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Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • Yes I was too, that is the client end-point that everyone is after now, and where Meta was trying to spy on Snapchat, and where State Actors get into encrypted data before it gets encrypted. It's the known weak point, as you read everything unencrypted. But it also comes down to who would want to read your data and why. Are they legally empowered/prevented from doing so, do they sell data to data brokers, etc.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • Not as simple as that as many did ditch WahtsApp for Meta's documented privacy violations, and their ongoing T&C which passes the WhatsApp metadata upstream to Meta and others. A lot of people also only use one messenger, and right now nothing connects them together yet. So I have masses of family and friends that only use WhatsApp, and I now only have SMS contact with them. About 8% to 10% do have multiple messengers so I see some on Signal and Telegram.

    The last thing the world needs, is for WhatsApp to become the default dominant standard. That is a company that can be least trusted out of everyone worldwide, based on their history. With the app installed, the metadata includes constant location, usage, contacts, messages to who, etc.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • It is certainly not where it needs to be yet.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • One to one messages are fully E2EE so are not decrypted on the server side. It was only groups that was still getting E2EE rolled out. I agree tho as an open standard for adoption, it should not only have a server at Google. I don't think the mobile carriers like that either.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • Not really so, as MSMS is a major thing by us (outside the US) for most notifications from banks, gov, transactions, visit to pharmacy, etc. Incoming is fine apart from fact it is all open for anyone to read, but replies cost money. Also, where people are not using the same messenger, then it is sms text messages, each costing money. For pre-paid phone accounts, those SMSS messages cost even a bit more. SMS today is still the common denominator everything falls back on. It is very expensive when you consider what is paid, and it is only around 140 characters vs data.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • From what I understand with Apple's fallback (or like Google's Message app does), if RCS is sensed by the other non-iMessage user, then RCS will be used, if not right now it would still default back to text SMS but then lose some features like hi-res photos etc. Just don't know how it will work for me where I am on iMessage on my iPad, but when out with my Android phone will the iMessage's wait a week until I turn on my iPad again. Would be nice if there was a proper presence sensing, and it routes to there. That may be possible with RCS, but we won't know how Apple plans to use it, and they are not going to want it to be as shiny and nice as sending an iMessage....

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • Certainly not now as a replacement but I understand that is the longer term intention. There is a lot of older infrastructure carriers need to unload and move on (lime dismantling 2G and 3G etc), and they often pay negotiated Inter-carrier fees. If it is to replace SMS I understand carriers can zero rate whatever data they want to, so it will be cheaper for them to not charge any data charges on RCS than to actually keep providing text SMS. RCS also uses exiting modern network technologies so there is nothing extra, or outdated, that has to be maintained.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • It does seem to have innovated quite quickly. I'm still using Bitwarden as I have the paid access to biometrics etc, and it has a nice tweak also to add unique e-mails for every login, etc. But I'm interested to see where Proton Pass will be in another few months, seeing I'm already paying for their service, and maybe I can consolidate my expenses a bit. I actually got drawn into paid Proton by leaving ExpressVPN, which I needed for Netflix, and then found Proton (with one or two others) were the only one's handling Netflix's geofencing quite well. Looking at options is always good.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • No just have "Proton for Business newsletter" disabled but I see many of their mails say only once a quarter etc. So seems they don't send out every month.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • It is the same for Bitwarden. What I noticed is if I go to a site with passkeys, then Bitwarden prompts me with a pop-up to want to add a passkey. It's not something you manually add, apparently.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • Not really, right now as the password resets all undermine passkeys for many sites. One day if/when passwords get replaced then there will be a need, but that is a long way off probably. A good random password along with any 2FA is really good enough for most cases, and Bitwarden already does that very well along with even random e-mail addresses.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • It's not a race and I would not even start to use passkeys until I know they can move with me across devices and OSs. Also, most sites that do offer passkeys, still offer highly insecure password resets which really undermines the security that passkeys should offer. I waited a long time for Bitwarden to start with passkeys, and they were going to be the answer to fully portable passkeys (I've been waiting so that I know my passkeys will work across all my devices and OSs). Now I'm waiting for mobile implementation before I can get going. I do hope they will also be offering exporting of passkeys, like you can currently export your passwords to other services.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • Ah thanks for explaining that. It just makes it then difficult to fully move to passkeys with Bitwarden, which is why I've been waiting so long, and why I never stayed using Google or Apple's passkeys.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • There is a difference but right now as long as one uses a good password with a 2FA it is probably good enough. Too many services with passkeys are still quickly offering password resets via e-mail or text, so they, as sites, are not secure. And unless you can move your passkeys with you, like you can with passwords, you don't want to get locked into a single device or OS.

  • Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
  • Firstly, the point was made that the passkey functionality in Proton Pass is free (no account needed or "selling") and that is for unlimited logins. Anyone can just use it. I pay for, and am still using Bitwarden. I posted about this because it is interesting that Pass has implemented passkeys for mobile, while I still wait for Bitwarden, so I'm interested in testing this out with Proton Pass. I post about all sorts of things that I find interesting, and sometimes I do switch my services across if I find it can match or better what I already use. That's the bottom line.

    I was just as interested when I was considering moving from LastPass to Bitwarden, but then I was accused of "selling" free Bitwarden to people. Everyone must make up their own minds as their circumstances are different. But if no-one posted about what they found interesting, we'd have no Lemmy, and we'd all forever just stay stuck on whatever we personally know. Certainly Bitwarden and Proton Pass are not the only good password managers out there, but this week I was interested to see an article about Proton Pass, and I had not even known they'd rolled out passkeys yet. It seems like quite a few others did not either.

    I'm sure others also post about what new stuff 1Password has just rolled out, and I'd be interested to hear about that too. That is how I decide whether I want to try something better.

    If I wanted to try to sell something, I'm sure Proton Pass probably has some loyalty link for paid accounts, but no, you did not see me sharing anything like that. I mentioned the access was free.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • Google's own one may be, and that is their right, but it is an open standard so anyone can produce their own RCS app like Samsung has done, and the same way Apple is building support into their exiting app. Nothing should stop a 3rd party developer looking at the standard, and producing an open source RCS app?

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • The GSMA does need to work harder at ensuring true interoperability between carriers, esp for E2EE. I'm expecting that the Google "monopoly" will get broken up at some point. I would have hoped that Apple insisted on hosting their own RCS (standards compliant) server.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • Not the only one, Samsung also their Messages app with RCS built in, and Apple is adding soon. The one-to-one messages are E2EE, and I understand groups are/were to be E2EE. We should be seeing more apps building it in as I've been asking Truecaller to do, as I have to pay for every SMS in Truecaller.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • It is not zero encryption, like SMS, though? All GSMA-compliant RCS implementations must use TLS to encrypt data transfer between your device and the carrier's server. While recommended by GSMA, E2EE is an optional feature that carriers can choose to implement or not. So carriers can implement it. I'm pretty sure that as adoption goes mainstream, a "monopoly" on the server side is going to get broken up.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
  • Yes, but a percentage has to be seen in the context of the total to gauge its impact. India for example is 95% of 1.428 billion people vs Japan is 70% of only 124 million. There are just under 200 countries.

  • Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
    lifehacker.com Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS

    Google just announced that Apple will be adopting RCS in fall of 2024. If this is true, it's likely Apple is planning RCS adoption as part of iOS 18.

    Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS

    The Android developer just published an updated landing page for Google Messages, showing off key features ranging from customization, privacy and security, and, of course, AI.

    On this landing page, there are different sections for each feature set, including one for RCS. As spotted by 9to5Google, if you expand this list of RCS features and scroll to the bottom, you see a section on "Coming soon on iOS: Better messaging for all." That's no surprise: We've known Apple was adopting RCS since November. However, it's the next line that brings the news: "Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024."

    Of course, this does not say a lot as it is "in the fall" which is anywhere over a couple of months, and Google has tried to embarrass Apple into making moves before. I suppose, though, there is the looming court case against Apple which is anyway keeping pressure on Apple. If it were not for the US court case, I would have guessed Apple may have pulled out after the EU had ruled Apple was not a dominant player in the market (although the EU case was looking more at interoperability with WhatsApp and others in Apple Messages).

    Of course, with Apple actually including RCS now, they can probably argue that there is interoperability via RCS between their platform and Android too. It must be remembered that in many countries, like mine, SMS's are paid for so are very expensive to use for any form of chatting, and the costs go up exponentially when you text an international number.

    I personally have quite a few issues with interoperability with Apple:

    • I still have AirTags from when I had an iPhone and I daily get the audio beeps warning me the AirTags are not connected (I use an Android phone and alternate between an iPad and an Android tablet)
    • I can't wait to sell my AirTags and get the new one's Google was working on that will interoperate with Apple, but supposedly Apple has been delaying building in that support into their devices (which Google already built into Android for AirTags in 2023)
    • Because I was on Apple Messages and my iPad still sometimes connects, I find a message on my iPad that arrived a week ago which I had not seen (I had Beeper which was solving this problem)

    Apple is not at all dominant outside the USA, but it makes interacting with Apple users quite a pain, as Apple has gone out of their way to try to keep their users inside the walled garden.

    See https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-just-revealed-when-apple-will-officially-adopt-rcs

    #technology #RCS #Apple #interoperability

    114
    Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans: Beating Bitwarden to mobile devices
    proton.me Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans | Proton

    Proton Pass supports passkeys for everyone, allowing you to manage and use passkeys across all devices seamlessly.

    Proton Pass now supports passkeys on all devices and plans | Proton

    Passkeys are an easy and secure alternative to traditional passwords that can help prevent phishing attacks and make your online experience smoother and safer.

    Unfortunately, Big Tech’s rollout of this technology prioritized using passkeys to lock people into their walled gardens over providing universal security for everyone (you have to use their platform, which often does not work across all platforms). And many password managers only support passkeys on specific platforms or provide them with paid plans, meaning you only get to reap passkeys’ security benefits if you can afford them.

    They’ve reimagined passkeys, helping them reach their full potential as free, universal, and open-source tech. They have made online privacy and security accessible to everyone, regardless of what device you use or your ability to pay.

    I'm still a paying customer of Bitwarden as Proton Pass was up to now still not doing everything, but this may make me re-evaluate using Proton Pass as I'm also a paying customer of Proton Pass. It certainly looks like Proton Pass is advancing at quite a pace, and Proton has already built up a good reputation for private e-mail and an excellent VPN client.

    Proton is also the ONLY passkey provider that I've seen allowing you to store, share, and export passkeys just like you can with passwords!

    See https://proton.me/blog/proton-pass-passkeys

    #technology #passkeys #security #ProtonPass #opensource

    161
    Atuin is an open-source shell command history app for Linux with syncing, unlimited history, and with contextual search

    Atuin replaces your existing shell history with a SQLite database, and records additional context for your commands. With this context, Atuin gives you faster and better search of your shell history!

    Additionally, it provides optional and fully encrypted (E2EE) synchronisation of your history between machines, via an Atuin server, or you can self-host your own server. There is a single command to easily delete your data from the server too.

    It supports zsh, bash, fish, and nushell shells right now.

    The search is as easy as pressing the up arrow in the terminal and then scrolling back, or typing to search. But you could also type something like this to do a search [search for all successful make commands, recorded after 3pm yesterday atuin search --exit 0 --after "yesterday 3pm" make].

    Atuin offers configurable full text or fuzzy search, filterable by host, directory, etc. As it has context around dates, times, exit code, and even the directory location form where a command was executed, you could use the -c flag to just search for commands run in a particular directory.

    The sync function allows you to have the same history across terminals, across sessions, and across machines.

    There is a quick start script that can be run to install it, otherwise you can also install from the various Linux repos. For manual installation, the steps I found to get going were:

    • Install Ble.sh and add it to your .bashrc (or other shell) file
    • Install Atuin and add it to your .bashrc (or other shell) file (after Ble.sh)
    • Restart your shell and run 'atuin import bash' to import my bash history into Atuin
    • Press up arrow to see if Atuin interactive search triggers

    The link below has some good documentation as well a link to their source code.

    See https://atuin.sh/

    #technology #Linux #opensource

    20
    Mbin is a fork of kbin: a decentralized content aggregator running on the Fediverse network

    Mbin is a decentralized content aggregator, voting, discussion and microblogging platform running on the fediverse network. It can communicate with many other ActivityPub services, including Kbin, Mastodon, Lemmy, Pleroma, Peertube. It is an open source alternative to other link aggregator services like Reddit. The initiative aims to promote a free and open internet.

    Mbin is focused on what the community wants, pull requests can be merged by any repo owner (with merge rights in GitHub). Discussions take place on Matrix then consensus has to be reached by the community. If approved by the community, only one approval on the PR is required by one of the Mbin maintainers. It's built entirely on trust.

    It seems it's claim to fame is being more open and accepting of community changes and improvements. It can install as either bare metal/VM or as a Docker container.

    Although anyone can install it and self-host it, their project page also contains a link to various instances that already exist and which anyone can register on.

    See https://github.com/MbinOrg/mbin

    #technology #opensource #Fediverse #linkaggregator #decentralised

    44
    Konsave lets you save, apply and share Linux desktop theme customisations

    KDE, especially, is known for its amazing themes and theme customisations. With that can come lots of tweaking, and then forgetting how to get back to what you really liked. Or maybe you want to share that fantastic theme combination that you got right with friends.

    Konsave helps do all of this very simply and effectively. I do like that all its options are logically named like -r for remove, -l for list, etc. So, although it is command line driven, it is really easy to use.

    It officially supports KDE Plasma, but can be used on all other Linux desktop environments too. It is an open source application written in Python.

    See https://github.com/Prayag2/konsave

    #technology #opensource #Linux #themes

    1
    This XDA Reporter replaced their monitors with XREAL smart glasses for a full week

    Not made by Meta = Tick. The price though is almost the cost of three monitors...

    These may not be full time permanent replacements for monitors, but they are great for portable use, and could potentially save a ton of desk area space. You can also work in a confined area (even on a plane trip, without the neck strain of having to look down the whole time), with the illusion of space and the monitors being further away from you. Or they can also be used so that they don't disturb someone sleeping (or working) next to you, or you can use them instead of having a large screen TV.

    At even 60Hz to 120Hz, that is a pretty decent refresh rate, and more than I expected it to be. They are also not as heavy or cumbersome as many VR goggles are, weighing it at around 75g. Resolution is 1080p per eye.

    It seems too that the glasses can connect to Linux computers that support USB-C DP video output.

    But this type of device really needs to be tested in person before buying. It's not the sort of thing you can easily show someone remotely, or via a video, to help make a choice.

    See https://www.xda-developers.com/replaced-monitors-smart-glasses/ and the video at https://youtu.be/m5pTpB9x-es?si=V1K--m2ZwWQxPSLM is also worth watching

    #technology #glasses #smartglasses #AR

    7
    Change colour of Desktop Effects Track Mouse rings

    Wondering if there is any way to change the rings to higher contrast colours, from the default white and grey? The settings seem to be in ~/.config/kwinrc file, but it has no colour options that I know of. It seems like an obvious choice to want to have.

    The Mouse Click Animation has some great options, but it is only on actual clicking of the mouse keys (and yes I thought maybe I could set this to long duration, but it maxes out at 999 ms.

    0
    New Fork of the Linux Streamdeck-UI app for Elgato Stream Deck
    github.com GitHub - streamdeck-linux-gui/streamdeck-linux-gui: A Linux compatible UI for the Elgato Stream Deck.

    A Linux compatible UI for the Elgato Stream Deck. Contribute to streamdeck-linux-gui/streamdeck-linux-gui development by creating an account on GitHub.

    GitHub - streamdeck-linux-gui/streamdeck-linux-gui: A Linux compatible UI for the Elgato Stream Deck.

    Many of us Linux users may have been using Timothy Crosley's excellent app for Linux. But with the Pillow library causing a problem after it was updated, we realised Timothy seems to have disappeared. Within a week or so of that realisation, the project was now forked to https://github.com/streamdeck-linux-gui/streamdeck-linux-gui and even the AUR package has now updated from the new fork The bug was fixed and the Linux support is again fully working.

    The project has a coordinator, and a few people looking at issues, but it would be great to see if there are more devs who are interested in assisting, especially with adding of any new features. For example, users would like to see hold for repeat key presses, buttons showing dynamic display information, etc. So right now we can't expect too much to happen, but if any of you know any devs who may be able to assist, that would be greatly appreciated.

    It's a long shot, but maybe even someone from Elgato wants to unofficially assist as well, after all even though we use Linux, we have bought and support the Elgato Stream Deck. The more features we can use of it, means we are less likely to migrate off onto some other brand.

    2
    Open Konsole named Profiles, with own identification and a custom command, using a keyboard shortcut

    This solves a problem I had with wanting to quickly start up a Distrobox container using a shortcut key, but also being able to differentiate it visually from my normal Konsole terminal screen I'd use on Manjaro Linux. It is extremely quick and the named Konsole Profile has a different colour as well as a different window title bar. I needed this as my Starship custom prompt was not playing ball with showing the change of OS properly (it could do so, but the formatting broke all the time). This method I describe here is solid, and works irrespective of the prompt.

    I thought this was worth sharing as firstly I could find no search results showing how to do this, and secondly, it can actually be applied for purposes other than just starting a Distrobox container. Any terminal command can be used. It is also a useful way to actually use these named Profiles that Konsole has in KDE Plasma.

    My video also gives a taste of what Distrobox does, so if you're interested further in Distrobox I have also included a link below my video, to a Distrobox overview video by someone else.

    Watch https://youtu.be/g7x_ngYtj6Y

    #technology #opensource #Linux #Distrobox #Konsole

    9
    Why You Should Use Bionic Reading in Chrome (or Any Browser): An extension to highlight the most important parts of words
    www.howtogeek.com Why You Should Use Bionic Reading in Chrome (or Any Browser)

    This browser extension promises to make reading better in Chrome (or any web browser.)

    Why You Should Use Bionic Reading in Chrome (or Any Browser)

    Bionic Reading is a new way of reading text that uses a patented algorithm to highlight the most important parts of words, making it easier and faster to read. The method was developed by a German software developer named Renato Cukar, who was inspired by the way the human eye reads text.

    Bionic Reading works by highlighting the most important parts of words, which helps the eye to follow the text more smoothly and efficiently. This makes it easier to read longer passages of text, and can also help to improve comprehension.

    Bionic Reading is available as a free Chrome extension, as well as a mobile app for iOS and Android. It can also be used on websites and in PDFs.

    See https://www.howtogeek.com/882688/why-you-should-use-bionic-reading-in-chrome-or-any-browser/

    EDIT: Although some individuals claim to see improvement, it may be that results do vary as one test shows no real improvement across the board - https://blog.readwise.io/bionic-reading-results/

    #technology #bionicreading #reading

    1
    Berty Messenger for iOS and Android - Zero Trust Open Source Peer-to-Peer Messenger based on IPFS protocol
    berty.tech Berty · Berty Technologies

    We build tools to enhance communication freedom

    Berty · Berty Technologies

    ** Now in Android and iOS app stores **

    No Face, No Name, No Number, No SIM card, No Internet! Berty is a messenger that doesn’t require any of your personal data or network connection (using Bluetooth Low Energy BLE). All conversations are encrypted with end-to-end encryption, in a fully distributed network.

    It is a peer-to-peer messenger with no servers, no cloud - your data is only stored on the device where Berty is installed and used. No one would be able to access the data or shut the app down, not even the developers.

    Being P2P, it means the IP address needs to be available to route messaging, but their site explains a bit about how they've tried to mask this. Whilst Briar is an excellent alternative, it is still Android only. The closest alternative is maybe Jami, but it lacks a non-Internet Bluetooth alternative if I recall correctly. Interestingly, Berty also can use Airdrop (iOS to iOS) and Android's Nearby as alternative protocols.

    You can share your details and add contacts via a QR code, public key, or an invite link. It is currently available on both iOS and Android, with desktop clients to follow.

    See https://berty.tech/

    #technology #messenger #berty #P2P #IPFS #privacy

    8
    iPhone @lemmy.ml GadgeteerZA @lemmy.ml
    PowerToYou and Cloud Battery (amongst others) both display battery levels of your other Apple devices
    gadgeteer.co.za PowerToYou and Cloud Battery (amongst other apps) both display battery levels of your other Apple devices

    I was looking for an app to alert me to low battery levels across various of my iOS devices. Although coconutBattery looked good, it is macOS only, and I only power my Macbook up occasionally. So I looked at a good four iOS app options, and there is no perfect one that does everything perfectly....

    PowerToYou and Cloud Battery (amongst other apps) both display battery levels of your other Apple devices

    I was looking for an app to alert me to low battery levels across various of my iOS devices. Although coconutBattery looked good, it is macOS only, and I only power my Macbook up occasionally. So I looked at a good four iOS app options, and there is no perfect one that does everything perfectly. I also discarded anything that was updated more than a year ago. I installed across my iPhone, iPad and Watch. You can view the battery levels from any device’s app, for all the devices.

    PowerToYou covers iPhone, iPad (and iPencil found under Bluetooth devices), Watch, AirPods (added as a Bluetooth device). What I like is that it has a good widget layout, clearly showing the percentages and time last updated for each device. You can set notifications globally for any device falling below, or going above (to prevent full cycle charging), a percentage charged. Adding the AirPods on my iPhone, made them show up on the iPad’s app just fine. The widget expanded to show the AirPods. It also has some choices for Watch complications. The app was last updated Feb 2022, and has an active Discord support community. Download from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/powertoyou/id1558154409.

    Cloud Battery covers the same devices as PowerToYou (but says AirPods can no longer be monitored this way, and did not detect them), but it also detected and showed my Apple Pencil battery level. Its widgets fall a bit short though as they are nice but fail to show any percentage level or time last updated. However, a quick press on the widget opens the app, which shows the percentages. Another quick press on an individual device, shows when the charge level was last updated, rename the device, and set a device specific alert fop passing below or above a certain percentage level. Cloud Battery also allows you to customise the colours of widget text and icons. App was last updated Jan 2022. Download from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cloud-battery/id1480648069.

    “Charged?” is a small app that allows you to check the charge level of your iOS and macOS devices via iCloud. I did briefly use it, and it shows battery percentages with last updated, for iPhone, iPad and macOS. It does lack some of the extra features the apps above have, and was last updated in March 2021.

    Battery Status Overview does not work with macOS, but works on iPad, iPhone and Watch. It also has a lot fewer settings and more basic graphics, but does include a charge history log. They only mention alerts for the battery charge level reaching 100%. The app was last updated in Dec 2021, and only has one review rating, though.

    Apple’s built-in battery widget is great, but it ONLY shows local devices, so no overview of all your other devices.

    So I am a bit torn between PowerToYou and Cloud Battery. I’m leaning more towards PowerToYou as the widget has everything clearly shown. Cloud Battery’s plus is its ability to set a different minimum and maximum battery percentage for each device separately.

    I’ll post any updates about this topic at my blog post at https://gadgeteer.co.za/powertoyou-and-cloud-battery-amongst-other-apps-both-display-battery-levels-of-your-other-apple-devices/.

    0
    Update your Android's GPU drivers systemlessly using this tool, no root required
    www.xda-developers.com This library makes it easier to use updated graphics drivers on your smartphone, without root

    Thanks to Adreno Tools, you can now update the graphics driver on your Android device without root access. Read on to know more!

    This library makes it easier to use updated graphics drivers on your smartphone, without root

    Smartphone-oriented websites tend to focus only on the latest devices, but a large chunk of users choose not to upgrade their phones for one reason or another. Barring hardware failure, many of these devices may still have years of use ahead of them because, to their owners, they still work just fine. While custom ROMs can keep legacy smartphones alive for ages, it can be a nightmare for the modders to keep things like the camera and graphics drivers up to date without official manufacturer support.

    Unlike the smartphone ecosystem, updating the graphics driver on your PC is something you can always think about. This is possible because of the modular architecture of PC hardware drivers, which allows power users to tinker with closed source driver packages, or even opt for open source drivers instead of OEM-provided binaries. In the case of Android, however, driver updates generally only come to your phone alongside larger OS updates.

    Updatable GPU drivers can come in handy for fixing bugs, improving graphics performance, or adding new features from OpenGL or Vulkan APIs. Nowadays, smartphones are bigger and faster than ever, making them the perfect vehicle for gaming, hence porting the PC-esque driver design to them does make sense.

    Thanks to XDA Senior Member bylaws, we now have a genius solution named Adreno Tools that allows on-the-fly GPU driver modifications or replacements on Android — that too without root! Fellow Skyline developer Mark “Pixelylon” pitched the idea of runtime drive replacement to bylaws, which eventually materialized into Adreno Tools. Being a rootless library, Adreno Tools can help any regular app to load custom GPU drivers, deal with BCn textures, and redirect file operations for further complex modifications. It does so by hooking into system libraries and seamlessly swapping in the new driver.

    See https://www.xda-developers.com/adreno-tools-update-android-graphics-drivers/

    #technology #android #gaming #adrenotools #graphics

    0
    This shouldn't be news but... Apple now lets you repair your own iPhone
    www.xda-developers.com Apple now lets you repair your own iPhone

    Apple will finally allow individuals to order genuine repair parts and tools for their iPhones. Macs will follow later on.

    Apple now lets you repair your own iPhone

    Following heavy criticism regarding anti-repair practices on the iPhone 13 lineup, Apple has just announced its Self Service Repair program. The company shared earlier that it wouldn’t be disabling Face ID after third-party screen repairs, after online outrage. The Cupertino giant is now taking an unexpected step further and making repairs easily accessible to individuals.

    In a newsroom post, Apple has stated that iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 users will be able to order genuine spare parts and tools to repair their own iPhones. The move is unprecedented by Apple, but it’s most definitely a welcome one that will help dodge anti-trust lawsuits.

    Clearly, without lawsuits and pressure groups, this would never have changed. Whilst I really love some of what Apple does (very long software update cycles, the best health smartwatch, etc) there is also a lot I really dislike (a crippled Shortcuts app, iCloud web apps that lack features, Photos is dismal compared to Google Photos, etc). So this is yet another incremental improvement (like widgets, 3rd party keyboards and browsers, copy-and-paste, etc that eventually arrived).

    See https://www.xda-developers.com/apple-now-lets-you-repair-your-own-iphone/

    #technology #righttorepair #iphone #DIY

    0
    Clever perspective puzzler Moncage is now available on Android (and on Steam Games)
    www.androidpolice.com Clever perspective puzzler Moncage is now available on Android

    Indie dev Optillusion's promising debut, now pocket-size

    Clever perspective puzzler Moncage is now available on Android

    Optillusion is a new indie developer that just released its first game today, and it's a doozy. This game is called Moncage, and it's a drop-dead gorgeous puzzler that offers a uniquely interesting mechanic.

    You see, the whole game takes place in a cube that you can rotate, and each side offers unique imagery. In order to solve the game's puzzles, you'll rotate this cube to line up the perspective of the cube's imagery. The goal? To collect photos of your perfectly aligned imagery, which reveals the story of the game. Moncage is an interactive optical illusion puzzle game, and not only is the presentation superb, but the gameplay is also a hoot that's perfect for play on a touchscreen.

    It's also available on Steam Games for desktops.

    See https://www.androidpolice.com/clever-perspective-puzzler-moncage-is-now-available-on-android/

    #technology #gaming #puzzles #Moncage

    0
    NSO fails once again to claim foreign sovereign immunity in WhatsApp spying lawsuit
    www.theregister.com NSO again denied immunity in WhatsApp spying lawsuit

    US appeals court allows legal battle to resume, says it will be an 'easy case'

    NSO again denied immunity in WhatsApp spying lawsuit

    Spyware maker NSO Group cannot use its government clients to shield itself from litigation, a US appeals court ruled on Monday, a decision that allows WhatsApp's lawsuit against the Israel-based firm to resume.

    In 2019, Facebook and its WhatsApp subsidiary sued NSO claiming the firm's intrusion software, known as Pegasus, was used to unlawfully compromise the accounts of WhatsApp customers.

    NSO denies any wrongdoing. While WhatsApp claimed members of civil society had their phones infiltrated by Pegasus, NSO insisted it only sold its software to "licensed government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to help them fight terrorism and serious crime," and that using its software to surveil political opponents, advocacy groups, and journalists is contractually prohibited.

    "Whatever NSO’s government customers do with its technology and services does not render NSO an 'agency or instrumentality of a foreign state,' as Congress has defined that term," the appeals panel said. "Thus, NSO is not entitled to the protection of foreign sovereign immunity."

    0
    Darling is like Wine for Windows on Linux, but runs macOS software
    ostechnix.com Run MacOS Software On Linux Using Darling - OSTechNix

    Darling is a translation layer that allows us to run macOS applications on Linux. Darling emulates a complete Darwin environment in Linux.

    Run MacOS Software On Linux Using Darling - OSTechNix

    Darling is a translation layer that allows us to run macOS applications on Linux. It emulates a complete Darwin environment, including Mach, dyld, launchd and everything you'd expect. It lets you to instantly switch to a Bash shell and start running the applications built for macOS in your Linux system.

    Like Wine, it can be a lot quicker to run a single application this way, instead of booting a VM up. But it is early days for Darling still, and it is not as mature as Wine, so is mostly still running non-GUI apps. The developers of Darling are planning to build a nice and user-friendly GUI for interacting with Darling. But for now, we can interact with Darling via command line only.

    See https://ostechnix.com/run-macos-software-on-linux-using-darling/

    #technology #opensource #Linux #macOS #Darling

    1
    Cleanup.pictures - a free and open-source web application to remove any object, people, text or defects from your pictures
    cleanup.pictures Cleanup.pictures - Remove objects, people, text and defects from any picture for free

    Remove objects, people, text and defects from any picture for free. Create a clean background for a product picture 📸, re-design any items 👠, fill up some missing space for a youtube thumbnail 🎬, You can use it to iron your shirts 👕...etc!

    Cleanup.pictures - Remove objects, people, text and defects from any picture for free

    It uses LaMa, an open-source model from Samsung's AI lab to automatically and accurately redraw the areas that you delete. It is open-source under the Apache License 2.0.

    It worked really well for two photos I tested with it, but they also have some demo photos you can test it with. If it's not perfect on the first erase, just try a second time.

    See https://cleanup.pictures/

    #technology #opensource #photography #alternativeto #photos

    0
    Python @lemmy.ml GadgeteerZA @lemmy.ml
    How to Use Python ‘SimpleHTTPServer’ to Create Webserver or Serve Files Instantly
    www.tecmint.com How to Use Python 'SimpleHTTPServer' to Create Webserver or Serve Files Instantly

    SimpleHTTPServer is a simple python module which allows you to instantly create a web server or serve your files instantly via a browser without installing any web server.

    How to Use Python 'SimpleHTTPServer' to Create Webserver or Serve Files Instantly

    SimpleHTTPServer is a python module which allows you to instantly create a web server or serve your files in a snap. The main advantage of python’s SimpleHTTPServer is you don’t need to install anything since you have python interpreter installed. You don’t have to worry about python interpreter because almost all Linux distributions, python interpreter come handy by default.

    You also can use SimpleHTTPServer as a file sharing method. You just have to enable the module within the location of your shareable files are located.

    The article below guides you on how to set up and use it.

    See https://www.tecmint.com/python-simplehttpserver-to-create-webserver-or-serve-files-instantly/

    #technology #Linux #Python #Webserver

    0
    ChangeDetection.io - Self-hosted open source web page monitoring, notification and change detection

    Know when web pages change! Stay on top of new information! Live your data-life pro-actively instead of re-actively, do not rely on manipulative social media for consuming important information.

    Maybe you need to be notified the moment a government or company web page changes, or possibly you're waiting for an item to go on sale.

    This can be installed and run on a Raspberry Pi at home, or installed quickly as a Docker image.

    See https://github.com/dgtlmoon/changedetection.io

    #technology #opensource #selfhosted #changedetection #monitoring

    7
    danie10 GadgeteerZA @lemmy.ml

    I blog about #technology #gadgets #opensource #FOSS #greentech #traditionalwetshaving #LCHF #health #alternativeto #hamradio (ZS1OSS) #southafrica - see https://gadgeteer.co.za/blog. I also blog to various other social networks which I list at https://gadgeteer.co.za/social-networks-i-post-to.

    Posts 49
    Comments 151