Capacities could be a very good alternative to Obsidian Notes I've only had a brief look and test so far, but I'll be testing this out a lot more. Obsidian is free to use but not open source software, Capacities is the same with a generous free option and is not open source software either. Something quite different, but useful, is that Capacities is cloud synced first, so the various clients all sync via the cloud for free (unlike Obsidian which can be a bit clunky via SyncThing or similar sync software). Obsidian is more offline first in Markdown format for full portability between other note apps. Capacities however does export (and backup) to various formats including PDF, Markdown, MS Word, and Latex. I'm just not seeing a bulk export yet of selected notes (called pages in Capacities) to these various formats. I'm testing this a bit more still. Getting some notes from Obsidian into Capacities so far was just a matter of copy and pasting. I just had to copy and paste any images separately into the note. Tables, code snippets, headings, etc all came across perfectly. Speaking of code snippets, I do really like that you can tag each one as a bash script, Python code, Lua code, etc, and it does a great job of syntax highlighting (something I was not seeing in Obsidian). Capacities does not yet have all the plugins that Obsidian has, but for many who were thinking of starting to use Obsidian, Capacities may be a good option to consider. I'll also be interested to see what the Linux app (in development) stores locally and how well it works offline. There are already desktop apps for macOS and Windows (and mobile apps for Android and iOS). See

XDA

I found a powerful alternative to Obsidian and I can’t stop raving about it

Obsidian who? This note-taking solution blew me away.

#technology #knowledgemanagement #notes

10 brilliant PC games you can enjoy without a graphics card Modern PC gaming often gets a bad rap for being too demanding, pricing out countless gamers who lack powerful graphics cards. Plus, the state in which some AAA games get released, makes them a struggle to play even on high-end GPUs. Fortunately, the most demanding games don't always equate to the most impressive ones. Even if you don't have a recent graphics card on your gaming PC, you have a treasure trove of titles to explore. You actually don't even need a discrete GPU (or a PC) to experience these must-play games. Even your laptop with Intel HD or Iris Xe graphics (or AMD equivalent) can handle these titles, albeit sometimes with optimized settings. Firewatch looks like an interesting game to try. See

XDA

10 brilliant PC games you can enjoy without a graphics card

Worried your integrated GPU isn

#technology #gaming

The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor revolution is here, and OnePlus is leading the charge From bulky physical button sensors, and capacitive ones, to under-display optical fingerprint sensors and ultrasonic ones, the technology has significantly advanced over the last decade, with ultrasonic sensors sitting at the pinnacle at the moment. They truly shine when it comes to accuracy, considering that their ultrasonic pulses can penetrate through surface or finger contaminants like dirt, oil, or moisture. We've previously only seen ultrasonic fingerprint scanners on Samsung's flagship devices, and most recently, the Pixel 9 series. Ultrasonic fingerprint scanners have long had one major drawback — they're expensive, essentially preventing them from making their way to a wider range of devices. OnePlus recently confirmed in a Weibo post that its upcoming OnePlus 13 flagship will be unveiled on October 31 in China. See

Android Police

The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor revolution is here, and OnePlus is leading the charge

The Xiaomi 15 series already employs Goodix

#technology #security

SearXNG is an open source privacy respecting metasearch engine that is really easy to use SearXNG is a free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from more than 70 search services. Users are neither tracked nor profiled. Additionally, SearXNG can be used over Tor for online anonymity. My video covers how to pronounce SearXNG, what does it do exactly, some demo searches, user preferences, setting it as a browser default search, and some self-hosting answers to problems I faced with the Docker installation. See #technology #search #privacy #selfhosted #opensource

The open secret of open washing – why companies pretend to be open source This is a deceptive practice in which companies or organizations present their products, services, or processes as "open" when they are not truly open in the spirit of transparency, access to information, participation, and knowledge sharing. This term is modelled after "greenwashing" and was coined by Michelle Thorne, an internet and climate policy scholar, in 2009. Some corporations use open washing to shield their models and practices from scientific and regulatory scrutiny, while benefiting from the "open" label. Another major factor is that the EU AI Act provides special exemptions for "open source" models. This creates a powerful incentive for open washing: if their models count as open, they'll have far less restrictive requirements. That, in turn, means they'll need less money to meet regulatory requirements or have to clean their datasets of copyright and other intellectual property (IP) issues. It's true, too, that the term open source is used way too loosely by many companies. We just have to think also about the recent débâcle with Winamp. And, as pointed out in the article, many of the Big Tech companies also punt products as being open source when they are not. See

The open secret of open washing

Allowing pretenders to co-opt the term is bad for everyone

#technology #opensource

Samsung Dual Audio: What it is and how to use it Most Android phones can connect and stream audio to one Bluetooth device. But there may be situations where you may want to stream to multiple devices instead. For example, you own a pair of portable Bluetooth speakers that can't be paired in stereo mode but would prefer the audio to be louder. Another example would be if you wanted to use your earphones and speakers simultaneously. You can accomplish all this with Samsung's Dual Audio feature. It allows you to stream audio to two Bluetooth devices without switching. Dual Audio and Multipoint audio are two different features. Dual Audio streams audio to two earphones or speakers simultaneously. Multipoint audio is available on the best wireless earbuds, which allows them to connect to two devices and switch between them seamlessly. For example, you can connect your Pixel Buds Pro to your phone and laptop and move between the two devices without issues. See

Android Police

Samsung Dual Audio: What it is and how to use it

You won

#technology #Samsung #audio

Apple Tested Blood Sugar App for Preventing Type 2 Diabetes Select employees with prediabetes were invited to test the app, which offered assistance with food selection and lifestyle changes. Employees who participated confirmed that they had prediabetes with a blood test, and then actively monitored their meals and their blood sugar using glucose monitoring devices. The app was used to demonstrate to employees how healthy and unhealthy food choices could impact their blood sugar and lead to disease progression. A significant glucose spike after a carbohydrate-heavy meal, for example, could encourage testers to consume more protein and make different choices. Intervening at the prediabetes stage could help millions of people avoid developing diabetes 2. It has really been a bit disappointing seeing how Type 2 diabetes just seems to be "treated" with medications instead of health practitioners making a real effort to advise patients about lifestyle changes that should be attempted properly first. Medical doctors really should not be seen as pill prescription generators. Maybe they think patients should have done their own homework first before coming to see them. But I think many patients don't realise the link between Type 2 diabetes and some lifestyle choices. Medical practitioners should be advising on this with the initial diagnosis. So, well done Apple, at least on tackling this and hopefully making this something fun to use. See

MacRumors

Apple Tested Blood Sugar App for Preventing Diabetes

Apple has been testing a health-focused app that

#technology #diabetes #health

Passkey portability is what the password-less future needs: FIDO Alliance standard coming Just like your house key, passkeys are unique to the lock they go in, at whatever service they were set up to unlock. That could be your bank, your social media account, your email provider, or a website like XDA. Unlike passwords, there's nothing to remember, nothing to type into a fake website in a phishing attack, and nothing that could be reused across several accounts. Given what we know about users and their security hygiene, this can only be a good thing. Passkeys aren't the only way toward a passwordless, more secure future, but they're one of the best ways to reduce user error completely. They won't work on any website other than the one they were generated for, they can't be copied or reused, they won't work on a stranger's device, and they can't currently be moved between users. That last point is also one of the issues because they're currently locked to the operating system or password manager that created them. That's a problem, because you might have generated it on the wrong device, or want to move it to your new password manager, and that's just not possible right now. There are standards for the passkeys, but the easiest way currently to move a passkey to another storage provider is to delete it and make a new one with the new service. Yes, this is pretty essential to passkeys being adopted as mainstream. It's an advantage that passwords have, as they can be exported from one service to another quite easily. So, although for example Bitwarden is fully cross-platform, what if you want to leave Bitwarden and have your passkeys in a different password manager? Or if you want to leave the Apple ecosystem and take your passkeys to an Android device? This is why Apple, Google, Samsung and some others rushed to get passkeys out as quickly as possible, because they knew it would lock users into their ecosystem. Many of us waited for cross-platform services to adopt passkeys, but even so, you can't easily leave that service with all your passkeys. So an open and secure standard for transfer of passkeys is really important. Such a standard will mean not only being able to export (and backup) but to also import elsewhere. See

XDA

Passkey portability is what the password-less future needs

Passwords are so last decade.

#technology #security #passkeys

BoxBuddy – graphical manager for Distrobox Distrobox is software which creates and manages container-based development environments without root privileges. It lets you run a wide range of Linux distributions on a single host system. It’s not reinventing the wheel. Distrobox is merely a rather sophisticated wrapper around Podman or Docker. Podman is a daemonless tool designed to find, run, build, share and deploy applications using containers and container images. Docker is a set of platform as a service products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers. Distrobox integrates these containers within your host system. Among other things, this means you share the HOME directory of the user, external storage, graphical apps (X11/Wayland), audio, systemd journal, even down to things like aliases in your shell. This is a real time-saver from a configuration perspective. Distrobox is a command-line affair. BoxBuddy is a graphical user interface for Distrobox. For each box, we can open it in a terminal, upgrade the box, view the applications installed in the box, clone the box, delete the box, and stop the box. The UI lets you select your preferred terminal, with a good range of terminals supported. But it does appear there are some shortcomings, which, according to the dev, are due to the upstream Distrobox. See

LinuxLinks

BoxBuddy - graphical manager for Distrobox - LinuxLinks

BoxBuddy is a graphical user interface for Distrobox, a container wrapping layer that lets users install containerised versions of Linux.

#technology #Linux #opensource

OpenSnitch is a comprehensive open source Linux application firewall This is not a simple firewall to get started with as it can be a bit of an uphill battle to get all the outgoing connections vetted (if you want to filter those), but I'd imagine once set up, it is a pretty powerful tool to have. Key features: * Interactive outbound connections filtering. * Block ads, trackers or malware domains system-wide. * Ability to configure system firewall from the GUI (nftables). * Configure input policy, allow inbound services, etc. * Manage multiple nodes from a centralized GUI. * SIEM integration It is regularly updated, with 74 contributors contributing to over 30 releases. The project has also received over 10,000 starts. See

GitHub

GitHub - evilsocket/opensnitch: OpenSnitch is a GNU/Linux interactive application firewall inspired by Little Snitch.

OpenSnitch is a GNU/Linux interactive application firewall inspired by Little Snitch. - evilsocket/opensnitch

#technology #opensource #security #firewalls

Flyby11 is a Rufus-like app is here to help you dodge Windows 11's system requirements Microsoft has been clamping down on the methods people use to dodge Windows 11's system requirements, but some third-party apps have kept fighting to dodge anything thrown at them. For instance, Rufus has been a go-to method for a long time now, and it's still letting people perform in-place updates with incompatible hardware. As good as Rufus is, it's always good to have alternative apps in the mix, and this new one seems to fit the bill nicely. This may be useful to those stuck on Windows and feel they can't transition their hardware to Linux instead. Remember you can always try Linux out from a USB stick without installing anything. See

XDA

This new Rufus-like app is here to help you dodge Windows 11

Two apps are better than one.

#technology #Windows11

Happy 20th Anniversary, Ubuntu! Exactly 20 years ago today, on October 20, 2004, the 4.10 “Warty Warthog” release of the Linux distribution with the strange and unfamiliar name Ubuntu debuted under the company’s slogan “Linux for human beings.” For me, what stands out most about Ubuntu, is that it helped drive Linux to be more popular and increase adoption amongst end-users and small businesses. Back around 2006 my own company was busy preparing to adopt Linux, and Ubuntu was the distribution being looked at. I started out on Ubuntu as my first Linux distro back then. If Linux is so widespread today, it’s largely thanks to Mark Shuttleworth and his company. They were bold enough to challenge tech giants like Microsoft and Apple, believing that Linux isn’t just for tech experts but for everyone. And it can be said that he succeeded in this endeavour. Mark is also a South African entrepreneur, but has no musk odour... See

Linuxiac

Happy 20th Anniversary, Ubuntu!

On this day 20 years ago, Ubuntu released its 4.10 'Warty Warthog,' forever changing the Linux ecosystem. Happy Anniversary, Ubuntu!

#technology #Linux #opensource

Streamyfin is an open source mobile app for Jellyfin with some extra features This is designed to work with an existing Jellyfin server, so you should be able to even install and use this alongside any existing Jellyfin mobile apps you have installed. It lists the following additional features: 🚀 Skip intro / credits support 🖼️ Trickplay images: The new golden standard for chapter previews when seeking. 📺 Picture in Picture (iPhone only): Watch movies in PiP mode on your iPhone. 🔊 Background audio: Stream music in the background, even when locking the phone. 📥 Download media (Experimental): Save your media locally and watch it offline. 📡 Chromecast (Experimental): Cast your media to any Chromecast-enabled device. It has been updated as recently as a week ago, so looks actively maintained by 10 different contributors. It is available for iOS and Android. See

GitHub

GitHub - streamyfin/streamyfin: A modern Jellyfin client built with Expo

A modern Jellyfin client built with Expo. Contribute to streamyfin/streamyfin development by creating an account on GitHub.

#technology #Jellyfin #streaming #opensource

Winamp Open Source Story Is Over: A lesson in what open source actually is In the last five months, Winamp, the iconic music player from the recent past, has been on quite a journey. It started with exciting news, which caused great enthusiasm, but sadly, things didn’t turn out well in the end. Without warning, Winamp deleted its entire GitHub repository, effectively ending the whole story around open-sourcing the music player code. Clearly, the organisation had no clue what open source is actually about. The right to fork, modify, etc is all enshrined within open source. The linked article unpacks a little of how that all went wrong. See

Linuxiac

Winamp Open Source Story Is Over

Without warning, Winamp deleted its entire GitHub repository, effectively ending the whole story around open-sourcing the music player code.

#technology #opensource #music

4 reasons your cloud provider should be using end-to-end encryption We're all pretty dependent on cloud services nowadays, with everything from our email inboxes to game streaming services storing our data somewhere other than on our physical computers. But with that ever-increasing dependency comes inherent risk. Your cloud provider could be using unsafe practices, like not encrypting data, or they could be a smaller provider that might disappear one day. Or it could be both of those and a whole host of other issues you might not think of. To keep your cloud storage private and secure, you need to choose a provider that uses end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in their design, and preferably one that also uses a zero-knowledge model so that your data is encrypted everywhere it goes unless it's on your personal devices where the decryption keys are stored. Clouds are attractive targets for hacking as there is just so much data stored there from private individuals, to corporate entities, to governments etc. Once you've got the keys to the kingdom, and there is no E2EE, you can browse through what you want. However, where there is E2EE then you have to crack each one individually, or you have to hack the user's end device to get to their cloud data. I remember at one time, Microsoft was offering E2EE for government, where government would choose their own encryption key to use. But for example with Google all that data needs to be exposed to them for searching and adverts. Others like Proton Drive you provide your own encryption password, and if you want to search for example your email, it first does a download dump of your data to do the search locally. The common theme here is, the more secure and E2EE there is, the less convenience, fewer cloud features, no option of recovery there is for a lost encryption key. If there is an easy way to do a password reset, AI features that work across your cloud data, or data sharing with a simple link, the chances may be that your cloud data is visible to the provider. The best case scenario is that that data is being used just to empower features for you (or serve relevant adverts) but the worst case is it is hacked by a 3rd party, it is exposed to a foreign government, or is it being sold off to data brokers or other upstream suppliers (looking at Facebook and WhatsApp here). Even a person's data in Apple's Cloud was visible to Apple, which is why Apple could be compelled to hand over this data to any law enforcement agency, and why some celebrities had their nude photos stolen. If you don't hold the keys yourself, then you don't have an E2EE cloud data service. If your cloud data is being stored by a foreign owned company, or outside of your country, you may want to worry even more about it. That said, based on being in a country that has a PATRIOT Act or a CLOUD Act, storing your data elsewhere may actually be a big plus for you. See

XDA

4 reasons your cloud provider should be using end-to-end encryption

Think your data is safe? It might not be

#technology #cloud #security #privacy

Shutter Encoder is an open source converter designed by video editors Handbrake may well immediately come to mind. This is similar in what it does (conversion based on FFmpeg in the background) but it looks a lot better and easier to use, and has quite a few functions that do not convert video for example: Cut without re-encoding, Replace audio, Rewrap, Conform, Merge, Extract, Subtitling, Video inserts. It also categorises the video conversions by separating editing formats for output type formats. It is cross-platform for Windows, macOS, and Linux (including AppImage format). Furthermore, it also has a Watch Folder feature to watch where you may render videos too, and when that render is completed, Shutter Encoder can auto convert e.g. for output say of DaVinci Resolve on Linux, this can do the conversion to H.264. See

Shutter Encoder

Shutter Encoder - FREE video/audio/image converter

Open source software without any restrictions - converter all formats video|audio|image professionals codecs and standards - Windows|OS X|Linux.

#technology #opensource #video

7 reasons Photopea is the best free alternative to Photoshop and Lightroom, and 1 why not Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom have long been the benchmarks in the industry. However, their ongoing subscription costs can be a burden for students and hobbyists. If you're seeking an alternative to Adobe’s creative suite, consider trying Photopea. Unlike other free alternatives, Photopea isn’t just a watered-down solution with limited features. It’s a robust powerhouse that goes toe-to-toe with Photoshop and Lightroom, offering a surprising amount of advanced features without costing a dime. So, whilst some very good reasons are given to use it, and many will want to because of the intuitive UI and cross-platform support, they are very clear that the product is free because it is paid for by adverts in the app. Adverts can be annoying, but they may also be intrusive in terms of privacy. That said, they do not look like they take over the interface. While Photopea won’t rival the likes of Canva, its graphic design tools can surely challenge the likes of Krita and Illustrator. You can create vector graphics using pen, shape, and text tools, explore path manipulations, and use web design tools to create mockups. You surely won’t have a hard time sketching concepts, designing logos, and creating illustrations. See

XDA

7 reasons Photopea is the best free alternative to Photoshop and Lightroom

Photopea is the free professional editor you have been waiting for

#technology #graphics #editing #alternativesto

GSConnect is KDE Connect for GNOME desktop users For Linux, KDE has developed a solution called KDE Connect. It works better in the KDE environment and hence we have the GSConnect extension for GNOME desktop users. GSConnect is an implementation of KDE Connect itself. While KDE Connect may already work on GNOME, GSConnect gives a better experience for GNOME users. Hopefully, this makes the rich experience of KDE Connect a bit more seamless and enjoyable for GNOME desktop users. See

It's FOSS

Seamlessly Connect Your Android Phone and Linux Using GSConnect

Let's improve the 'relation' between your Linux computer and the Android smartphone.

#technology #Linux #KDEConnect

Pi-Apps: The Unofficial but Definitely Better App Store for Raspberry Pi Though not popular, Raspberry Pi OS does provide a GUI method for installing and uninstalling applications. It's the Add/Remove Software tool, introduced in 2016 as a GUI-based method for installing applications. Unlike the traditional Add/Remove Software tool, Pi-Apps is faster, more reliable as less chance of getting confuse between packages with similar names, and packed with useful features. While designed for Raspberry Pi OS, Pi-Apps works seamlessly with other operating systems like Ubuntu for Raspberry Pi. See

It's FOSS

Pi-Apps: The Better App Store for Raspberry Pi

You can improve your application installation smoother and efficient on Raspberry Pi with the Pi Apps.

#technology #raspberrypi

Android 15 Private Space and Samsung Secure Folder: A Side-By-Side Comparison For years, Samsung users have enjoyed the convenience and privacy of Secure Folder, a separate space on their Samsung Galaxy phones for sensitive apps, media, files, and data. With Android 15, Google joins the party with Private Space. The linked article below put them to the test on a Google Pixel 8 and a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, diving into their setup, functionality, security, and user experience. I suppose it is true that a product that has been out longer, should have a better rounded experience. See

Android Police

I tried Android 15 Private Space and Samsung Secure Folder – Here's my verdict

I put Android 15 Private Space to the test against Samsung Secure Folder

#technology #security #privacy