The Open-SmartWatch from [pauls_3d_things]. This ESP32 powered watch packs a gorgeous circular 240×240 TFT display, DS323M RTC, BMA400 three-axis accelerometer, and a 450 mAh battery inside of a 3D printed enclosure that can be produced on your average desktop machine. WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity are a given with the ESP32, but there’s also an enhanced edition of the PCB that adds another 4 MB of RAM, a micro SD slot, and a Quectel L96 GPS receiver.

As it’s an open source project you’re free to download the PCB design files and get the board produced on your own, but [pauls_3d_things]has actually partnered with LILYGO to do a run of the Open-SmartWatch electronics which you can pick up on AliExpress right now for just $24 USD. You’ll still need to order the battery separately and 3D print your own case, but it still seems like a pretty sweet deal.

See An Open Source Smart Watch You’d Actually Wear

#technology #opensource #smartwatch #opensmartwatch

We’ve seen a number of open source smart watches over the years, and while they’ve certainly been impressive from a technical standpoint, they often leave something to be desired in ter…

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/open-smartwatch-open-source-esp32-powered-watch-bit-over-24-you-can-assemble-and-repair-yourself

Well this a surprising turn of events, and shows also what competition laws can achieve, by getting Apple to integrate other brands. It gives us a closer look at how third-party ‌Find My‌ accessories will work and perhaps hints at what we could see from Apple's own AirTags item trackers that are rumored to be in the works.

In Lost Mode, the ‌Find My‌ network, comprised of millions of iPhones, iPads, and Macs, can be used for tracking purposes and will let the item's owner know if it happens to be located (That confirms what I was guessing as a major plus). If the ONE Spot is found by someone other than the owner, that person can use the ‌Find My‌ app on iPhone to identify it and be taken to a website that will offer a message and a phone number for contact purposes.

According to Chipolo, the ONE Spot uses "advanced encryption" to ensure that no one else is able to view the location of the tag, including Apple and Chipolo. Apple is requiring this security of all ‌Find My‌ accessories.

See Chipolo Announces New 'ONE Spot' Item Tracker With Find My Integration

#technology #Chipolo #ONESpot #Tracker

https://images.macrumors.com/article-new/2021/04/chipolo-1.jpg" alt="Image/photo">

Following Apple's official launch of the Find My network accessory program, Chipolo has announced the launch of the new ONE Spot item tracker...

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/chipolo-announces-new-one-spot-item-tracker-find-my-integration-apple-has-launched-their-own

Right now with most Bluetooth tracker devices such as Tile (I've tried a few) they require you, and everyone else, to have the app installed in order to locate the lost device. That severely limits the potential reach and effectiveness.

If Apple's global network of devices are all able to function as locating devices to help find lost items, that will change the picture dramatically as the locating is then no longer dependent on who else has installed the same app. It will be interesting to see what hoops must be jumped through to participate, and also whether Android will go more global with something like this.

See Apple launches an app for testing devices that work with ‘Find My’ – TechCrunch

#technology #findmy #lost #bluetoothtracker #apple

Apple has launched a new app, Find My Certification Asst., designed for use by MFi (Made for iPhone) Licensees, who need to test their accessories’ interoperability with Apple’s Find My network. The network helps users find lost Apple devices — like iPhones, AirPods and Mac comput…

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/if-apples-find-my-app-helps-locate-compatible-3rd-party-trackers-then-it-will-be-massive-boost

OpenEVSE supplies open source charging station hardware and software solutions to manufactures and individuals. OpenEVSE SAE J1772 compatible charging station controllers are available in quantities of 1 to 10,000+ for requirements big or small. OpenEVSE controllers allows manufactures to bring their products to market sooner at a lower cost than designing from scratch.

OpenEVSE features open standards based protocols, control your station... Automate your home... You control your station and your data:
* Energy Monitoring
* Setup and control over WiFi
* Automate with MQTT
* Real-time Solar Diversion
* Open APIs

Source Code for OpenEVSE hardware and firmware is available on Github.

See OpenEVSE - Electric Vehicle Charging Solutions

#technology #opensource #EV #DIY #openevse #environment

OpenEVSE provides electric vehicle charging solutions worldwide based on SAE J1772 and IEC 61851 standards. Our experts provide components, software and services to accelerate the development of new charging technologies.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/openevse-provides-open-source-ev-charging-stations-ready-use-kit-form-or-just-parts

If you’re looking to make a video and don’t like speaking off the cuff, there’s a free Teleprompter utility to help out—all you have to do is pull up their website in your browser and copy and paste whatever script (or notes) you’ll want to scroll on your screen. You can adjust the speed of the scrolling and the text size using sliders—and you’ll definitely want to play with both so you get the perfect combination that works best for your speaking cadence.

As the author pointed out, I also had trouble getting the voice-activated version to work properly.

See Use This Free Web-Based Teleprompter for Your Next Video

#technology #freeware #speech #teleprompter

If you’re looking to make a video and don’t like speaking off the cuff, there’s a free Teleprompter utility to help out—all you have to do is pull up their website in your browser and copy and paste whatever script (or notes) you’ll want to scroll on your screen. You can adjust the speed of the scrolling and the text size using sliders—and you’ll definitely want to play with both so you get the perfect combination that works best for your speaking cadence.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/use-free-web-based-teleprompter-your-next-video

“The Data and Cloud Policy seeks to strengthen the capacity of the State to deliver services to its citizens, ensure informed policy development based on data analytics, as well as promote South Africa’s data sovereignty and the security thereof,” the draft policy states.

“The envisaged overall policy framework on data and cloud must be biased towards open standards and open systems, including open source frameworks rather than closed and exclusive systems.”

“The HPCDPC will leverage the existing computing capacity and technical capabilities of the CSIR and SITA, and will operate in conformance with international best practice,” the draft policy states.

Looks like South Africa is starting to stand up to Big Tech now and ensure more ownership and competition over solutions. This bodes well for the future if it goes through. Goodbye vendor lock-in!

Those interested in commenting on government’s proposed National Data and Cloud Policy have 30 working days from 1 April to do so.

See South Africa’s plan to launch state-owned cloud computing mega-network

#technology #southafrica #opensource #openstandards #cloud

The policy framework on data and cloud will be biased towards open standards and open systems, including open source frameworks.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/south-africas-plan-launch-state-owned-cloud-computing-mega-network-biased-towards-open-standards

Windows 95 was the “next-generation” OS from Microsoft: redesigned UI, long file names support, 32-bit apps and many other changes. Some of Windows 95 components are still in use today. How does it look? This article shows you, complete with a link to hear the sound of a dial-up modem connecting to the Internet. Back then users got so used to listening to how the status of connection was going, just by the sound.

Also, those were the days of DOS until near the mid-1980's when Microsoft release their first Windows OS which basically no-one took notice of. I remember the Commodore Amiga coming out with a way better polished windowed OS from 1987 and even IBM had OS/2 (I used OS/2 Warp for a while).

So with Windows being so crappy why did it end up dominating? My theory was the Amiga was a lot more about gaming (amazing colour, proper sound, and peripherals) and OS/2 had mainly a few business applications. It was Windows that started packing in many applications, and it was compatible with most IBM compatible PCs. Windows 3.1 was the first big one from about 1990 (still based on DOS) until Windows 95 came along which booted straight into Windows and many businesses started adopting it.

So this is a good tour of installing Windows 95 today and reminiscing about what was so familiar to most of the world back then (no MacOS and Linux), or even smartphones.

See Windows 95 — How Does it Look Today?

#technology #retro #windows95

Windows 95 was the “next generation” OS from Microsoft: redesigned UI, long file names support, 32-bit apps and many other changes. Some…

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/windows-95-how-does-it-look-today

A few days back, Google launched an “origin trial” of Federated Learning of Cohorts (aka FLoC), its experimental new technology for targeting ads. A switch has silently been flipped in millions of instances of Google Chrome: those browsers will begin sorting their users into groups based on behavior, then sharing group labels with third-party trackers and advertisers around the web. A random set of users have been selected for the trial, and they can currently only opt out by disabling third-party cookies.

Google designed FLoC to help advertisers target ads once third-party cookies go away. During the trial, trackers will be able to collect FLoC IDs in addition to third-party cookies.
That means all the trackers who currently monitor your behavior across a fraction of the web using cookies will now receive your FLoC cohort ID as well. The cohort ID is a direct reflection of your behavior across the web. This could supplement the behavioral profiles that many trackers already maintain.

Future versions of Chrome will add dedicated controls for Google’s “privacy sandbox,” including FLoC. But it’s not clear when these settings will go live, and in the meantime, users wishing to turn off FLoC must turn off third-party cookies as well. Current extensions are not yet disabling or managing FLoC.

I suppose we have to remember that Google is firmly seated in the ads business, nothing is fully free, and we have alternatives - it's up to us.

See Google Is Testing Its Controversial New Ad Targeting Tech in Millions of Browsers. Here’s What We Know.

#technology #tracking #FLoC #EFF #Google #Privacy

Today, Google launched an “origin trial” of Federated Learning of Cohorts (aka FLoC), its experimental new technology for targeting ads. A switch has silently been flipped in millions of instances of Google Chrome: those browsers will begin sorting their users into groups based on behavior, then...

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/although-google-dropping-tracking-cookies-it-testing-its-controversial-new-ad-targeting-tech-floc

Looking at screens for too long can cause eyestrain, but eyestrain existed long before screens. (Driving long distances is another cause, the Mayo Clinic notes.) Eyestrain may involve fatigue of the tiny muscles in and around our eyes, and people who get eyestrain may experience discomfort that includes headaches, blurry vision, watering of the eyes, and sensitivity to light.

There’s a rumor that the blue light from smartphones (or other screens) can ruin your vision, perhaps even leading to blindness, but it’s not backed up by evidence. “The amount of light coming from a computer has never been demonstrated to cause any eye disease,” the American Academy of Opththalmology states in an article on their website recommending against blue-light-blocking glasses. There is research that finds blue light can damage cells in certain lab conditions, but those conditions are very different from what happens in the actual cells of our retina.

Unfortunately, there are companies citing research like this to sell their blue-light-blocking glasses or screen overlays, but they aren’t selling a solution to a real problem. This happened to me recently after getting an eye test for glasses for all day looking at screens. The prescription is actually for vision correction (that's all) but guess what, the optometrist also sells glasses, and somehow I got hoodwinked into adding blue light lens coatings "to prevent eyestrain". This adds a considerable amount to the price. In future too I'll take my prescription and get quotes for glasses (including online) as the whole business seems to be a bit of a scam. I paid double the rate of a GP for the tests and got zero report back.

And regarding affecting sleep, the recommendation is to just have screens an inch or two further away - my screens are at 85 cm which is way further than the recommended 63 cm. In other words we should be better educated about how to use our eyes, and not necessarily just be sold blue light filter coatings on lenses.

See What Happens to Your Eyes When You Stare at Screens All Day

#technology #vision #myths #bluelight #optometrists

We spend a lot of time staring at screens. There’s the small screen in our pocket, the big screen we watch our shows on, and the medium screen that many of us stare into for eight hours a day to help pay for those other screens. Are all of these screens ruining our eyes?

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/you-may-get-eyestrain-looking-screens-all-day-blue-light-screens-isnt-ruining-your-eyes

My daughter needed to save money on a desktop computer for College so I specced the parts, she bought them, and I built it. I thought it may be interesting to show a few photos of the typical process as it is much the same for all desktop based computers. The biggest difference is the case layout really. This particular case, although specs looked right, had an odd issue with the front fan being placed flush behind the hard drive which would restrict airflow. So in the end I moved the hard drive to sit at the bottom of the case. This case did not have the normal traditional location for the drives. Typically, you want an input fan at the bottom front, and an exhaust fan at the top rear (and even now at the top of cases too, but it is not necessary with this Celeron CPU and no gaming video card).

Key things to match are first decide on the CPU, then choose a motherboard that has a matching socket, and if the CPU does not come with a CPU fan cooler you need to choose a cooler. Note fans with three wires are usually DC controlled and 4 wires are PCM, but it is just for the type of speed control, but most modern motherboards handle both fine. I Usually wear an anti-static strap when handling the CPU and memory.

First video for start-up shows silence.... upon checking I saw I had inserted the power switch lead's plug hanging off one of the pins. As soon as that was corrected it booted fine as second video shows. Only error (as far as I know) that I made.

I did the Windows 10 install (yes no Linux) and then I ran a CPU benchmark whilst watching the temperature to make sure the CPU fan was coming on. The CPU topped out at 45 to 46 degrees with the fan only needing to run on 40% power - so nice and quiet.

See photos at My Technology and Gadgets / Building Kaylyn's Computer

#technology #computer #DIY #hardware

My Technology and Gadgets / Building Kaylyn's Computer

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/photos-process-computer-i-assembled-my-daughter-today

There is no dearth of custom ROM choices in the aftermarket development scene, but if there’s one that we could consider to be “the biggest” of them all, then that would be LineageOS. There are so many reasons why the LineageOS project is loved by the community, and it’s not just for all the features that the custom ROM offers on top of vanilla AOSP. Thanks to the Device Support Requirements Charter, if you choose to flash an official build of LineageOS on a supported device, you can be rest assured that your device will be running stable software that is also kept up to date against serious security vulnerabilities — often well beyond the end of official manufacturer support.

Just because your device isn’t listed here does not mean that you can’t get to enjoy LineageOS 18.1 by now. Because of its open source nature, there are a number of unofficial builds for many devices on our forums, many of which will eventually end up becoming official builds as development progresses. What’s more: most of them are, by now, perfectly stable as daily drivers, with the occasional minor quirk.

If your phone no longer receives OEM updates you do want to seriously consider switching to LineageOS.

See LineageOS 18.1 based on Android 11 is here for nearly 60 devices

#technology #opensource #android #lineageos

LineageOS 18.1 builds based on Android 11 are now available for dozens of smartphones. Here's the changelog and supported devices list!

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/lineageos-181-based-android-11-here-70-devices-including-lg-motorola-oneplus-samsung-xiaomi-phones

Sounds incredible if you're used to Android, and you'd think Solitaire was a reasonably basic game, but I've been through about 5 so far and some are loaded with really irritating averts (the ones you must wait 30 seconds to pass) or else they have subscriptions per month to eliminate the ads. There are only one or two that I see had a once-off purchase option (which is what I would usually consider).

So finally I find this one... no ads, no purchases, no frills. You have some basic options and an interesting stats screen when you finish a game. I did not spot it originally on my searches through the Apple app store as searching does not have filters like 'no ads' or 'no subscriptions', so I thought it worth posting about. Glad to see it has 433 ratings with average 4.5. There is good reason why Solitaire is so long-lasting in its popularity.

See ‎Classic Solitaire Klondike

#technology #ios #solitaire #gaming #noadverts

‎Rules:
- Classic Solitaire Klondike is 52-card pack which you ought to build for four suits up from ace to king in separate piles.

• On the tableau, cards are played in descending order, alternating colors.
  EXAMPLE: The 10 of hearts may be played on either the Jack of clubs or the Jack of spades. T…

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/classic-solitaire-klondike-aliaksandr-tsitkou-only-solitaire-game-ios-without-adverts-subscriptions

When debugging code, you're often faced with figuring out when a variable changes. Without any advanced tools, you have the option of using print statements to announce the variables when you expect them to change. However, this is a very ineffective way because the variables could change in many places, and constantly printing them to a terminal is noisy, while printing them to a log file becomes unwieldy.

When I was still programming I remember variable watching was essential for debugging as you are often trimming strings, changing data types, and doing other manipulations that make it difficult to find out what actually went wrong where.

I'm just wondering if IDEs for Python don't already do this in a pane whilst testing?

See Use this open source tool to monitor variables in Python

#technology #python #opensource #debugging #coding

When debugging code, you're often faced with figuring out when a variable changes. Without any advanced tools, you have the option of using print statements to announce the variables when you expect them to change. However, this is a very ineffective way because the variables could change in many places, and constantly printing them to a terminal is noisy, while printing them to a log file becomes unwieldy.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/watchpoints-simple-powerful-tool-help-you-monitoring-variables-while-debugging-python

The database, which experts will update on a continual basis, offers access to artworks on display, in storage, and on loan to other institutions. You can look for something specific in the search bar, or you can explore by category: paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles, jewellery and finery, writing and inscriptions, and objects. Several themed albums (e.g. “The Art of Portraiture” and “Major Events in History”) can help guide you along your virtual journey, and there’s even an interactive map of the Louvre, so you can see what’s being showcased at the moment.

Any visit to the Louvre is never going to get you through all 20+ km of passages, and then not all the artwork is even on display at any one time, this is a useful resource for those who cannot get there, or for those who can, so that they can plan their visit better. One forgets some of these paintings are up to 7 m and even 10 m in length. It would have been nice and complete if they had also included the story behind the works, but that is probably easily found elsewhere for the well known works.

See The Louvre Just Launched a New Online Database With Its Entire Collection—More Than 480,000 Artworks

#technology #art #thelouvre #paintings #france

The Louvre’s online database includes literally everything, from artworks in storage to those on display at other museums.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/louvre-just-launched-new-online-database-its-entire-collection-more-480000-artworks

The program, which gives third-party repair providers access to genuine Apple parts, tools, repair manuals and diagnostics, was initially lunched in the U.S. in 2019, and expanded to Europe and Canada in 2020. This year, it will be available in more than 200 countries — "nearly" every country where Apple products are sold, Apple announced on Tuesday.

The repair providers that want to join the program can get free training from Apple, but they do have to commit to having an Apple-certified technician on duty (certification is also free). According to Apple, there are currently more than 1,500 Independent Repair Provider locations in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

I'll bet this is because of the heat around right-to-repair groups and accusations of monopolistic practices. But either ways it is a good thing for competition and boosting local economic development.

See Apple to launch Independent Repair Provider program in more than 200 countries

#technology #apple #southafrica #righttorepair

Third-party repair shops across the globe are getting access to Apple's knowledge and tools.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/apple-launch-independent-repair-provider-program-more-200-countries-including-south-africa

Pinkham was well-known in South Africa’s tech circles for having founded the country’s the first commercial ISP in 1993 – The Internetworking Company of Southern Africa (Ticsa).

In late 2003, Pinkham and his colleague Benjamin Black presented a paper internally which shared a vision for Amazon’s retail computing infrastructure. The catalyst for this paper was Pinkham’s decision to move back to Cape Town from Seattle. Bezos wanted to keep Pinkham, which led to the discussion about the compute service.

“The project was un-staffed and undefined, so with some of the folks that I worked with in Seattle, we put together a proposal which described in very rudimentary terms the first compute service – the elastic compute cloud.”

See The South African who helped build Amazon Web Services with a team of Cape Town engineers

#technology #AWS #southafrica #chrispinkham #capetown

A small group of Cape Town engineers helped to build the world’s top cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services. Here is the amazing story.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/chris-pinkham-south-african-who-helped-build-amazon-web-services-team-cape-town-engineers

Frailty can be determined using a six-minute walking test (6MWT), and the metric is a general standard used to evaluate the functional mobility and exercise capacity of a patient. Higher scores indicate "healthier cardiac, respiratory, circulatory, and neuromuscular function," according to Apple.

Conducted by Stanford University researchers and funded by Apple, the study provided 110 Veterans Affairs patients with cardiovascular disease with an iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 3. Patients conducted regular at-home six-minute walking tests, which were then compared to their standard in-clinic 6MWT performance.

OK the study was funded by Apple which is why it is also limited to researching only Apple devices, so it does not mean that other devices may not be able to do this, but whether they have the included the metrics or not is the issue. Looks like Apple has now included these metrics in their watchOS 7. Let's hope all wearables add more and more such metrics.

See Apple Watch Can Accurately Assess Frailty, Finds Stanford Study

#technology #health #frailty #6MWT #apple

https://images.macrumors.com/article-new/2021/03/apple-watch-ecg.jpg" alt="Image/photo">

The Apple Watch can accurately determine a user's "frailty," according to the findings of a recently-published study from Stanford...

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/apple-watch-can-accurately-assess-frailty-6mwt-test-finds-stanford-university-study

I bought a Reolink RLN8-410 NVR and six RLC-810A 4k cameras. I bought the cameras from Amazon (they're basically solid-state devices) and got the NVR in South Africa from Instacam. Instacam gave me a lot of good advice on the product matching and both they and Reolink gave excellent after sales support in terms of the technical questions I had. I felt more comfortable buying the NVR within South Africa because it has mechanical parts (2TB hard drive) and it will be easier to handle any warranty issues. Luckily too Instacam actually had the NVR available at a price slightly lower than the Amazon price (total cost with shipping, duty, and VAT).

I spend quite a few days watching lost and lots of video reviews about different home security camera setups and reviews. It helped me settle that I did want wired IP cameras (no battery changes or reception issues over time), I wanted 4K quality, I wanted to be able to fall back to accessing the cameras from a plain browser (hence RTSP protocol support for cameras), and I wanted the system to run independently of requiring an online cloud subscription service. I had narrowed it down to three brands and based on reasonable cost, issues noted, etc I came down to Reolink.

The setup was basically ready to go and all I needed to buy was the correct length CAT6 Ethernet (CAT5e is also fine) cable for each camera. The cable is power over Ethernet and the NVR supplies the power to the cameras directly through the network cable. I'm really happy with the setup and can also state a few observations I have noted during installation:

• The IR spread at night was definitely better than I saw in some of the reviews. My lighting fully covers the width of the areas I'm watching.
• The cameras are solidly built aluminium finish with a single hand tightened nut to loosen for angle adjustment.
• I have a Linux computer so do all my access through the browser to the NVR - some functionality is only found on the NVR's monitor ie. shutdown of the device, gallery view of all cameras on one screen, and also the rescanning and IP address setup of cameras.
• Cameras are individually viewable from a browser if directly connected to the network (with power added), but when connected to the NVR they are hidden (firewalled) from the network. So it's either or. There is a sort of workaround if you right-click on a camera in the browser and paste that URL into VLC Player app but that is not from outside the network.
• It has very good sound input from cameras (one way).
• Reolink's mobile app is working well on iOS as well as IP Cam Viewer Lite.
• I had issues with motion detection being triggered by rain. So only left it activated in areas like under the car port which is sheltered and has zero bushes or trees swaying around.
• The cameras do switch automatically between night and day mode, or can be set for either one, but there is no scheduled switch over you can set yourself, so for one of the cameras I had to remove an outside light that was too close and caused the camera to stay on day mode.
• The preview and playback modes to watch the cameras is in a slightly lower resolution to keep the video streaming well, but saved recordings show up in clear 4K resolution (from recorded).
• The included 2TB drive saves recordings in 4K for 6 cameras for the previous 6 days that is with 24/7 recording. You can though also hook up an additional external SATA drive, or if you set cameras to motion detection only it will record far longer.
• Each camera has it's own browser login and can be fully managed on the camera without the NVR. By adding micro-SD cards to each camera you could even operate a system without any NVR. Don't forget to set a secure password for each camera in this scenario.
• You could mix and match with other models of cameras (eg. add from PTZ controlled cameras) but the consensus seems to be they should be Reolink brand so check very carefully for compatibility before just buying other brands to add to the NVR.

All in all the system is working very well without any issues, and I was able to within two minutes distribute a video clip to our community Telegram channel of someone who stole our wheelie bin at 11pm at night - turned out it was actually our neighbour who put it away from safekeeping

I have put a few photos and a video clip at https://photos.gadgeteer.co.za/index.php?/category/reolink to give an idea of what I see. Just read the description that accompanies each photo explaining it.

#technology #reolink #security #CCTV #cameras

​​​​​​​

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/feedback-reolink-nvr-and-security-camera-setup-i-bought

A recap of how Android upgrades make it to your phone: First, Google releases builds of AOSP (the Android Open Source Project) to everyone. This doesn't run on a phone yet, though. First, your SoC (System on a Chip) manufacturer (usually Qualcomm) has to get hold of it and customize Android for a particular SoC, adding drivers and other hardware support. Then, that build goes to your phone manufacturer (Fairphone, in this case) which adds support for the rest of the hardware—things like cameras, the display, and any other accessories—along with built-in apps and any custom Android skin work that the company wants to do.

Qualcomm is the only company with full access to Qualcomm's proprietary code blobs and hardware documentation, so an unofficial, hacked-together build usually won't reach the level of polish you get from an official release with every hardware company's support. Lineage normally lives in the realm of aftermarket phone tinkerers, so that's fine.

So Qualcom decides to stop sending updates for a 3 year old OS then creates a ripple effect down the chain.

This is a really interesting article to read and shows how defenceless consumers have become in this regard (yet we have choices). I really do like the fact that Fairphone offers module upgrades eg. for the camera. Another factor contributing to the regular disposal of phones is the "finance" option of "free" phones on cellular contracts. It's a vicious cycle that too many have got caught in. Nothing is for free, and when you start to buy your phones for cash, you think differently.

See Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to long-term Android support

#technology #ewaste #environment #fairphone #repairability

Qualcomm ended support for the phone after Android 6, but Fairphone is still going.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/fairphone-sustainable-modular-smartphone-company-suggests-qualcomm-biggest-barrier-long-term

This reminds me very much of the early Internet where we were mainly concerned about integrity of the data, with social networks about spreading good deeds and messages, motor vehicles with early Bluetooth connectivity, etc.

Then as things went more mainstream we suddenly realised there were many people with seriously bad intentions who wanted to actually shut down hospitals for ransom, accelerate a motor vehicle remotely, turn off a pacemaker, and much more.

So yes I'm also wondering how vulnerable blockchain (used in logistics tracking for example) is going to be against legal as well as illegal threats? How will it be effected if forked, or if it has blocks legally suppressed? As we've seen in the past, these types of unintended situations become reality.

See To Kill A Blockchain, Add Naughty Stuff To It?

#technology #blockchain

Even if not all of us are blockchain savants, we mostly have a pretty good idea of how they function as a distributed database whose integrity is maintained by an unbroken chain of conputational ha…

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/kill-blockchain-add-naughty-stuff-it

Much like e-mail, calendaring has long established open protocols (like we DON'T have for social media) across services such as WebDAV, ics, etc. So it is usually quite easy to export/import a calendar elsewhere, or even to link to one or more remote calendars.

An app such as Thunderbird for example, can install on Windows, MacOS or Linux, and then connect to Google Calendar service online or many other external calendars. It's just one way of extracting what you have in Google Calendar (or even GMail), and then either copying that to a local calendar, or to a calendar elsewhere that Thunderbird can also connect to.

If you want a cloud server version of e-mail (vs just on your desktop) you can host a NextCloud instance at home or online in a cheap VPS. The article also mentions the possibility of AgenDAV. If you have a Hubzilla social media account, you already have a calendar service in there too with WebDAV capability which you can use to sync through. Other online options are Zoho Apps or Trello too.

See 6 open source alternatives for Google Calendar

#technology #opensource #alternativeto #calendar

Need to keep your schedule straight? Learn how to do it using open source with these free alternatives to Google Calendar.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/6-open-source-alternatives-google-calendar-calendars-are-easiest-service-migrate-elsewhere

ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is a free open-source office suite (much like LibreOffice) that contains viewers and editors for text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Along with offline work, it’s possible to connect the app to the cloud (ONLYOFFICE, Nextcloud, ownCloud, Seafile) and collaborate on docs online. The code repository is available on GitHub under AGPL v.3.0 license.

LibreOffice has similar functionality and interesting to note by them that whilst ODF format is fully signed including the metadata, this is not the case for OOXML (docx) as they have to disable the signing for metadata as Microsoft does not sign the metadata (I wonder why?).

See short tutorial at How to protect documents with a digital signature in ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors v.6.2

#technology #opensource #onlyoffice #digitalsignature #Security

In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to use a digital signature in ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors to protect your documents. ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is ...

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/how-protect-documents-digital-signature-open-source-onlyoffice-desktop-editors-v62