@snow every plugin(-like) system without an enforced access permission system is just a giant "fuck you, you don't matter" to everyone who uses it. I will die on this hill. This includes apps (mobile and flatpak are mostly alright nowadays), plugins, and programming libraries (because leftpad should not be *allowed* to phone home).
Skype is shutting down in May. I've been using it to speak with my grandmother, and I am looking for an alternative, with the following features:
* can do live subtitles (in French)
* works without a phone number/sim card
* can call your contacts and be dialed (i.e. not only invite by email/calendar/url…)
* simple UI/UX (with big buttons) is far more important than feature rich.
I know various things that do some of the above, but I'm not sure what (other than Skype) does all of it.
Any help?
A keyboard with ten hundred keys by Attoparsec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC-24QeoQu4
In 2019, Iceland became one of the first countries to approve a four-day workweek. Here's how things have been going for them.
2021: "Trials of a four-day week in Iceland were an "overwhelming success""
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57724779
2024: "Iceland’s economy is outperforming most European peers after the nationwide introduction of a shorter working week with no loss in pay."
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/25/business/iceland-shorter-working-week-economy/index.html
2025: "The effects of the shorter workweek in Iceland have extended far beyond the office."
Called it. Wrote this back in Sept. 2024, about a clever Windows Powershell phishing scam that was targeting developers at the time. It uses a fake CAPTCHA that asks visitors to distinguish themselves from bots by pressing a combination of keyboard keys that causes Microsoft Windows to download password-stealing malware. Everyone said, bah, devs will never fall for this. Maybe, I said, but your average user would for sure.
Judging from the number of recent media reports, it appears this one is pretty widespread at the moment.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/09/this-windows-powershell-phish-has-scary-potential/
On my quasi-blog: "Git without a forge"
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/quasiblog/git-no-forge/
Most of my projects are hosted in bare git repositories on the web, and not on a forge site. I talk a bit about this: ways to send patches to a project like that (and which I personally prefer), and reasons why I haven't (yet?) changed my arrangements.
Trans woman, bisexual, someone's fiancée, forever a programmer, poly, and former total mess