But why? As far as I know there is no evidence of that? I use my own PGP key in Proton anyway.

Not just using their domain. It uses PGP keys and I imported my own keys. I can send encrypted mail to anyone else who can decrypt PGP. Otherwise it will send a message that the receiver must login with a password I give them to read the mail. Point is there should be a lot more encrypted mail pissible already, but too many providers want to snoop on our email.

Proton Mail Now Also Lets You Hide Your Real Email Address

Proton Mail is one of the best alternatives to Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail out there, with end-to-end encryption, tracker blocking, and phishing protection among the features on offer. A free account gets you 1GB of storage and up to 150 messages per day.

The latest feature to be added to Proton Mail is the option to hide your email address: That's where you set up an email alias to provide when you buy something or sign up for a social media service, while keeping your actual email address private. It's something already available on other email clients (like Apple's), and you can get it set up in just a few minutes.

If you're on a paid Proton Mail plan, you can create as many email aliases as you like, while free account users get up to 10 of them.

I like to keep track of every e-mail alias I create, as it gives me a clue as to who has passed my mail address onto others who end up spamming me.

Note if you have your own e-mail domain name, you can often use a catch-all function which lets you create as many, and any, mail addresses you want to at no extra cost. An advantage of this method is, the addresses can follow you no matter what back-end mail provider you switch to in future.

See https://lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-set-up-email-aliases-proton-mail

#technology #spam #email

sleek is an open-source cross-platform todo manager based on the todo.txt syntax

Stripped down to only the most necessary features, and with a clean and simple interface, sleek aims to help you focus on getting things done.

All classic todo.txt attributes are supported and enhanced by additional features. Creating todos is straightforward, and tag-based filtering in tandem with highly customisable grouping and smart full-text search allows for rapid information retrieval. Completed todos can be hidden or archived into separate done.txt files. Easy integration with other todo.txt apps is facilitated by continuously scanning todo.txt files for changes.

sleek is available for Windows, macOS and Linux (AUR, Snap and Flatpak), and in several languages.

See https://github.com/ransome1/sleek

#technology #opensource #todo

A New Headset Aims to Treat Alzheimer’s With Light and Sound

In results from a Phase II trial published March 6 in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, the company showed that its novel treatment is safe and reported early hints that it may also have benefits for Alzheimer’s patients.

Cognito’s headset, dubbed Spectris, delivers flashing lights and sounds through a pair of connected glasses and headphones to stimulate gamma waves in the brain. Gamma waves are fast-frequency brain waves associated with thinking skills and memory, and people with Alzheimer’s are known to have fewer of these fast brain waves.

Compared with the placebo group, those who got the Cognito stimulation showed a 77 percent slowing in functional decline as measured by a scale that assesses how well Alzheimer’s patients are able to carry out daily activities, such as eating, dressing, and getting around.

But yes, although it looks very promising, the group tested is still way too small, and it seems a Phase III trial is now beginning with over 500 participants. Another thing to note is the person has to stay awake, so you can't just fall asleep with this therapy.

See https://www.wired.com/story/cognito-wearable-device-light-sound-treatment-alzheimers-dementia/

#technology #health #alzheimers

Yes you should - it is so much more than just talking today. The digital modes and satellite are really interesting to explore. The best for me tho has been gaining all the knowledge about how radio frequencies and modes really work - so much today from Bluetooth, to phones, to Wi-Fi, to remotes, etc are all using radio.

QDirStat is an open-source GUI app for Linux and macOS to show and clean directory space usage

I've been using the command line NCDU for a while. Whilst NCDU is nice and fast and does allow navigating the directory tree, you had to go to a file explorer separately to delete anything.

QDirStat is doing a good job of showing everything NCDU did, and more, such as last modified, refresh just a sub-folder, and allowing various delete and clean options right inside the app.

It also has a Discover menu option to specifically find the largest or oldest files, broken symbolic links, sparse files, and files with multiple hard links.

NCDU will probably still work best for remote terminal work, but QDirStat does look very promising for graphical desktop work.

See https://github.com/shundhammer/qdirstat

#technology #opensource #Linux

It does also have to be as non-technical as possible for most ordinary users. Something like a T-Echo that you buy and just connect to and use. We're trying to get ham radio operators involved now to set up some home locations that stay on 24/7 as many are discouraged when they power up and find no nodes visible anywhere.

The problem is what you'd actually get for only $5. It may be so stripped down that a lot of functionality is not there. As it is the basic Heltech has no GPS or screen.

My non-tech video intro to Meshtastic is out at https://youtu.be/tNZdVxIIQ58. Glad to say it has been sparking some interest with quite a few local enquries.

A monitor with a KVM switch was exactly what my dual PC setup needed

The right tool for the job can often make things very much easier. A KVM switch is ideal for switching quickly between two or more computers whilst using the same peripheral devices.

But also consider whether you otherwise need a multiviewer instead. A multiviewer is used more when you want to display maybe some extra external video on your screen in a split view or picture-in-picture mode. An example is you maybe want to always keep an eye on your security camera. It really allows additional HDMI video signals on one display.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/kvm-switch-must-for-dual-pc-setups/

#technology #productivity

A Non-Technical Introduction Video to Meshtastic Off-Grid Radio Communications

This is an open source solution that works with inexpensive LoRa radios, and your mobile phone or laptop, to be able to pass messages directly, or in shared channels, between the various nodes with no Internet or mobile phone coverage required.

The intention of this video is to give a non-technical overview of what it could be used for, how it works, and what you can expect from it. This is not a "how-to configure it" or a field demo video. Hopefully the video helps motivate some new users to set up these nodes in their own cities, and thereby help this form of mesh off-grid communication be more effective across entire cities.

Watch https://youtu.be/tNZdVxIIQ58

#technology #Meshatastic #offgrid #opensource

Yes it's not getting better yet. A recent storm knocked all comms for some Karoo towns for over 10 days. I publishing a non-tech video about this later today.

Yes I've actually seen an image if a drone with one if these strapped on. They are light weight to lift and give good coverage with some altitude.

A sort of firm if noise/bass canceller. Yes that is quite irritating, and I just wonder what damage tgat must do to someone's ears inside that car...

Determined maker uses Raspberry Pi and AI to block noisy neighbour's music by hacking nearby Bluetooth speakers

Reggaeton Be Gone (the name is a homage to Tv-B-Gone device) will monitor room audio, it will identify Reggaeton genre with Machine Learning and trigger comm requests and packets to the Bluetooth speaker with the high goal of disabling it or at least disturbing the sound so much that the neighbour won't have other option that turn it off.

This may not work for everyone, and the Bluetooth needs to be in range, but I thought it was a particularly interesting technical solution to a real-world problem. It can be probably adapted for other music genres too.

See https://www.hackster.io/roni-bandini/reggaeton-be-gone-e5b6e2

#technology #noise

Avast fined $16.5 million for ‘privacy’ software that actually sold users’ browsing data

From at least 2014 to 2020, Avast harvested user web browsing information through its antivirus software and browser extension, according to the FTC’s complaint. This allowed it to collect data on religious beliefs, health concerns, political views, locations, and financial status. The company then stored this information “indefinitely” and sold it to over 100 third parties without the knowledge of customers, the complaint says.

The FTC also claims Avast deceived users by saying its software would help eliminate tracking on the web — when it actually did the tracking itself.

What is really sad here is that anti-virus products get really high levels of trust to operate. This is a real abuse of that trust. This really puts a serious dent in any trust that users have with this company.

This follows on from my post a day back on Mastodon about Public Relations. Public Relations is nothing more than propaganda, as just about none of any PR staff actually understand what the technical meaning is of what they are saying or promising.

See https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080135/avast-security-privacy-software-ftc-fine-data-harvesting

#technology #privacy

Trail Sense: Android Open-Source app for entirely offline use for hiking, backpacking, camping, and geocaching

Trail Sense is a tool, and just like any other tool that you bring into the wilderness, it's essential to have backup equipment and skills. One of its goals is that its features should make use of the sensors on a phone rather than relying on stored information such as online guides.

Features:

* Designed for hiking, backpacking, camping, and geocaching

* Place beacons and navigate to them

* Follow paths

* Retrace your steps with backtrack

* Use a photo as a map

* Plan what to pack

* Be alerted before the sun sets

* Predict the weather

* Use your phone as a flashlight

* Estimate height of a cliff

* And much more!

So you'll notice with this app there is no quick download of some map or guide. The idea is to prepare before departing with photos of your map, putting waypoints in, etc.

See https://github.com/kylecorry31/Trail-Sense

#technology #opensource #hiking #trails

Three Meshtastic nodes are active in Cape Town for off-grid communications during disasters or just to meet your neighbours

Myself and two other ham radio operators have established 3 Meshtastic nodes that will operate 24/7 to help build out more connectivity across Cape Town.

We are using license-free 868 MHz radios, so anyone can buy these cheap (ish) devices and get connected. The more nodes we have, the better the connectivity gets across the whole city. These radios will keep messaging going regardless of whether there is Internet or not. So if we hit Stage 8+ load shedding and cell towers and Internet starts to go down, this messaging network will still work.

This means that citizens can message for assistance needed, and this can be relayed to City or Provincial Disaster Risk Management. Or in cases of loss of communications during a disaster we can also send out messages to everyone on the network as to where water tankers will be deployed etc.

Apart from the public channel (which is much like CB radio's Channel 19) anyone can also create their own private channels (with passwords) to stay in contact with groups of friends or family. The connections between all radio nodes are encrypted with AES256 encryption, so private messages will stay private even though they bounce across 3 or more other radio nodes to reach the recipient.

You have a phone, so all that is needed is the free Meshtastic app, and a Meshtastic compatible radio device. This is probably bad timing, as right now there is a global shortage of Meshtastic radio devices. The massive global uptake has also made this situation even worse. But the point of preparing for disasters, is to do that well before a disaster strikes.

I've documented a lot of my lessons learnt, as well as given some context to the situation in South Africa for this service at the linked web page below.

See https://gadgeteer.co.za/hamradio/meshtastic-in-south-africa/

#technology #Meshtastic #offgrid #CapeTown #SouthAfrica

Bluesky vs. Mastodon: Which Twitter Alternative Should You Choose?

Bluesky and Mastodon are two social media networks with an aim to provide a decentralized platform for users. As microblogging platforms, they also wanted to pitch themselves as a Twitter alternative (primarily) when they started.

Mastodon is one of the most-loved open-source social media platforms. But, what's different with Bluesky?

Although they do similar things, and both can federate, there are some differences too. It's important to also remember that the Mastodon social network is one of many social networks that all use the ActivityPub protocol, and those networks collectively are referred to as the Fediverse. Mastodon may be the biggest social network in the Fediverse, but the others offer other options such as long text format posts, nomadic identities, photo albums, etc.

See https://itsfoss.com/bluesky-vs-mastodon/

#technology #socialnetworks #Mastodon #Bluesky