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Otter

@ otter @lemmy.ca

Posts
306
Comments
752
Joined
3 yr. ago

I waddled onto the beach and stole found a computer to use.

🍁⚕️ 💽

Note: I'm moderating a handful of communities in more of a caretaker role. If you want to take one on, send me a message and I'll share more info :)

  • Does anybody know what's going on with Calibre Web Automated? [Solved]

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  • They put out a LOT of updates in a row a few months ago

    Hopefully the maintainers are taking a break, and they aren't burned out.

  • Fedecan.ca has been updated with a generalized threadiverse section, an updated list of alternative UIs, and an RSS feed for announcements

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  • :) Thank you!

  • Fedecan.ca has been updated with a generalized threadiverse section, an updated list of alternative UIs, and an RSS feed for announcements

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  • No worries at all, irl life comes first :)

    Thank you for putting in the time to make it so that your new pages have a similar tone and style to the rest of the guides. We don't require it, but it helps keep things consistent for the readers

  • Commodore's Next Hardware Release Is Dumb, And Proud Of It

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  • Commodore has had an interesting year. A retro-tech YouTuber got into discussions with the company and ended up buying it. I think they had plans to become a public benefit company of some kind, with a focus on openness and preserving old tech.

    I'm surprised that the Wikipedia article doesn't have a lot of details on those recent developments from the past year

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_International

  • Commodore's Next Hardware Release Is Dumb, And Proud Of It

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  • Supposedly you can't install some things. Hopefully this is an optional parental control feature, and not baked in to every phone. They would be losing a lot of potential nostalgia sales if they only chase after the "forced distraction free" market. Some people can control their usage without needing the device to do it for them. 🤷

    The phone also blocks internet browsers and social media apps at a system level, "using patent-pending technology, eliminating temptation and designed with distraction-free schools in mind." This ties in neatly with the upcoming ban on social media for the under-16s in the UK, but I can't imagine there are many teenagers who even know what Commodore is.

  • TIL: There are giant viruses and they get viruses

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  • Microsoft Teams is getting a controversial location tracking feature that users may hate

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  • Hmm...

    Image generated with Microsoft Copilot

  • Age-verification partner Yoti is reporting GrapheneOS users to authorities for using GrapheneOS, due to "past security concerns."

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  • I figure that the authorities will get annoyed if they keep receiving false positives from this company

  • Brave is charging $60 to remove features it added in the first place

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  • I don't use Brave, and don't recommend it to people, but it seems like the $60 is intended as a donation/"vote-with-your-wallet on how we monetize" type product rather than something that is actually worth that much.

    It doesn't change all of the OTHER problems with Brave, but it might be a step in the right direction when it comes to monetization? Pay once vs. LLM/crypto/injected ads

    https://account.brave.com/?intent=checkout&product=origin

    Brave Origin is a paid version of the browser for users who don't need all the features that support Brave as a business, but still want the privacy that only Brave offers. Origin users will continue to benefit from our industry-leading privacy, adblock, and speed (via Shields), as well as regular software updates, Chromium patches, and security and privacy improvements. Origin is available on desktop and mobile versions 1.91.x and above.

    • Support our mission & open-source work
    • Minimalist browser UI centered on Brave Shields
    • Maintain core adblock, privacy, & speed
    • One-time purchase can be activated multiple times across all your devices

  • Seattle poised to ban new datacenters, the largest city yet in the US to consider such a moratorium

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  • Pwnd Blaster: Hacking your PC using your speaker without ever touching it

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  • The way BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) works is that each device has various registers (called GATT characteristics) that, if you're connected to the device, you can write to, read, subscribe to notifications for, and so on. What's important to note is that to connect to a device, you don't need to (necessarily) pair with it. You can often just connect with a device and immediately start reading and writing data to characteristics. Pairing establishes encryption, but a connection can be made without it.

    To my surprise, upon reading the characteristic 9e9daaeb-3a10-4fe8-b69f-7397aff77886, I was greeted with the full version string. This means anyone can just connect to any Katana V2X over Bluetooth and start sending CTP commands to it, reading information, changing settings, etc.

    I thought of the implications for a bit. The speaker has a microphone. An attacker could, theoretically, upload a custom firmware that effectively turns the speaker into a covert monitoring device, listening in on conversations and forwarding them to a receiver over Bluetooth.

    What was more interesting to me was the fact that the speaker is, in a standard setup, connected to a PC over USB. It's by all means a trusted USB device.

    What if we wrote custom firmware that forced the speaker into acting as a keyboard, sending keystrokes for opening up the terminal and executing arbitrary commands? We would turn the speaker into a Rubber Ducky, but remotely, without ever having to plug anything into either the speaker or the PC.

  • Acceptable Use Pawlicy [TrueNuff]

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  • At a previous job, they used to send them fairly often, using various tricks to keep people on their toes. I found it fun

  • Acceptable Use Pawlicy [TrueNuff]

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  • What would that be testing, whether the users are psychic? If the email sender is legitimate, then what else would users need to do?

  • The LanguageTool extension will now be paid

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  • It's still FOSS, and you can either download it offline or selfhost the server if you want to use it without paying. Services cost money to run, I'm not going to ask for them to run that for free indefinitely 🤷

  • Human proof for FOSS contributions

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  • This makes a lot of sense, but it might take some getting used to. I think people are more self-critical and embarrassed about their coding ability and mistakes than they should be, and they might worry about all that being public.

  • DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search

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  • Assuming this is about duck.ai, I didn't know they got shit for it. People I've talked to generally enjoy having that option available. It's free and about as private as you can get with the current LLM chatbots, unless you self host one yourself.

    At least until Confer gets off the ground. Once that happens, I'm hoping DDG switches to a similar model

    https://confer.to/blog/2026/01/private-inference/

  • DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search

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  • That's a bit of a stretch?

    People who pay for Kagi likely tried the trial and found the results to be far enough better than google/microslop that they are willing to pay for the ongoing service. Or they want to support a business model that isn't based around the advertising industry, so that someday Kagi can realistically compete with the incumbents. I don't need to search for things often enough to justify the cost, but I know people who use it for work and consider it to be worth the cost.

    Meanwhile people who bought NFTs thought that they could sell a copy of a digital image for lots of money.

  • DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search

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  • I think they're talking about DDG, not google

  • Spain blocks Polymarket, Kalshi over gambling licences

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  • I'm surprised it took this long. The skill argument makes no sense, since you could just as easily try to apply it to any form of traditional gambling.

  • Selfhosted @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca
    Discussion

    What would it take to selfhost some of the backend that Tesla's connect to?

  • Opensource @programming.dev
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Zen Browser v1.10.1b - Passkey support for MacOS, and a media player controller that's fully integrated with Picture-in-Picture mode

  • Tech @programming.dev
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    We hacked into a bowling alley computer | The Serial Port

  • Selfhosted @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    ArchiveBox/good-karma-kit: A Docker Compose bundle to run on servers with spare CPU, RAM, disk, and bandwidth to help the world. Includes Tor, ArchiveWarrior, BOINC, and more...

    github.com /ArchiveBox/good-karma-kit
  • Technology @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Volkswagen reintroducing physical controls for vital functions | Autocar

    www.autocar.co.uk /car-news/new-cars/volkswagen-reintroducing-physical-controls-vital-functions
  • Technology @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Nearly 1 million Windows devices targeted in advanced “malvertising” spree

    arstechnica.com /security/2025/03/nearly-1-million-windows-devices-targeted-in-advanced-malvertising-spree/
  • Programming @programming.dev
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    The implementation details for XenonRecomp, a tool for recompiling Xbox 360 games to native executables

    github.com /hedge-dev/XenonRecomp
  • Opensource @programming.dev
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Thunderbird "won't be adopting the firefox terms of use"

    mastodon.online /@thunderbird/114112105485771954
  • Comic Strips @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Don't look in the grate

  • Selfhosted @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Release FreshRSS 1.26.0

    github.com /FreshRSS/FreshRSS/releases/tag/1.26.0
  • Opensource @programming.dev
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Release FreshRSS 1.26.0

    github.com /FreshRSS/FreshRSS/releases/tag/1.26.0
  • Lemmy.ca's Main Community @lemmy.ca
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Stats from the first week after the launch of Pixelfed.ca

  • Fediverse @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    John Oliver promoted alternatives to big tech in last night's episode, including Mastodon and Pixelfed

  • Programming @programming.dev
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    When Your Last Name Is Null, Nothing Works

    www.wsj.com /lifestyle/null-last-name-computer-scientists-forms-f0a43b08
  • Fediverse @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca
    edited

    We are excited to announce pixelfed.ca, a new Pixelfed instance run by Canadians and hosted in Canada

    pixelfed.ca
  • Lemmy.ca's Main Community @lemmy.ca
    Otter @lemmy.ca
    edited see comments

    We are excited to announce pixelfed.ca, a new Pixelfed instance run by Canadians and hosted in Canada

    pixelfed.ca
  • Offbeat @lemmy.ca
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Underweight baby seal is rescued from Connecticut streets and recovering at an aquarium

    www.independent.co.uk /news/new-haven-connecticut-yale-university-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration-b2700561.html
  • Technology @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Why Is a Government Contractor Trying to Buy iPhone Hacking Tech From Us?

    www.404media.co /why-is-a-government-contractor-trying-to-buy-iphone-hacking-tech-from-us/
  • Technology @lemmy.world
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Netflix wants programming for distracted viewers

    theconversation.com /too-distracted-to-watch-netflix-has-the-perfect-second-screen-show-for-you-249012
  • Opensource @programming.dev
    Otter @lemmy.ca

    Release Flashpoint Launcher 14.0.0 · FlashpointProject/launcher

    github.com /FlashpointProject/launcher/releases/tag/14.0.0