This app has a very similar look and feel to it as Obsidian, and also works in Markdown format. And although Obsidian has a kitchen sink full of community plugins, this app is a lot simpler, but it is proper open-source software.

I also like that it has a toolbar with all the usual shortcuts like bold, italics, underline, headings, bullets, etc as many people do like that ease of use, instead of only having to remember Markdown codes.

Very importantly for note taking, it does have easy-to-use tags that will help connect all your related notes. If you do need to sync your notes between devices, you could use something like Syncthing that will do that privately and directly between your devices, without any server required.

See https://news.itsfoss.com/beaver-notes/

#technology #markdown #notes #opensource

“I think [satellite connectivity] is going to start coming in as a feature in the high end and then become just a default feature for flagship phones,” he said. “It’s relatively easy to take our chip [the MT6825 found inside the Motorola Defy] and add it to any 4G or 5G phone. It will be integrated into 5G modems going forward, kind of a default feature.”

It’s an exciting picture of a future where you aren’t entirely reliant on connectivity provided by your carrier or Wi-Fi network, and it could end up saving lives in emergency situations. While direct integration of satellite communication is still in its infancy, the service is available to anyone right now through the Motorola Defy and the Bullitt Messenger Service. The Motorola Defy is a palm-sized rugged dongle with MediaTek’s MT6825NTN chip inside. It connects to your phone using Bluetooth, talks to the satellite network, and is ready to send messages through Bullitt’s app when you don’t have any service.

The linked article goes into some detail about the hands-on testing with this device. It will work with any smartphone, and just requires the Bullitt Messenger app to use the Defy dongle (and your recipients need to have the app installed to receive messages for free [yes payment too if they want to reply]). The downside is you do need to carry this dongle with you. That said, it is a once-off purchase that includes the one year of the Essential plan (Up to 30 satellite messages per month with emergency SOS included) which is $5 pm after that and is actually quite reasonable. Receiving messages via the satellite service though is free of charge.

Being a separate dongle device, I'd imagine you can also share the use of it with a spouse or friend. The only bad news really is the satellite coverage for now is still only the USA and Europe. But it looks like from Q4 2023 that South America, Africa and also the Oceania region (and Japan) will get coverage.

For the next year or two at least, it will only be some of the flagship phones that get satellite comms built in, so a device like this may be perfect for the millions of mid-range smartphone users. Hopefully too, an increasing volume in usage, will make pricing even better over time.

See https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/i-tried-a-life-saving-gadget-motorola-defy-smartphone-satellite-connectivity/

#technology #SOS #satellitecomms

Are you a music producer and use Linux as your primary operating system, then music production is going to become easy for you after reading this article.

There is good music production software in Linux just as it is in Windows and Mac OS, though a few features may vary, but the underlying functionalities mostly are the same.

Although the focus in the linked article is really on Linux, it can be seen that many of these apps also run on Windows and macOS. About ten of them are open-source software, but also included are some free proprietary music apps too.

See https://www.tecmint.com/free-music-creation-or-audio-editing-softwares-for-linux/

#technology #opensource #music #audio

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Director of Activism Jason Kelley said Insanet's use of advertising technology to infect devices and spy on clients' targets makes it especially worrisome. Dodgy online ads don't just provide a potential vehicle for delivering malware, such as via carefully crafted images or JavaScript in the ads that exploit vulnerabilities in browsers and OSes, they can be used to go after specific groups of people – such as those who are interested in open source code, or who frequently travel to Asia – that someone might be interested in snooping on.

"This method of surveillance and targeting uses commercially available data that's very difficult to erase from the internet," Kelley told The Register. "Most people have no idea how much of their information has been compiled or shared by data brokers and ad tech companies, and have little ability to erase it."

It's an interesting twist. Sherlock seems designed to use legal data collection and digital advertising technologies — beloved by Big Tech and online media — to target people for government-level espionage.

"Since these ads are being served using known advertisement networks, anti-adware technologies such as not loading JavaScript, using ad blockers or privacy-aware browsers, and not clicking on advertisements should act as a guardrail against this attack," Dani suggested.

I suppose this gives additional impetus for many wanting to block ads... But if this one was previously secret, how many more are there that no-one knows about? Supposedly, the Wester will use this to spy on the East? We actually don't know what the East already has, because for some unknown reason we are always discovering what the West is up to in regard to alleged spying (even on their own allies). And as we saw this month, data privacy laws mean absolutely nothing to some major Western powers, as they just get a 3rd party country to do the spying on their behalf, and then pass the data back, or they buy the data from Facebook.

More and more, reading all of this, I can see why so many private citizens are insisting on having E2EE without any backdoors. Unfortunately, a citizen can no longer just trust their own government, and it is mostly lip service that is paid to privacy laws. So laws and political assurances mean very little in reality.

See https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/16/insanet_spyware/

#technology #spying #Israel #privacy

Many are looking for alternatives to Google Photos, and this comparison table does an excellent job of comparing the most obvious features side by side. Make sure to expand the table for a complete view.

I'm still using Piwigo as it did an automated import of all my photos from Flickr, and although it is packed with features, many of its plugins are no longer supported. It works well still for me, but I've been thinking about alternatives.

Immich was one that looked really slick, and the closest I've seen to Google Photos, but one big weakness is there is no easy ability to import my existing Piwigo photos (over 10,000 of them). And it does not yet have any editing functionality.

But looking at this table shows me that in fact that Nextcloud Memories seems to tick all the boxes, including some edit functionality, and the ability to point to existing photo folders. Memories is based on Nexcloud's own Photos app but has some slight improvements. Its appearance is maybe just not as slick as Immich, but it seems very responsive otherwise.

All, but one, apps have demo sites that you can log into and have a good look at.

See https://meichthys.github.io/foss_photo_libraries/

#technology #opensource #alternativesto #photos

The world already has quite a few good open-source, E2EE and secure messaging protocols like XMPP, Signal, MTProto, Wickr, Wire, and more. But none have ended up dominating across messaging apps. Also, there is no defined W3C open standard for messaging, like there is ActivityPub for social networking interoperability.

We now have the situation (a good one actually) that the EU is forcing WhatsApp to interoperate with other messaging platforms. That means WhatsApp must offer interconnectivity using some protocol. But that protocol was not defined by the EU, and there is no open standard recommended by a standards body yet (seems W3C is still busy developing its recommendation for WebRTC as a messaging API [which Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts use] but that was not really created for this type of purpose, as I gather it was more intended for web applications).

In summary on the 'Why', WhatsApp can't be expected to create a separate protocol API for every messenger out there, so they must choose one that others can also adopt and use. In the absence of an international standard, WhatsApp must make a choice, and because WhatsApp is by far the biggest messaging platform on this planet, what they decide to use will be adopted by many other messaging platforms as either their primary or secondary protocol as well. That in turn (should) allows them to interoperate with each other too, thereby effectively creating a common messaging standard through popular usage.

So, 'What' could WhatsApp decide on? Well, I'm speculating that as they already built WhatsApp using the modified Signal protocol, that it would make the most sense for them to actually adopt that. The API they expose would just have to be a standard Signal protocol. The Signal protocol would likely mean the least effort for WhatsApp, and it is very well established as a secure E2EE messaging protocol already.

Of course, WhatsApp may also take the low road approach out of spite, and just for compliance purposes, adopt something that uses plain open text like SMS, and limit it to the EU region only.

Neither iMessage nor RCS really qualify for use, as they are both limited to separate OS ecosystems. Although an approach taken like Beeper did, with transparently using Matrix rooms and bridges could work, I don't think WhatsApp will follow that approach as it is more complex than just exposing a standard messaging API, for others to do the work on connecting to. There is nothing wrong with XMPP and the other protocols, but I'm still thinking WhatsApp will stick to what they are more familiar with, and has the least effort involved.

If Apple had adopted RCS, then it may have been a different story, as RCS may have then made sense as it is designed for secure E2EE instant messaging with presence indication, etc. Or if Apple had opened iMessage up to Android, but now I'm just dreaming...

I am eager to witness WhatsApp's next move, as it will usher in a new age of cross-platform communication for everyone. Currently, most 'open' messaging platforms remain isolated, because they have not gained widespread adoption by other parties, despite being open. WhatsApp has an opportunity to change that, thanks to the European Union.

Free Software gives everybody the right to use, study, share and improve software. This right helps support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.

• Tax Savings - Similar applications don't have to be programmed from scratch every time.
• Collaboration - Major projects can share expertise and costs.
• Serving the public - Applications paid by the public should be available for everyone.
• Fostering innovation - With transparent processes, others don't have to reinvent the wheel.

See https://publiccode.eu/

#technology #publiccode #opensource #EU

Buster is a browser extension which helps you to solve difficult captchas by completing reCAPTCHA audio challenges using speech recognition. Challenges are solved by clicking on the extension button at the bottom of the reCAPTCHA widget.

The incredible irony of this is that a reCAPTCHA is supposed to test for a real human, but an extension can be used to automate this verification!

See https://github.com/dessant/buster

#technology #CAPTCHA #browsers #extensions

Taking essential steps to improve your digital privacy is pointless if you continue using Google's apps. Using open source alternatives is key to keeping your data secure, as none of your data within the app can be tracked or shared without your knowledge.

Google Calendar is an excellent calendar app. Still, there are plenty of open source alternatives available for Android. If you're willing to sacrifice some functionality, these apps should fulfill most of your calendar needs. If you've just picked up a new Android phone, install one immediately to keep your data secure.

DAVx⁵ is also listed, which does a good job syncing to/from a self-hosted NextCloud server.

See https://www.androidpolice.com/android-open-source-calendar-alternatives/

#technology #privacy #android #calendar