This is why Big Tech sites are free of cost, and thriving I picked up on this today after noticing ZenArmor blocking masses of attempts on my network from a mobile device trying to phone home for an app called Appsflyer. It seems it is embedded into apps for Meta (which operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), X, TikTok, Google Ads, Hulu, eBay, etc. It tracks and analyses user behaviour, supposedly inside those apps. The linked video is explaining to app developers and its customers how it works, and how in 2022 there were nearly 2 billion active users. But pretty damning, at 04:14 it says it can even track users who have uninstalled the application (really, how?). No mention at all in the video about any customer rights, or rights to opt out of this tracking. The company, Appsflyer I imagine, is a licensed partner of Apple and Google. Now we can see why some companies get really rich off their free sites, and why decentralised open source platforms have to keep appealing for donations and cannot scale very big otherwise. The difference is those open source platforms respect their users' privacy, and they live or die by donations and grants (whether in money or labour forms). See #technology #adverts #tracking #BigTech

A solution to turn YouTube video playlists into a cleanly formatted text document “But when I wanted to actually study the content, make notes, or review everything without distractions, I realized how limiting YouTube really was. There is no easy way to extract the content, structure it, and turn it into something readable offline. That's before I discovered an incredible GitHub project that lets you take a YouTube playlist and spit out a clean, formatted document that you can turn into an eBook, a PDF study guide, or even a blog post. It’s a simple Python-based tool, but what it enables Python-based tools is kind of magical. Here's how it works.” This could be pretty useful for those who want an indexed reference to a long series of tutorials on some topic covered on YouTube, to study, share, or archive. It basically involves cloning the GitHub repository provided, and having Python installed. It also makes use of Google Gemini to help with formatting, summarising, etc to make the output more meaningful. See

XDA

I turned YouTube Playlists into eBooks with this self-hosted app

If you use YouTube to learn, this tool will blow your mind.

#technology #learning #YouTube

Samsung's Glasses-Free 3D Gaming Monitors Are Now Available I do love my 3D TV, so this looks quite interesting. But lots of information not really given, so it is difficult to tell whether there is processing in the display too, or is it all driven on the computer side. Yes, no glasses required, but does it work on Linux or is Windows required (I'd rather buy glasses to be honest). So, this is rather going to be a matter of watching some real-life reviews when those get published. And of course, the little matter of the price tag being basically US$2,000. See

How-To Geek

Samsung's Glasses-Free 3D Gaming Monitors Are Now Available

Samsungs got some great gaming monitors for those who want them.

#technology #3D

Vivo has an optional Photographer Kit adds a removable grip and a telephoto lens with an 8.7x zoom This looks quite interesting, as I was saying just this week, I'd love to see proper lens attachments for Android phones. Ideally, though, I was wanting more standardisation on the lens positioning and a provision of a bracket that standardised lenses could be attached to any conforming Android phone, and not be a unique lens per brand. It is going to be intriguing to see what DXOMARK's camera tests reveal in practical testing. It's true too that the sensor is still smaller than a DSLR, and there is no variety of other lenses to choose from. Still, I hope this spurs on more brands to consider proper lens attachments. See

The Verge

Vivo wants its new X200 Ultra smartphone to replace your camera

Leave your camera at home.

#technology #mobile #photography

The cross-platform open source Kate Text Editor is a powerhouse of features So many of us just use an editor for basic document or text file editing, but this editor does go way past that, and is also a very user-friendly graphical user interface too. The editor has numerous plugins available to further extend that functionality. Apart from code formatting (as in for many coding languages), it also has sessions, colour schemes, debugging adaptors, move and splitting of views, a terminal, Git integration, snippets, and lots more. You may say that VSCode also has this, but Kate is a lot simpler to navigate, and it is open source and will be around for a long time to come. It's been my own go-to editor for as long as I've been using a KDE Desktop. See

How I use Kate Editor

Akseli's various rambles and posts about gaming, gamedev, FOSS, programming and other things.

#technology #opensource #editors

Bluesky Is Rolling Out Official Verification “Starting today, Bluesky is rolling out a new verification system, complete with the familiar blue check marks popularized by Twitter. The highest-priority accounts right now are government officials, news organizations and journalists, and celebrities.” This is a good move as the platform has attracted quite a few celebrities as well as mainstream news media. There is also provision for some organisations to become their own trusted verifiers, I imagine for their journalists. And of course, anyone can still self-verify against their own domain name (just without a blue tick mark). See

WIRED

Bluesky's Blue Check Is Finally Here

Bluesky’s new verification process launches today. It mixes the old-school, Twitter-style blue check bestowed by the platform with a more decentr...

#technology #bluesky #socialnetworks

You're Missing Out on Hidden Android Updates Yes, apart from the cascading OS updates through each manufacturer, there are also Google Play system updates which are firstly hidden away under the About Phone menu, and most weirdly of all, they don't auto install or even notify you of updates. These are quite important actually, as they are generic app updates that Google rolls out across Android devices, and they get past manufacturers which no longer update some system apps. They also add new features to the Google Play Store and Google Wallet. They do come out every month, but my experience is I don't see them monthly on my phone. However, if you leave it too long, I'be seen like three updates in a row that I've had to apply, so check again after you've applied one. Interestingly, too, the linked article also gives a link to a page where you can see what each month's update has brought as a changelog. See

Lifehacker

You

You might be familiar with Android system updates, the which bring new Android versions and features to your smartphone. But you might not know abo...

#technology #Android

You Don’t Have to Choose Between iPhone and Android With the New Chipolo Pop Tracker Well this tracker does tick most of my boxes as I do like that it can leverage off both the iPhone and Android tracking networks, and that it also has separation alerts. The replaceable battery, with 12 months expected life, is also a plus. The dual network support is important as it prevents any vendor lock-in if you decide to change your phone ecosystem (which I've done more than once). It however does not seem to support UWB (Ultra-Wideband) to show the distance and direction from the tracker for closer range finding. It can though activate an audio alert on the tracker when nearby to assist with finding it. See

How-To Geek

You Don’t Have to Choose Between iPhone and Android With the New Chipolo Pop Tracker

Works with Find My and Find My Device.

#technology #trackers

I Didn't Think I Needed Noise-cancelling Headphones—Until I Tried Them I also resisted worrying about paying a bit extra for active noise-cancelling (ANC) earbuds, until I finally bought a pair a bit over a year ago. Now I would not consider buying again without ANC. I go to shopping malls once week and that constant noise level and background announcements are just silenced. But actually that is not the only reason, as this linked article points out. The other two reasons are just as important, and I probably just took them for granted. Because the ambient noise level has largely disappeared, you can reduce the volume level and listen better to quieter music or other audio. This means you don't have to have a higher volume level, which is safer for your ears. The other reason, which I use every single time I am out, is that because ANC earbuds and headphones have microphones in, they usually have a pass-through or transparent mode. So whenever I need to speak to someone I just do a long-touch and transparent mode activates and the microphones pass the sound through, without me having to remove an earbud. Yes, they do typically have an auto-pause for if you do take an earbud out. That also serves as a warning if one happens to fall out (that's never happened to me). Some will say that ANC is not going to be pure Hi-Fi sound, and maybe that's true, but I listen to podcasts mostly and my hearing is anyway nowhere good enough anymore to detect 40 Hz to 20 kHz anymore. I found the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC's have worked well for me and were pretty good value, but there are now many brands making good ANC earbuds and headphones. See

How-To Geek

I Didn't Think I Needed Noise-Canceling Headphones—Until I Tried Them

It's like a mute button for the whole world.

#technology #ANC #audio #noisecancelling

Mapping legend UK Ordnance Survey releases blocky Britain in Minecraft – again “This cubist version of the British Isles is estimated to be made up of more than 100 billion blocks, and contains all the features you would expect to see, such as motorways and roads, vegetation, meadows, woodland, lakes, rivers, sand beaches, railways and islands.” I just love this spirit of adventure and can see how this could appeal to adults and kids alike. It also sort of “puts your country on the map” so to speak. What I love even more is this challenge to other countries: “We want this to be a resource for anyone to try. Ordnance Survey is an organisation founded on exploration and we encourage anyone to do the same with these maps!” See

Ordnance Survey releases blocky Britain in Minecraft

: A thing of beauty for map fans and those with kids

#technology #UK #Minecraft #gaming