. In any disaster there is a chance that power as well as the Internet (along with VoIP phones and Microsoft OneDrive) go offline. Disaster and emergency personnel will still be using their radios and keeping essential communications alive as their initial response.

If those radio networks also start to fail due to extended outages, we as ham radio operators will be responsible for re-establishing communications locally and further afield, using our “fallback radios” and our communications savvy to “make it work”.

And on the topic of traditional radio, I can say now that Cape Town has over 180 MeshCore radio nodes across the city, and many of them operated by ordinary citizens without any radio knowledge. MeshCore links Cape Town to Worcester in the East, and up to Saldanha and past Piketberg 160 km to the North. It is fostering good relations across suburbs where no-one was even aware of the other person before. This has a backbone of solar-powered repeaters that will survive any extended power outage no matter how long it lasts. It is all pure radio without any Internet required.

When everything else needs a network, radio is the network. Or as HAMNET says: “When all else fails, amateur radio will not fail”.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/the-days-of-broadcast-digital-tv-could-be-numbered/
#disasters #radio #technology

Quest VR Headset Becomes Unlocked Hardware “The Quest virtual ...

2026-08-26T18:00:27Z

Quest VR Headset Becomes Unlocked Hardware

“The Quest virtual reality headset gets a fully unlocked bootloader thanks to the QuestStack tool, which automates a complex process of privilege escalation to provide stable, privileged access to the hardware. This solidly frees the headset from its existence as a device tied to Meta’s walled garden, although the tool only works on the Quest 1.”

I was on the point on buying one of these back in the day but was not at all keen on Meta owning them (of all the IT companies on Earth). But I'm glad it is open as it can at least be experimented with now, and there is freedom to use it in other possible ways. Interesting innovations may come of this.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/quest-vr-headset-becomes-unlocked-hardware/
#technology #vr

I tested out the new Elecrow ThinkNode M9 with MeshCore ...

2026-08-25T20:00:49Z

I tested out the new Elecrow ThinkNode M9 with MeshCore Decentralised Radio Network

For those who don't know, MeshCore (similar to Meshtastic and same hardware LoRa radios) is a decentralised radio network that runs in the license free bands. It's a great way of being in contact with neighbouring suburbs and towns. I Cape Town we have just passed 180 to 190 nodes (chat and repeaters) and it stretches oof to the East over the mountain to Worcester, and Northwards about 167 km to Saldanha and other side of Picketberg.

I just bought this newly launched Blackberry style device to use on the network. It is similar, but slightly different to the LilyGO T-Deck. It does some impressive stuff, I tried a few firmwares out on it, and there are some pros and cons to using an all-in-one device like this.

I've settled on using the free and open source WADAMESH firmware, and it has quite blown me away with all it can do.

There is a lot of info, as well as screen photos, that I wanted to share so it is best to view it all on my website at the link below. There is also an additional link on that page, to tips on using WADAMESH specifically on the M9.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-tested-out-the-new-elecrow-thinknode-m9-with-meshcore-decentralised-radio-network/
#meshcore #opensource #technology #thinknodem9

You're proposing a whole different solution which is not what ...

2026-08-22T18:12:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…dz0r
_________________________

You're proposing a whole different solution which is not what I'm looking for. Jellyfin works perfectly well, and I use front ends like Music Assistant and Navidrome in front of it, as well as Android apps that source the music from Jellyfin. It is already all self-contained.

Is it going to work in my Jellyfin library and set the playlists?

2026-08-22T18:02:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…4nw7
_________________________

Is it going to work in my Jellyfin library and set the playlists?

Jellyfin Playlist Membership — Easily browse Jellyfin Music ...

2026-08-22T16:00:39Z

Jellyfin Playlist Membership — Easily browse Jellyfin Music song titles to add or remove from playlists

I wanted to quickly see which of my song titles are already in which playlists, and to quickly add them to other playlists or remove them etc. There is just no view that does this inside Jellyfin, and neither in Music Assistant nor Navidrome. You can do it by opening and closing each one, but that is very messy and time-consuming.

I iterated through something with Claude Code to create a simple HTML file that allows me to do this much quicker and slicker now. It also has some sort functionality, and you can play a track to hear it, and even delete it from your library to clean things up. As I have multiple folders on Jellyfin Music that separate radio shows, there is also an option filter for folders at the top of the screen.

Hopefully this helps others who have had a similar challenge and wondered why this was not a built-in feature.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/jellyfin-playlist-membership-easily-browse-jellyfin-music-song-titles-to-add-or-remove-from-playlists/
#jellyfin #music #opensource #technology

Moving your Linux home folder to a dedicated drive is the ...

2026-08-19T19:00:40Z

Moving your Linux home folder to a dedicated drive is the distro-hopping secret I wish I knew earlier

“Home is where the heart is. On Linux, home is where everything personal to you is: your documents, downloads, screenshots, and configuration. In fact, your home is so special, you really ought to be showing it a bit more love. When you first installed Linux, you might’ve overlooked the option to use a custom disk setup—and nobody would blame you for doing so. But take your time to understand the benefits, and a highly portable, easily upgradable system is yours for the taking.”

Although I've stopped distro hopping, I did still move earlier this year from Manjaro to EndeavourOS. It was completely painless seeing I've long had my home folder on a separate hard drive (although a separate partition is also fine).

The key reasons are:

No worry about overwriting your important documents, settings etc when installing a new Linux distro as /home is physically separated.

Can test new distro with a separate / root with your data.

I have a higher speed NVMe boot drive whilst my /home folder sits on a bigger slower hard drive.

It is really well worth setting up.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/moving-your-linux-home-folder-to-a-dedicated-drive-is-the-distro-hopping-secret-i-wish-i-knew-earlier/
#linux #technology

The Powerful Chinese AI Model Experts Warned About Is Here The ...

2026-08-18T20:00:58Z

The Powerful Chinese AI Model Experts Warned About Is Here

The “best” model is not always the “best” model for you. Why I say this, is because Z.ai's model is still outperformed in some dimensions by proprietary models from Anthropic for example. But can you afford to actually use that top end “best of the best” model?

Very usually you cannot afford them. Now consider that the new model for Z.ai is only a few percentage points (depending on what benchmarks you look at) behind Anthropic's Fable 5, but the cost is only 25% of the cost. You end up with a situation, that what you can afford through Z.ai is way better than you'll get from Anthropic or OpenAI (given like for like payment).

I have not done in-depth testing between Claude Pro and Z.ai, but I have thrown some similar challenges to both, and I got pretty good answers from them both. The difference is I'm on the free tier of Z.ai yest I have some access to their current flagship GLM-5.2 model (5.3 is only being released in a week or two), whilst on the Pro level paid Claude subscription, I'm locked out from using their flagship Fable 5 model unless I pay usage credits over and above my subscription.

It also does not seem that the proprietary US based models are fully private either. Someone was recently prosecuted after their AI model chat history was produced as evidence. We have also seen that some API keys and other information got recycled as output to others. The advice has been to not feed private notes and documents with API keys and secrets to cloud based models. All I'm saying here is that privacy is also not some feature separating proprietary AI Models from open weight models.

The very nature of how AI models are trained, means they have all “stolen” information from various sources across the Internet. None of them can claim to be fully self-taught without any hint of theft.

There is a lot depending on the future of AI, some say that can be as much as a country's entire economy being at stake. So lots of money and high stakes, as well as the weaponisation of AI, means this is becoming a lot like politics. Who can you believe is telling the truth, who is trying to sell us vapourware, who could be spying on us through AI, who could pull the rug out from under us, etc?

Either ways though, we should be thankful for two things:

There is right now no “Microsoft” of AI totally dominating the market, so we are seeing healthy and credible competition.

There is certainly the ability to self-host AI, not to the level of the big cloud providers, but certainly fit for most purposes and fully private.

But given that, it is a difficult call to make, and to decide decisively which path to take. Where do you bet your money, as a lot of customisation and work goes into adopting whichever technology you choose? Or do you take the slower more focussed middle road of trying to enable some in-house hosting and skills development. In the latter case, you build incrementally upon what you do, and there is no sudden rug pulling out from under you.

Personally, I've always been a proponent of the latter path, rather being in more control of what is built and ensuring absolute privacy. I've viewed Big Tech cloud services as land grabs and lock-ins. Yes they're convenient, they're quick, and they cost less in the short term, but that turns against you later on as your data is no longer under your control, getting it out later is very expensive and not easy, and the vendor lock-in and cost increases are very real.

Which is why my own cloud subscription is only paid month-to-month. I'm ready to switch or go fully self-hosted once I can get a more mature setup. Businesses don't always have that luxury though.

What I would bet on though, is that AI is here to stay. It is no passing fad. It is the same as moving from steam power to internal combustion engines. The world is moving on, and it is now just a question of which wave we ride, and how it helps leverage whatever we do. We're not going every going back to an age of no cellphones, no Internet, etc, much as I may sometimes wish we could.

Yet, the more digitally instant and interconnected everything becomes, I realise too how very little we own in that world, and how it can be gone in the blink of an eye. I still fear this generation may lose the most of its heritage in the future millennia. Our innovation has outstripped our abilities to preserve the volumes of data we are creating daily. In the year 3030 or 4030, if humans are even still around, they may know more about Ancient Rome than from 2026. I'm not speaking here about Wikipedia, I'm speaking about my and your hard drives at home, and in hundreds of millions of other homes, all collecting documents, photos, memories… They're all going to become lost to civilisation within just 50 to 80 years. Clouds are also not the answer, as they do shut down eventually, and memorialised accounts just get lost.

So who knows, maybe our data being sucked up (stolen) by AI, means it somehow grows and prospers on deeply embedded inside of AI, as it gets “restolen” between different AI providers

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/the-powerful-chinese-ai-model-experts-warned-about-is-here/
#ai #archiving #technology

Open Source Caving: 20 Years of Making Cave Mapping Tools “In ...

2026-08-18T18:01:06Z

Open Source Caving: 20 Years of Making Cave Mapping Tools

“In his talk Open Source Caving: 20 Years of Making Cave Mapping Tools at Hackaday Europe 2026, Phil takes us through a series of progressively more advanced open hardware devices that he’s designed to increase the speed and accuracy of underground mapping efforts. Along the way, he’s learned a number of valuable lessons about designing hardware that’s robust enough to handle the uniquely challenging environment underground while still being accessible enough for a hobbyist to build and use.”

Interesting, and entertaining, to listen to this talk about the progression of the technology being used. So true too that these environments require dustproof, shockproof, and waterproof devices. And of course all being open source, means anyone can reproduce it and improve it too.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/open-source-caving-20-years-of-making-cave-mapping-tools/
#caving #opensource #technology

N64 classic GoldenEye 007 has been 100% decompiled, paving the ...

2026-08-18T17:00:58Z

N64 classic GoldenEye 007 has been 100% decompiled, paving the way for mods and ports

“Rare's GoldenEye 007, which dropped back in 1997, is one of the most influential games in history. It arguably established the FPS genre on consoles thanks to its local four-player split-screen multiplayer. Before GoldenEye 007's release, PC was the dominant platform for FPS games, with titles like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake defining the genre. It's likely that if it weren't for GoldenEye 007, as janky as it is by modern standards, we never would have gotten first-person shooter mainstay series like Halo and Call of Duty.”

So it will be like playing a piece of history actually when this port goes public. One also has to remember that this game is nearly 30 years old and the time it was the cutting edge of graphics and gameplay. It sounds like it may hit various platforms.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/n64-classic-goldeneye-007-has-been-100-decompiled-paving-the-way-for-mods-and-ports/
#gaming #retro #technology

Cheap USB-C chargers are actually fine—these 4 specs are all ...

2026-08-17T18:00:54Z

Cheap USB-C chargers are actually fine—these 4 specs are all that matter

“These days, buying a charger requires you to be familiar with USB PD, PPS, GaN, and a handful of other acronyms, on top of having to check wattage, making it surprisingly difficult to figure out which specs actually matter. The good news is that I'm here to help you figure out how to buy a charger that's fast, reliable, and safe without spending more than you need to.”

And something many people don't understand, is that it takes three devices in the chain to deliver proper USB-C performance. That cable connecting the charger and the user device, is absolutely vital. If it does not have the electronic chips embedded on either end in the plugs, and the correct spec cable, everything is going to default to low power, and even worse, only power without any data communications. So do not skimp on USB-C cable quality.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/cheap-usb-c-chargers-are-actually-fine-these-4-specs-are-all-that-matter/
#technology #usbc

And of experience still benefits even from short term failures

2026-08-17T14:11:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…2433
_________________________

And of experience still benefits even from short term failures

Something I learnt was perseverance and curiosity outweighs ...

2026-08-16T19:49:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…jrxa
_________________________

Something I learnt was perseverance and curiosity outweighs absolute knowledge

I should have guessed!

2026-08-16T16:44:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…9frx
_________________________

I should have guessed!

Not an actual fork though: nfSensei is an open source spiritual ...

2026-08-16T16:43:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…t6f7
_________________________

Not an actual fork though: nfSensei is an open source spiritual successor of pfSense, by the original creator, for Linux

nfSensei is an open source fork of pfSense, by the original ...

2026-08-16T12:00:53Z

nfSensei is an open source fork of pfSense, by the original creator, for Linux

“nfSensei is a modern network operating system built from scratch in Rust with a React frontend, designed around a single principle: one API to rule them all. The CLI, the web UI, and the on-device AI assistant all flow through the same API surface. No drift, no divergence, no surprises. The entire system ships as five self-contained binaries. The nushell-based CLI has 400+ commands. The Kensho design system provides 40+ themes. And Clyde, the on-device AI, brings intelligence directly to the firewall without shipping your data to the cloud.”

I see a lot of similarities in Scott's journey through computers to my own. As he says he has learnt a lot of lessons along the way. I spent quite a bit of time tossing up between pfSense and OPNsense before I decided to go the OPNsense route. Either ways, these systems give a lot of freedom from the commercial router and firewall vendors who tend to cripple their offerings.

From FreeBSD to pfSense to nfSensei — Scott Ulrich has spent two decades of building open-source network operating systems. So I'm going to be very interested to see where this project goes, and I have no doubt it will be a major success.

Interestingly, and I suppose logical enough, it has a configuration import from OPNsense and pfSense, but right now this is not ready yet for production use.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/nfsensei-is-an-open-source-fork-of-pfsense-by-the-original-creator-for-linux/
#firewalls #nfsensei #opensource #pfsense #technology

FairEmail is an open source privacy orientated email app “Setup ...

2026-08-15T22:00:52Z

FairEmail is an open source privacy orientated email app

“Setup was IMAP credentials for each of my personal accounts. There's no account to create with the developer or a sign-in step before you can reach your inbox. Two things in the listing made it appealing to 1 million+ users, including me. The app requires no special permissions, and it doesn't use Firebase Cloud Messaging, which is how most Android apps receive push. Instead, it holds an IMAP IDLE connection open to the mail server, so new messages arrive without Google in the middle. It's also the lightest mail client I've installed in years.”

Yes, this is not for connecting to business accounts (unless they have a plain IMAP login) but it is really ideal for keeping your mail private more private. Too many services today want to suck everything up, either to protect the children, or to “enhance their offerings to you”.

It's true this makes little difference if you actually have your mail service at Microsoft or Google, but I recently moved to Zoho Mail. It costs me around R115 per year (that is like US$8 or so) which is perfectly affordable, and they are not in the business of pushing ads into your mail, or hoovering it up for AI, etc. On my desktop I use BetterBird (a fork of Thunderbird) that pulls my mail and consolidates it into a combined inbox. I also use my personal domain name with my mail so I can switch providers later if I want to, without having to change my e-mail address everywhere.

I've realised we have to push back against getting locked into everything all the time. We lose our privacy, we kill competition, and we lose our freedom to move away easily.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/fairemail-is-an-open-source-privacy-orientated-email-app/
#email #opensource #privacy #technology #vendorlockin

I Remember These Modular Electronics Kits It's a real pity ...

2026-08-15T21:00:54Z

I Remember These Modular Electronics Kits

It's a real pity these kits are no longer around as they really “spark” an interest in building practical things, and in electronics.

Mine was a 50-in-1 kit I think, and came in a wooden frame. You got all the various components fixed to the board with wire springs on the top as the connector points. There were resistors, capacitors, a variable resistor (like a volume knob), a diode, a speaker, and various other components. By connecting wires between the spring terminals, you “made circuits” for whatever project you were building.

Some projects were a burglar alarm, or a radio, or an FM transmitter, and plenty more. But what it taught you, was that many complex devices are just built up from basic components wired together differently. Also, you learnt that with a few components you could build many devices that actually have a practical use.

I progressed from there to etching circuit boards and building my own infrared TV remote control and more devices. Which in turn led to CB radios and other hobbies.

This was all before the Internet was even known about, and also long before home computers. It was books and magazines which published such designs, and you waited until they were published, and you bought them in a store.

I get that we have the Internet and computers now, but I'd really have thought that such a kit would still have interested 10-year-olds today. Learning to physically build things is a creative skill we really want to encourage today.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-remember-these-modular-electronics-kits/
#electronics #technology

Homelabbers and Desktop Tweakers may want to move beyond just ...

2026-08-14T12:00:46Z

Homelabbers and Desktop Tweakers may want to move beyond just plain AI chat

The days of asking AI a question, or pasting a config file in, and then pasting (or typing) the updated file back, are no longer needed. I have over 47 running docker containers, with almost as many stopped, and when I want to create a new docker stack I'm never sure if there will be a port clash. Now I can just ask an agentic AI to check all my stopped and running containers and fix any port clashes, restart containers, diagnose why something is not working, check reverse proxy arrangements, etc.

Agentic AI is a term often heard, but in simple English, it is AI that actually does stuff, not just answer questions. Sometimes there is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server to install, or a connector, or a plugin. Those mechanisms give selected access to the AI to actually do tasks like reading and updating a config file itself, check log files and advise on corrective actions (or even do those actions), etc.

A chatbot AI answers questions, but an Agentic AI is a combination of AI with carefully selected tools installed, and permissions that must be granted by the user.

In my earlier example with Docker Portainer, I put some code into Claude's config to connect to my Portainer instance on the LAN directly. In this way it can read all my existing container configs and learn what style I'm already using, and create something that really fits my environment with its unique volume mappings, etc. I also gave it directory access to my Conky config files (and the scripts folder for that) so that it can tweak any changes I require.

I have also installed the n8n connector which has taken my breath away. The n8n service is workflow automation tool (for example I use a n8n workflow for checking my blog RSS feed, and then automatically pushing my posts out to the various social media accounts I post at). That is usually a lot of back and forth as I have to fix small issues. Now Claude uses the n8n connector and literally creates a n8n workflow from scratch for me. Yesterday it created a workflow to search my Nextcloud Notes content, retrieve it, update it, add new notes. It tested and figured out what did not work, and applied the fixes all by itself (with me just reviewing and clicking apply for the various write actions).

So many possibilities open up, but there are some safeguards worth keeping in mind:

Most such connectors have permissions that default to ask first. You can go a step further by granting always read permission, and keeping ask before writing, or if you are really living on the edge then permission granted for read/write/delete/overwrite automatically (and only for trusted tools).

I have told Claude to remember to always back up any config file that it is going to write to or edit, but more importantly I have my own automated and independent backups that I can restore myself if I have to.

Filesystem connectors require you to add specific paths first. Do not add the root folder, but stick to just specified folders you want help on.

The Portainer access for example cannot access the .env files where typically passwords and API keys are stored (in Claude's case for this connector so you may want to check on what you use for this).

The cloud side cannot reach inside your network or desktop without a locally-running connector. So when you want the AI to reach your LAN, filesystem, Docker socket, localhost services, etc you need to install an appropriate local connector/bridge service.

Ask to review differences before applying changes.

Don't give an AI access to secrets merely because a tool happens to be capable of reading them. You can often put secrets into a file elsewhere, where your scripts can put them in themselves, but AI has no access to read that folder.

But start small and just give it access to one useful thing. This lets you see what it can do, and then you can decide whether you want to give it more. Even a few small automated tasks end up saving a lot of time down the road.

And yes, some AI tools are better than others at some tasks. So when I asked Gemini which would be best for my types of tweaking and configs that I do in my home lab, it recommended Claude without hesitation. Chat is still also very useful for asking questions about setting up your Agentic AI capabilities, and what safeguards you should apply.

I decided to also start paying for AI now as it is performing a truly useful function, and saving me money not only in time now, but also to better utilise the free self-hosting services that I have. I have already saved more than $20 per month on other subscription services (see my video about what Wallos did for me — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9F4szRS6mY).

It is not to say AI is perfect (it still needs human supervision) but it is undoubtedly a super tool to help make humans more productive themselves. For the same reason humans needed to master the use of the wheel, levers, early cars, telephones, and Internet search engines, if we don't do the same with AI, we could lose our jobs to other humans who do use AI effectively as a tool. Cars and telephones never directly threatened jobs at all, in fact they created many new types of jobs, but those who harnessed those technologies gained leverage over those who just ignored them. Whether we like it or not, the world has moved on to another level. The great advantage we have with this new tool is, we can even ask it how we can use it better and more safely (just check its answer elsewhere too!).

The more worrying side we will need to solve, is how AI is being weaponised for hacking attacks, and even more dangerous, for creation of convincing AI-generated misinformation that can destabilise whole countries. This is something we need to solve, because cars, phones, the Internet, etc are also all used for bad purposes too, but they don't just get cancelled.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/homelabbers-and-desktop-tweakers-may-want-to-move-beyond-just-plain-ai-chat/
#ai #homelab #selfhosting #technology

Very true, as they could potentially be worked inside the ...

2026-08-11T16:30:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…qa2y
_________________________

Very true, as they could potentially be worked inside the content. Advertisers must already be panicking as the search model just collapses. Sadly they are also the money behind many things so they won't just disappear without trace. Somehow they're going to be inside of AI too.

Thanks I appreciate that. I try to prioritise quality over the ...

2026-08-11T16:29:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…swxe
_________________________

Thanks I appreciate that. I try to prioritise quality over the sake of quantity ;-)

I think Brave has its own private AI summaries and search too?

2026-08-11T16:27:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…x0rz
_________________________

I think Brave has its own private AI summaries and search too?

The routing is more network/repeater related. It was the ...

2026-08-11T16:25:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…7aaa
_________________________

The routing is more network/repeater related. It was the functionality.

I think I forgot the key analysis and assumptions?

2026-08-11T16:21:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…6ryl
_________________________

I think I forgot the key analysis and assumptions?

SoloMD is a simpler markdown open-source app that opens your ...

2026-08-11T15:00:35Z

SoloMD is a simpler markdown open-source app that opens your whole Obsidian vault

“Obsidian is probably one of the best note-taking apps out there, but it's not open-source, which is fine, there are perfectly good reasons for that. But a part of the Obsidian user base has always wanted a properly open-source alternative, one that isn't half-finished or abandoned. So when SoloMD popped up as MIT-licensed and Markdown-native with a built-in AI panel, it seemed worth a look. What it turned out to be was a Markdown editor that opens an Obsidian vault as-is without an import setup, and then it also handles a bunch of functions you'd only assume Obsidian can.”

Of course, markdown being markdown, this works with any markdown files. It does not have any formatting menu bar though, so if you want to say bold some text, you do have to type the asterisks in. With its Live edit WYSIWYG mode, you do see the rendering as it should appear. That is at least something great about Obsidian too. 13 code-block languages, KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, footnotes, YAML front-matter, ==highlight== (including use of colour codes), and underlined text. But SoloMD plays nicely with everything, and apart from the markdown files and editing working just fine, it has built-in AI functionality.

Beware though, if you point the AI to an external cloud AI provider, your note content will go out to that cloud provider, complete with any sensitive data.

Although SoloMD does not have a nice WYSIWYG table editor, I did fine I could paste the table in the AI window, and asked my AI to insert an extra column in column 2. I pointed the AI to my Llama server AI and that worked just fine, as did querying it about my note, etc. But it did not just stop at pointing outwards to Llama server, as SoloMD can also expose its own built in MCP service (Exposes the open workspace as a Model Context Protocol server so Claude Desktop / Codex / Cursor can list, read, search, write your notes). Note again that you want to think about what you are exposing, but it can be handy for say Claude Code to consult your own notes about coding work, when thinking.

It even has a built-in BYOK cost meter, that calculates the cost of tokens used for OpenAI or Groq (the latter of course allowing a generous free tier per day).

What caught my eye actually about SoloMD, was this really rich enablement of AI into the application. You decide though what you want on or off (and everything can be off).

It does its between-device sync using GitHub. They recommend using a private repo on GitHub, and it uses public private key exchange for authentication. From inside SoloMD you can opt to get a public link for any note, and share that to others for viewing. When setting up this vault sync to GitHub you can optionally enable Argon2id + XChaCha20-Poly1305 for end-to-end encryption too. SoloMD just runs git push and git pull so it can be pointed elsewhere too.

It is open-source MIT-licensed, zero telemetry by default, no accounts, no cloud lock-in. Its installer is only 15 MB in size, and it uses around 80–150 MB RAM. It saves plain .md files (not using any proprietary formats) so is fully compatible with other Markdown editors. There are apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

It exports to HTML, Word, PDF, Image (PNG), EPUB, ODT, LaTeX, RTF, Pandoc Template.

It does not have the massive community plug-ins collection that Obsidian has, but it is a really solid and very functional Markdown editor. One thing I'd like to have seen, was custom shortcut keys.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/solomd-is-a-simpler-markdown-open-source-app-that-opens-your-whole-obsidian-vault/
#ai #markdown #opensource #technology

Track Bird Visitors With A Raspberry Pi And A USB Mic “Avian ...

2026-08-09T20:00:28Z

Track Bird Visitors With A Raspberry Pi And A USB Mic

“Avian Visitors is a lovely project by Teddy Warner that uses a Raspberry Pi and microphone to keep track of which birds have been visiting your home, and creates a colourful illustration of recent visitors on top of it all. It reports on a web interface of its own making, but what really takes things to a new level is an optional, stylish E-Ink panel that shows the last 24 hours’ worth of visitors at a glance in a collage.”

The colour E-Ink display showing the birds is a really nice touch. There is quite a bit of potential for this project, and one could just start off with the identification before going for a display.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/track-bird-visitors-with-a-raspberry-pi-and-a-usb-mic/
#birds #opensource #technology

I turned my security cameras into AI assistants with open-source ...

2026-08-09T14:00:26Z

I turned my security cameras into AI assistants with open-source LLM Vision

“LLM Vision is a free, open-source Home Assistant integration that lets an AI model examine the images from your cameras and describe what is happening in those images. LLM Vision doesn't replace systems like Frigate; it builds on top of them. Instead of just getting a notification that a person is detected, the AI model can describe what the person is doing, whether they're carrying a package, which direction they're going, whether they're doing anything unusual, and even describe the person and what they're wearing.”

In 2026, we should not still be rewinding for hours through video from cameras to spot the issue we are looking for. Imagine being able to just ask it, is the garage door open, are the trash cans outside still, when was the cat last seen, etc.

Key though is to really have a LLM running locally that does the work, saving on bandwidth, ensuring privacy, as well as for when the Internet is not reachable.

I only wish I realised all this when I bought a new mini-server and my last graphics card. If I knew how useful it was going to be, having local AI running as a service at home, I would have bought differently. Only my desktop PC has this ability, and it is not running 24/7, and it does other things.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-turned-my-security-cameras-into-ai-assistants-with-open-source-llm-vision/
#cctv #opensource #privacy #technology

Nostr event nevent1qqstx8v2y42cuzlctxs78unkvwj5h075w0v5x6t0jqh2nky70a9u7eczypp2gxtcc5wtqp545xx7djt4fwgwyzxax8fg28nudygy3xwp46srukc6k2k

2026-08-08T22:37:14Z

Capabilities more as the routing or paths is more network side

Netflix accounts taken over in South Africa through session ...

2026-08-08T21:00:36Z

Netflix accounts taken over in South Africa through session cookie hijacking

“These cookies allow users to stay logged in to websites or to save items in a shopping cart even after they exit a site. Through these cookies, cybercriminals have found an exploit that has allowed them to access protected private accounts. They are specifically taking advantage of “remember-me cookies”, which help users log in to different websites and platforms on the Internet without having to re-enter their details.”

This was a big thing about two years ago and safeguards were built into Chrome (and Chromium) browsers but that really worked when the hosting service implemented those Device Bound Session Credentials (DBSC) protections. Seemingly Netflix has not done this. It seems that many entertainment and media platforms still rely on standard long-lived bearer cookies.

Some good practices though for end users are:

Log Out explicitly: Closing a tab leaves the session token alive in local storage. Click Log Out on accounts when finished, which sends a revoke request to the server and invalidates the token.

Use "Sign out of all devices": If you suspect malware or a compromised browser, use the account dashboard (e.g., Netflix's "Manage Access and Devices" or Google's "Security -> Your Devices") to invalidate all current session keys instantly.

Passkeys: Where supported, switch from traditional passwords + long-lived sessions to Passkeys (FIDO2/WebAuthn). Passkey sign-ins rely on public-key cryptography bound to your device's hardware enclave (TPM or security key), making token replication significantly harder for off-device attackers.

Unknown links: Don't click on them is this is often how the session cookies are stolen.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/netflix-accounts-taken-over-in-south-africa-through-session-cookie-hijacking/
#security #southafrica #technology

Google Search is likely Yahooed now This is a lesson that you are ...

2026-08-07T13:01:01Z

Google Search is likely Yahooed now

This is a lesson that you are never too big to disappear. I remember the arrival of Google Search (when that was all they did) and how it collapsed Yahoo search from the scene. Googling even became a verb.

As big and massive as Google Search was, who can say they still go to the Google search site to search, after ever having asked what they are looking for in most AI services today? Even just a year or two ago, most people would have laughed at you if you told them no-one would be actually visiting the Google Search page today.

Just a month ago I used AI to compare available TVs on Amazon Prime Day, and help me arrive at a decision to buy a new TV. It was a more intuitive and interactive process than doing a plain search.

The difference I suppose is, people know Google Search is dumb search (well apart from paid rankings) whilst AI is perceived to be “clever”. AI is not actually clever, but it is at least a step or two above basic search.

So the future battlefield for SEO and adverts will now have to be within AI. I expect the paid accounts will have non/fewer of that versus the masses using free access (the way it has always been).

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/google-search-is-likely-yahooed-now/
#ai #search #technology

RSS-Bridge generates web feeds for websites that don’t have one ...

2026-08-07T11:00:44Z

RSS-Bridge generates web feeds for websites that don’t have one

You can either self-host the service, in many different ways, or there is also an official online instance you can use. The link to that instance is on the GitHub project page at the link below.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/rss-bridge-generates-web-feeds-for-websites-that-dont-have-one/
#opensource #rss #technology

Team South Africa wins at NASA space engineering competition ...

2026-08-06T21:01:05Z

Team South Africa wins at NASA space engineering competition

“The international finals for the world’s longest-running space engineering competition were held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida from 30 July to 2 August. Team ZA was the only African team in the competition. It was South Africa’s first time entering, and no African team had competed before.”

So yes, not a solo win by Team ZA on their own, but it shows the tremendous potential that South Africa has. If only SA could rid itself of the corruption plaguing it still, this potential could be fully realised and innovation could help spur economic growth. We owe this to our youth.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/team-south-africa-wins-at-nasa-space-engineering-competition/
#southafrica #technology

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT free users unlimited text chats ...

2026-08-06T21:01:00Z

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT free users unlimited text chats

“OpenAI is making a big change for ChatGPT users on its free and Go tiers: Starting next week, users on those tiers will be able to have unlimited text chats with the chatbot, according to OpenAI. Right now, you may run into rate limits if you do too many text chats on those tiers, but those limits, just for text, will be going away soon. Next week, OpenAI is also adding a Think button for free and Go users that they can use to access higher reasoning for harder questions.”

Which may be great for ChatGPT users, but the important thing is competition also helps push the bar up for other AI services such as Claude (who still has a hard cut-off with a rolling window).

My spouse recently needed to start using a pretty complex financial package for a startup business. Normally this would involve me being dragged in, and I'd have to set it up and try to explain how it works (after I've spent time mastering it myself). Well she used free ChatGPT and did everything herself. I'm not saying AI will magically solve everything, but it can do some amazing grunt work. Yes, it can be better to learn how to do everything from scratch yourself, but often you need an outcome to get something productive done. On her own, this would have taken way longer and with a lot more frustration.

Like it or not, AI is a useful tool to help us get stuff done. It takes dictionaries and search engines from yesteryear, to new levels of productivity. As I've stated before, I don't think AI is capable of actually replacing humans, and even the AI I use, I either paste into it what I want it to look at, or I authorise every step of changes to be made. I do not trust it to just run wild on its own. It requires oversight.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/openai-is-giving-chatgpt-free-users-unlimited-text-chats/
#ai #technology

That was my turning point into there was something to MeshCore ...

2026-08-06T12:11:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…k0mv
_________________________

That was my turning point into there was something to MeshCore being viable

Spam callers face penalties of up to R1,000,000 in South Africa ...

2026-08-03T21:00:41Z

Spam callers face penalties of up to R1,000,000 in South Africa

So a few amendments made, but what I really am happy to finally see, is the loophole closed around marketers opting in or not: “Any direct marketer who is not registered on the opt-out registry is prohibited from contacting consumers for marketing purposes”.

They have to pay to register, and abide with monthly conditions, and of course there is now potentially a hefty fine too.

I suppose the only issue is going to be around “foreign marketing” but so far all my spam callers had seemed to be for South African companies.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/spam-callers-face-penalties-of-up-to-r1000000-in-south-africa/
#southafrica #spam #technology

LG Monitors Fill Windows PCs With Adware, and It’s Not Just ...

2026-07-30T10:00:38Z

LG Monitors Fill Windows PCs With Adware, and It’s Not Just Recent Displays

“If you’re using an LG monitor and you suddenly see blaring ads for McAfee scam protection, it’s not because your PC’s been hacked (or, rather, not hacked by some unknown third party). LG, the maker of popular high-end screens, has been quietly stuffing its current and even past monitors full of adware.”

I missed this somehow but heard about it this morning on the Security Now podcast. The big issue is not really the adverts at all, and if it were not for the adverts, no-one would probably have picked up on the tracking issues (thank you adverts!).

The privacy policy mentions LG can track device usage data and online activity, including what sites you visit and what activities you do on those sites. That is metadata harvesting, much like WhatsApp does, and users should have been aware of it. Although to be honest, most privacy policy issues only become known once someone has highlighted them.

It is also partly an issue with Windows updates and how they just install automatically without any highlighting of changes to a privacy policy. Microsoft has warned LG off of this behaviour, but will that just be the adverts disappearing, or the metadata tracking as well. I'd imagine (my guess here) is that LG was also sharing that metadata with advertisers, like WhatsApp states in their T&Cs as “partners”, so it is not 100% clear how far this all went.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/lg-monitors-fill-windows-pcs-with-adware-and-its-not-just-recent-displays/
#privacy #technology #tracking

Yes I liked that SA service also blocking spam callers by ...

2026-07-29T12:48:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…dfsp
_________________________

Yes I liked that SA service also blocking spam callers by triggering restrictions after 10 people have reported something as spam. Not to block anyone wanting to follow, but rather blocking active promotion of the feed.

Yep their bendvradiusvis much bigger. No tight turns 🤣

2026-07-28T22:35:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…0dgq
_________________________

Yep their bendvradiusvis much bigger. No tight turns 🤣

It Seems a Lot Like Dead Internet Has Actually Come True “The ...

2026-07-28T21:00:37Z

It Seems a Lot Like Dead Internet Has Actually Come True

“The infamous dead internet theory was originally a conspiracy that posited that the vast majority of the internet was run by bots and thinking machines. Most accounts you saw online were really bots masquerading as people — all part of some nefarious scheme to control humankind by keeping us isolated and divided. That last part is far-fetched, but the core of the idea — that bots outnumber humans online — is inexorably starting to feel weirdly grounded.”

Pretty sad. I remember the first public Internet when bulletin boards migrated onto the new web. It was mostly all human driven with lots of blogs, no adverts, no tracking pixels, and no mobile phones.

Everything moves on and evolves, that is true, but today you certainly can't trust opinions or videos that are seen on the Internet. I can't see the Internet going away, but it is going to be very interesting to see what the future of content holds.

What I'm seeing, is a hollowing out of many of the big platforms such as Facebook, Twitter (who faked numbers to advertisers), etc. Certainly there are still accounts there, but I see next to none of my real human friends or family posting there. Many have migrated off to instant messaging platforms, and the broader other social media users I see, have moved to decentralised platforms like the Fediverse and Bluesky, and the more extreme are active on platforms like Nostr, Secure Scuttlebutt, and some centralised platforms like MeWe and Reddit. LinkedIn is littered with AI generated motivational business memes.

It has all come down to gaming the system that rewards “content”. Like so many things in life, money corrupts. Exciting times, but I'm pretty sure that quality content will still find its niche audiences, and especially for those who want to share and educate others.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/it-seems-a-lot-like-dead-internet-has-actually-come-true/
#ai #bots #technology

If those are for 868 MHz just check what coax you use as the RG58 ...

2026-07-26T20:18:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…8q24
_________________________

If those are for 868 MHz just check what coax you use as the RG58 type is really for HF frequencies and signal loss for 868 MHz is heavy. For my 4m length up the pole I'm using LMR-400 coax which reduces loss, but even so only around 5m is recommended. The winner is to have a solar-powered node right next to the antenna.

EskomSePush app transitioned to neighbourhood service disruptions ...

2026-07-25T16:00:35Z

EskomSePush app transitioned to neighbourhood service disruptions otherwise it would have died

This is the story of how the app evolved from being a high demand app to manage the electricity load shedding across South Africa, to something completely different after load shedding went away. The app now helps communities crowdsource issue around their water, electricity and Internet outages, and also has channels for safety, weather, and other news in communities.

As I don't use Facebook or WhatsApp I like using EskomSePush as it is highly focussed on my own community and I can mute what is not relevant for periods of time. The closest that it comes to is Telegram, where a community channel could be split into different topics, and each muted if needed. I just have to laugh though at WhatsApp, because although it may be the biggest and most used platform, it really always lags a good year to two years behind its competitors. Sadly so many of its users only seem to use that one app, so have no idea of the benefits of other apps.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/eskomsepush-app-transitioned-to-neighbourhood-service-disruptions-otherwise-it-would-have-died/
#southafrica #technology

Africa’s most popular phones have a tracking problem and ...

2026-07-25T12:00:54Z

Africa’s most popular phones have a tracking problem and explains where data disappears to

"Roughly one in two smartphones sold in Africa is made by a company most buyers have never heard of. Transsion, a Shenzhen-based manufacturer, owns the Tecno, Infinix and Itel brands, which together accounted for about 48% of African smartphone shipments in 2025 – more than 40 million of the 84.4 million handsets shipped on the continent last year, according to Omdia data. New research has decrypted what those phones send back to their maker."

Yes, one could say that most phones and software anyway report a lot of usage (metadata) back to other countries and developers e.g. WhatsApp even states this in their conditions that their users must accept. But these phone models go a lot deeper than that, first by baking it into the hardware, and secondly by collecting more granular data.

Then there is also the issue of the users data packages being used to constantly transmit this data, even though it is not voice or video data. It is still eating away at users data where many can only afford small data packages at a time.

It seems the only way to block this data collection, is to block the domains it is reporting to. This is what I have active on my home network, and it is pretty shocking to see the pages of ad-tracking and malware sites that are being constantly blocked (it is about one page per minute). The ones I see are all app level tracking, and because my wife used WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, and similar sites, her phone just fills pages of these blocks being shown all the time.

One single minute of sites blocked on my wife's phone

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/africas-most-popular-phones-have-a-tracking-problem-and-explains-where-data-disappears-to/
#africa #privacy #technology #tracking

MeshCore Radio for Social Networking and Disasters with zero ...

2026-07-24T20:00:54Z

MeshCore Radio for Social Networking and Disasters with zero Internet required

The Boland Amateur Radio Club (BARC) invited me to do this talk on 23 July 2026. HAMNET Emergency Communications provided the Zoom platform. The audience consisted of radio amateurs, citizens, and disaster management.

MeshCore is a newer type of license-free decentralised radio network that allows citizens, government agencies including nature reserves, disaster management agencies, and amateur radio operators to all talk together, whether in public channels, directly to each other, or even in private encrypted channels. This is WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal without the Internet.

The network is not only useful to make new friends across the city and stay in communication with neighbours, but more importantly it is a resilient network that will stay operation long after the Internet has ceased to work due to a disaster or lengthy power outages. This is achievable through solar-powered repeater nodes at high sites, and the fact that this network is not dependent on any central server or presence, and of course there is no approval or registration to use it.

My talk highlights the similarities and differences between MeshCore and Meshtastic networks, and the reasons why such a network is so important to have in place across cities and towns. I highlight two recent outages we've had in the Western Cape where towns lost their electricity supply due to adverse weather conditions, and had their normal communications cut off for up to a week. In this time HAMNET does assist with communications but only from key points. Having a broader MeshCore network available, allows citizens and disaster management agencies to stay in contact with each other for essential services and assistance.

The City of Cape Town and Western Cape Provincial Government, recognise the value of having fallback communications, and HAMNET already has emergency radio rooms at both sites, which are kept in operational readiness. We are aiming to have something like MeshCore also officially endorsed by the City and Province, so that citizens can equip themselves with these radios ahead of any potential disasters in the future.

We also have some wilderness areas in and around Cape Town which have no cellular phone coverage, such as the top of Table Mountain. These areas are also ideal to have such radio networks operational, as they are easy to deploy, and radio nodes cost around R500 each (whether bought by citizens/tourist, or even available to rent for the day).

The talk concludes with a comprehensive Q&A around various topics relating to MeshCore radio.

Watch at

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/meshcore-radio-for-social-networking-and-disasters-with-zero-internet-required/
#disasters #meshcore #opensource #southafrica #technology

FokOffMense is South Africa’s spam block and POPIA toolkit ...

2026-07-23T21:00:56Z

FokOffMense is South Africa’s spam block and POPIA toolkit

Block community-flagged spam on Android, send formal POPIA opt-outs, and monitor breaches — one SA account, no ads. iOS users can use the website, but there is no iOS app yet (probably also because iOS does not allow apps to take control of the dialler, which is why TrueCaller was so broken for me when I had an iPhone).

This app actually takes control of the Android dialler (otherwise calls cannot be blocked) and accesses / adds to the blocked numbers list on the phone.

It is not a caller ID app so you won't see the names identified of callers, but if the number has been reported by 10 or more other users as spam, it will be blocked (as well as for SMS). You have the option of reporting a number in the app to the community, and you can go even further to file a formal POPIA report, which is mailed out through the app's server, so not from your own e-mail.

The 10 number requirement is to stop individuals trying to block their spouse for example from everyone. But looking at the list I see some genuine call centres I need to get calls from (who probably spam non-customers) so it seems you can select those numbers from the Community Shield, or not.

There is a free tier to try which gets you 5 POPIA request per month, 5 Community Shields blocks per month, and one e-mail monitor. The next tier is at R29 per month for 45 Community Shield blocks and 5 POPIA requests per month. The Premium tier is R99 per month, and Family tier for R279 per month for up to 5 people. Every plan includes privacy scans, a full exposure report, unlimited spam reports and blocking, and Gmail spam upload and email filters.

Whilst TrueCaller will give caller ID and call blocking, and allow reporting into its crowdsourced block list, it has no POPIA reporting, nor privacy scans, exposure reporting, or Gmail spam filtering.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/fokoffmense-is-south-africas-spam-block-and-popia-toolkit/
#southafrica #spam #technology

Hugging Face Said Last Week It Was Attacked. An Unreleased OpenAI ...

2026-07-22T15:00:49Z

Hugging Face Said Last Week It Was Attacked. An Unreleased OpenAI Model Did It, OpenAI Now Says

“OpenAI’s blog post essentially says an evaluation was going on that was intended to test the ability of the models to carry out cyberattacks—benchmarks as they’re called. These instances of the models were running theoretically without internet access, and instead given only the ability to download from a network hosted by OpenAI itself via some unnamed web hosting vendor.”

I get that AI models need to suck up data to “learn on” but this just goes to show that it is actively being done by AI vendors. And so much for accusing Chinese AI vendors of learning from US AI models, because is this not exactly what OpenAI has been caught doing themselves here? Is this not gaining access to other AI models, surely not just for fun.

But either ways, even if it was trying to find a way to cheat on the AI benchmarks, this is very much case of being caught with your hands in the cookie jar. I really don't believe and country or AI vendor is squeaky clean (didn't OpenAI also just settle a case and pay out authors for stealing the content of their books?).

Make no mistake, AI is very useful to us all, but AI vendors must really not cast stones from their glass houses at others.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/hugging-face-said-last-week-it-was-attacked-an-unreleased-openai-model-did-it-openai-now-says/
#ai #security #technology

Thing to remember though is this sub-band is not for exclusive ...

2026-07-22T13:44:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…0hh5
_________________________

Thing to remember though is this sub-band is not for exclusive use of Reticulum. It is shared with other radio networks as well as various devices. So we need to be good neighbours to all the other users too that share the sub-band.

Yep they make really solid masts!

2026-07-22T13:08:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…0kns
_________________________

Yep they make really solid masts!

Euki Period-Tracking App Actually Keeps Your Data Private ...

2026-07-21T18:00:49Z

Euki Period-Tracking App Actually Keeps Your Data Private

"Period tracking is a simple job that plenty of apps can do. But most apps these days—including those that track health data—store information about you on their own servers and sometimes even share that data with advertisers. The Mozilla Foundation has tested several of the most popular period-tracking apps, and it identified one as better than the rest at keeping your data private: Euki."

It is really sad when something that tracks personal health metrics has to be specifically protected from oppressive governments. But that is where many are today, and this app at least offers a way to keep that data private and secure (like it should be).

The data stays local. Remember anything going to a cloud, where you did not set your own encryption key, is likely not actually private. The objective test is, if you forget your password, and it can be rest or restored for you in any way by the service provider, then it is not your private data.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/euki-period-tracking-app-actually-keeps-your-data-private/
#health #privacy #technology

Problem is 250 kHz uses the entire sub-band that allows 500 mW so ...

2026-07-21T15:08:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…dk72
_________________________

Problem is 250 kHz uses the entire sub-band that allows 500 mW so that interferes with a lot of other devices, and likewise they impact again on what you receive back. It was why MeshCore moved from a wider bandwidth to the narrow 62.5 kHz I think it is, and went for less beaconing too. It was to play nicer with all the other users of that sub-band. This frequency is home to many other devices and that is why there is also a strict 10% duty cycle per hour set. One wide 250 kHz bandwidth blots everyone else out on that sub-band, whereas a 62.5 kHz allows more simultaneous users with less interference.

Love the offset clamps - can see a photo on my page at ...

2026-07-21T14:59:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…gwfc
_________________________

Love the offset clamps - can see a photo on my page at https://gadgeteer.co.za/hamradio/ when I just had one offset clamp. It now has a second on the right holding the weather station. My main mast is also a thick stop street sign type pole that used to hold a WiFi dish decades ago. No flex in it at all.

LOL generally find nothing ever seems to fit in existing holes ...

2026-07-21T14:56:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…59sq
_________________________

LOL generally find nothing ever seems to fit in existing holes ;-)

=OpenAI Exec Laments That China Is Giving Away Models So Good ...

2026-07-21T14:27:20Z

=OpenAI Exec Laments That China Is Giving Away Models So Good That For-Profit Companies Won’t Be Able to Compete

“Last week, a Chinese-made large language model called Kimi K3, developed by Beijing-based firm Moonshot AI, burst onto the scene. The open-weight model impressed with early benchmark results, trading blows with some of the most advanced closed-weight ones being developed by the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic — and at a fraction of the cost.”

Lest we forget, there is BIG money in oil, pharmaceuticals, AI, etc, and those executives do not like their profits being undercut by free community projects. Big money usually locks users in by glossy adverts and other enticements, and if those fail they can always use scare tactics about hidden Chinese backdoors.

It's true that cloud services running AI do require big investments, but when better things come along which are cheaper, the market moves as this is what capitalism is about. And in fact, this is what innovation is about. You innovate, or you become irrelevant. This is often what post offices have found out about as courier companies started overtaking them.

The US approach seems to have been about throwing more money and resources at AI, whilst the Chinese appear to have been innovating around doing more with fewer resources. The same goes for open source projects where many local AI models are running on smaller home labs and PCs. This how quantisation, GPU offloading, flash attention, context length tuning, etc all came about.

No proprietary AI business can either lay claim to any particular copyright of content as all or most of that content was all sucked up from across the Internet by them in the first place.

Open source is about collaborating to solve challenges, and resharing and building on what others have done. Yes not everyone can afford to run a mainframe computer at home, so the business model for AI as a service may well be a valid one going forward. There will be lots of room in the market for “selling AI services” because most people are not going to buy massive GPUs at home and do not want to tweak lots of settings, and the one that Microsoft scores on, is too many users can't decide what Linux distro to install (read: can't choose what AI models to use).

OpenAI though would do well by competing better instead of screaming foul at their competitors. Maybe they do need to lighten up on the resource requirements. No city wants to see their dwindling drinking water, or power grid, swallowed by ever more and bigger data centres.

I do remember about two to three decades back, when I was a PC programmer, that we had a very expensive IBM mainframe that needed upgrading because of resource constraints with the systems we were running. Then someone had the bright idea to try optimising the source code of the biggest systems. Turns out we saved over 30% on resource usage and no longer had to upgrade the mainframe! Sometimes working smarter is better.

Today with digital sovereignty becoming more and more strategic to many countries, I think they will be looking more at what AI models they can run locally themselves. AI is already being weaponised to breach vulnerabilities, and to be weaponised through poisoning sources etc. It is all the more reason why you want to run our own and set your own guardrails in place. Running your own AI also means your company or country data stays local.

Is it possible? Yes, of course it is. Before we had Linux, we all thought we had to run Windows to get anything done, but we've realised that was a steel box that was built around us by Microsoft's PR (to protect us from the cancer called Linux). Turned out though it was not cancer after all, it was the dream of having freedom and being in control of our own OS without their telemetry.

Hopefully AI never becomes another Microsoft, with only one player dominating the whole market. Right now it is looking good with many AI cloud providers (OK mostly in the USA and China) but at least it is not in just a single country, and we have local AI models doing very well at more specialised tasks. It needs to stay open with the providers competing to provide better services for less. If one or two players fall out along the way because they are just too expensive on resources, then so be it.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/openai-exec-laments-that-china-is-giving-away-models-so-good-that-for-profit-companies-wont-be-able-to-compete/
#ai #opensource #technology

I got a very good clamp from Scoop I think it was. Seem to think ...

2026-07-20T21:15:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…nelu
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I got a very good clamp from Scoop I think it was. Seem to think it was 4 screws holding it in. But it holds my main tall HF antenna and has two parallel clamps holding shorter antennas and my weather station.

He clearly does not think far ahead enough - the perfect date is ...

2026-07-16T12:47:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…795x
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He clearly does not think far ahead enough - the perfect date is yyyy-mm-dd because it always sorts well even as a text string.

Microsoft is losing the battle to protect license lucre. It ...

2026-07-13T11:00:58Z

Microsoft is losing the battle to protect license lucre. It better get used to the feeling

“In Disney movies, if you wish really, really hard for what you want, it happens. In British courts, not so much. Prince Redmondia really, really wanted to stop the evil barons from reselling on-prem Office and Windows licenses, and made a fairy tale argument in court to make it so. Our hero did not get its wish, not then, and not now with the UK Court of Appeals.”

I just had to post this, as my very favourite saying was the conclusion of the linked article: be careful what you wish for.

That, and of course that Microsoft is so big and dominant, that it has killed off much of the competition that has tried to compete with it, if it did not buy them out.

Compatibility is touched on as a reason for people sticking to Microsoft, but I can also add the “network effect” for any very large dominant platform like Meta. In both cases, what users need is common interoperable standards, so that they can have freedom of choice.

We need open standards (and not like Facebook embracing open standards, only to then shut that off and lock users in once they had got the network effect in place).

As I've repeated so often before, imagine where e-mail would be if there was no open standard! You'd have to open a Gmail account to mail anyone with a Gmail account, then open a Microsoft account to mail anyone using Microsoft mail. That is utterly ridiculous.

It is time that social media and documents had proper open standards, and providers compete on the user experience they provide for their product. How does any decent competition for say Facebook, get to compete when all users are locked inside of Facebook? They can't leave Facebook as their friends and family are there. That is the network effect in a closed system.

So I don't apologise for my criticism of dominant walled garden enterprises.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/microsoft-is-losing-the-battle-to-protect-license-lucre-it-better-get-used-to-the-feeling/

AI Barometer: the best AI for every job right now because ...

2026-07-13T10:00:59Z

AI Barometer: the best AI for every job right now because choosing is difficult

“Barely a month goes by without an AI laboratory declaring its latest model the smartest ever built. For anyone simply trying to keep up, or trying to pick a tool that drafts a decent e-mail, fixes broken code or turns a prompt into a usable image, the noise is deafening. This is the first instalment of TechCentral’s AI Barometer, a recurring, evidence-based snapshot of which AI models and platforms lead in the tasks people actually use them for. No vibes and no vendor marketing: every verdict below is drawn from public, independently run benchmarks and leaderboards, each chosen because it tests the use case in question. The scores were checked in the first week of July 2026 and, given the pace of releases, some will likely have shifted by the time you read this. That churn is precisely why the barometer exists.”

This is certainly something that is needed as the constantly shifting array of choices is just too much for any one person to comprehend. A lot depends on what you want to do, how much VRAM you have, etc. And then there are the myriads of settings that can be applied to a model.

This barometer keeps to online cloud models by the looks of it, but it is scenario based which would certainly help those who just want to pick what online service to use.

Of course, online also has a choice of subscription vs API usage, and the two are usually costed separately. API usage is often pay as/when you use so you can experiment between different services without lock-in. Although there is a cost to that, is i a lot cheaper than buying a GPU with a lot of VRAM today.

The only thing I can say for certain is, there is no one model that is best at everything, and there is no one set of settings that is best at everything when it comes to AI models. It will all be a lot better in another year or two.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/ai-barometer-the-best-ai-for-every-job-right-now-because-choosing-is-difficult/
#ai #benchmark #technology

Correction: Needs the repo address added into F-Droid to see it ...

2026-07-12T12:34:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…mlwv
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Correction: Needs the repo address added into F-Droid to see it there.

FUTO keyboard is an excellent alternative with good theming and ...

2026-07-12T11:15:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…gtd7
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FUTO keyboard is an excellent alternative with good theming and better text prediction due to local language model inclusion. Its source code is fully open, but not free to re-use for commercial purposes. It is therefore in Google Play Store and not F-Droid.

HeliBoard is a privacy-conscious and customisable open-source ...

2026-07-11T21:00:58Z

HeliBoard is a privacy-conscious and customisable open-source keyboard for Android

This is a very feature packed and functional keyboard. I've found its word suggestions as good as GBoard and other Big Tech keyboards. I managed to import an Afrikaans dictionary and HeliBoard handled multilingual typing well.

There are also quite a few layout tweaks that can be applied, it can pop up more word suggestions, clipboard history, do split keyboard, etc. Interestingly too, in the About menu there is a page that shows a description of hidden features that may go unnoticed. That is a nice touch, and shows how much attention has gone into this keyboard.

It is open-source and fully private, but even has a toggle to enable incognito mode to cut off features such as learning words.

It is not available on the Android store so you either install the APK from their GitHub site, or install it from F-Droid or IzzyOnDroid stores. Their GitHub project has 5.6k stars. The project is about 3 years old and has 67 releases so far, the last one being yesterday. So good to see it is actively maintained by 57 contributors.

It's now my daily driver as a keyboard (you that keyboards can potentially monitor every single thing you type, and cloud connected keyboards that sync your learnt words are all reporting to someone else's home).

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/heliboard-is-a-privacy-conscious-and-customisable-open-source-keyboard-for-android/
#android #opensource #privacy #technology