What many people misunderstand about hosting your own content (like this social media instance) is thinking we somehow NEED a big audience or Big Tech involvement.

I'm perfectly fine if the world faded away and it was just the thousand of us here. It's like the early days of the web when we had small forums, nobody missed Reddit back then. Federation is a big plus, not a requirement.

It's the same with websites or IRC for me. I know people use Discord, but I still stick to IRC even if there are only about a hundred of us left. I know people use AI now and website visitors are dropping, but who cares? I still keep doing it for those who like to read.

I don't need the whole world involved for this to feel worthwhile. It's mine, I own it, and I host it for as long as I breathe. After that, it won't matter to me anymore, but I hope other admins keep things running the way I did.

#SelfHosted #SelfHosting #OpenSource #Fediverse #Mastodon #OpenWeb #SocialWeb

GrapheneOS notes Android 17 “sort of” support, reflecting early compatibility work rather than a fully stable rollout across devices. 📱
It tracks Android 17 privacy upgrades like stronger permissions and encryption while maintaining its hardened AOSP-based security model. 🔐

@privacyguides
@GrapheneOS

🔗 https://www.privacyguides.org/news/2026/06/17/android-17-launched-what-new-privacy-security-features-does-it-bring/

#TechNews #GrapheneOS #Android #Privacy #Security #OpenSource #FOSS #Mobile #MobileSecurity #Encryption #AOSP #CyberSecurity #DataProtection #Linux #UserPrivacy

Meta is testing face-recognition software for its smart glasses app, built with Rank One, a surveillance-tech supplier tied to Pentagon use. 🤖
It is developed for internal use in Meta’s smart glasses app and uses biometric data stored on users’ phones while drawing on Rank One’s surveillance tools. 📱

🔗 https://www.wired.com/story/meta-rank-one-computing-face-recognition-smart-glasses/

#TechNews #Meta #FaceRecognition #Surveillance #SmartGlasses #Privacy #AI #MachineLearning #CyberSecurity #Biometrics #DataProtection #BigTech #FOSS #OpenSource

🛰️ Podlord released.
Another desktop Kubernetes client that doesn't look or feel like every other one.

What's different?
🎮 RTS command-center UI. Your whole Platform in a strategic view which you can customise.
📡 A radar that lays out resources as islands
🔔 Rule-based customisable alerts with animations and CC0 sounds.
🎨 20 hand-tuned themes
🌍 14 UI languages out of the box
🔍 Flat resource explorer across namespaces by default.
🧭 Inspector with overview metrics, YAML edit + server-side apply, related events, links, logs, ConfigMap / Secret value tables
⚓ Native port forwarding via the Kubernetes streaming API.
🛰️ Screensaver radar mode wakes the moment activity returns.
📺 Multi-source kubeconfig import
🧪 95% line / 80% branch coverage gate. Real k3d integration tests in CI.
💻 11 runtimes for macOS, Linux, Windows.
🆓 free
⭐ https://github.com/YunaBraska/podlord/releases

#Kubernetes #DevOps #OpenSource #DotNet #CSharp #AvaloniaUI #CloudNative #PlatformEngineering #DeveloperTools #DeveloperExperience #SRE #Containers #ClusterManagement #CrossPlatform #InfrastructureEngineering #dev #csharp

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PodLoed logo

Privacy Is Not the Same as Security: How Alternative Mobile Operating Systems Really Stack Up Against iOS and Android

A week ago, I wrote here about custom-made spyware and how the real weakness of encrypted communication isn't cryptography,…

https://vsx.global/privacy-isnt-the-same-as-security-how-do-alternative-mobile-operating-systems-actually-stack-up-against-ios-and-android/

#infosec #privacy #opensource #digitalsovereignty

two new Linux channels for you! now available in #ArcaneChat, #DeltaChat and other #chatmail clients!

basically encrypted email newsletters, how cool is that???

Channels name:

It's FOSS by @itsfoss

nixCraft by @nixCraft

You can discover the channels invitation link here:

https://arcanechat.me/channels

(NOTE: the channels are generated from the official RSS feeds)

#email #encryption #rss #OpenSource #linux #decentralization

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a card with the It's FOSS channel data (name, avatar, description and a button to join and another to share)

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a card with the nixCraft channel data (name, avatar, description and a button to join and another to share)

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an screenshot of the It's FOSS channel where the latest channel posts can be seen

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an screenshot of the nixCraft channel where the latest channel posts can be seen

Haack's Networking

A small informal review of the Conservancy's "Recommendations when Using AI"

📚️ sfconservancy.org/llm-gen-ai/llm-backed-generative-ai-recommendations.html

✍️ I think this is a very reasonable approach to LLM-gen-AI (hereafter AI) and floss space. Despite the fear mongering, AI is simply a tool. As with any statistical software, the human has to be the final arbiter of the content - not the tool itself. The free form input and output increases the concern over confirmation bias but it does not negate the value of the tool if used properly.

💡The main goal - imho - and one which we see this piece calling for in #12 ... is the rapid and immediate forking/development of floss-only AI tooling. Some do already exist, but they are crude in comparison. As with any software, the four software freedoms are paramount for ensuring the safety, equity, and accessibility of the tooling. This is essential and I've already started investing so as to be able to self-host my own generative AI.

🔨 In short, if these two criteria are met - namely, the human is the final arbiter of the content and the underlying models/tooling are floss, then I think arguments against AI-usage crumble. Sure, concerns over reliance on proprietary AI, governmental and/or big money influence, those all matter ... and floss and the four freedoms protect us from these valid concerns. AI is just the latest software - it's not special.

⚡️ This set of recommendations is game-changing. I think the next task for the Conservancy to consider is the legal / copyright side of the matter. A member of our small group brought this up and I share that same concern. As more litigation and legal precedent emerges, it will be interesting to see how this guidance evolves. In particular, I am referring to the US-side of legality re: https://www.copyright.gov/ai/ - I think the next wisest task for the Conservancy to take on is licensing + AI.

Final Grade: A+

This piece reaffirms the Conservancy firmly as a leader in FLOSS spaces. Massive thanks.

@jimsalter @bkuhn @conservancy

#self-hosted #freesoftware #opensource #floss #linux #gnulinux

Now that I've dug my hands deep into the Mastodon core, it looks like it's definitely possible to get the original home instance counts for federated posts, not just your own server's local tally.

For boosts and favourites, recent versions of Mastodon already fetch the origin's reported totals when retrieving a post and store them as "untrusted counts" (untrusted because the remote server self-reports them). So a remote post carries the home server's actual numbers.

Replies are trickier, as they only federate to subscribed servers, so the local count tends to lag. However, you can fetch the full reply tree from the origin on demand.

I'm basing our algorithmic home feed exactly on that: boosts and favourites from the origin counts, and comments from a backfilled reply tree.

Add opt-in ranked home timeline (experimental)
https://github.com/mementomori-social/mastodon/pull/4

The numbers in question have been requested for ages:

Boosts and favourites counts
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/discussions/22627

Show the number of reshares, likes, and comments directly in the timeline
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/8280

#MastoAdmin #OpenSource #Mastodon #FYP

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A screenshot of my For you -page in Mastodon

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀, 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿:

#Password #Manager #OpenSource

https://thewhale.cc/posts/lesspass-stateless-password-manager

Storing password in a data base is not safe. LessPass computes a unique password using a site, login and a master password. Use LessPass in your browser, with a browser extension, on your mobile, on your server or in your terminal via a CLI client.

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Storing password in a data base is not safe. LessPass computes a unique password using a site, login and a master password. Use LessPass in your browser, with a browser extension, on your mobile, on your server or in your terminal via a CLI client.

Open Video Downloader is a free and open-source desktop app for downloading videos, audio, subtitles, playlists, and metadata from hundreds of websites.

Built on top of yt-dlp, it offers a simple graphical interface , no command line required. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux under the AGPL-3.0 license.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=open-video-downloader

#OpenSource #Privacy #Linux #Windows #macOS #ytdlp #VideoTools

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Screenshot of the Open Video Downloader project page. The page shows the application's colorful icon featuring a film strip and download arrow, alongside the title “Open Video Downloader (youtube-dl-gui).” Below are badges indicating version 3.2.0, AGPL-3.0 license, and over 4.1 million downloads. The description explains that Open Video Downloader is a cross-platform desktop application that can download videos, audio, subtitles, and metadata from hundreds of supported websites. It highlights that the app provides a simple graphical interface built on top of yt-dlp, eliminating the need for command-line usage.

GentleOS: A Hobby Operating System for Vintage PCs

Relive the nostalgia or discover for the first time the joy of a vintage computing using GentleOS for 16-bit and 32-bit Personal Computers (PCs).

https://www.adamsdesk.com/posts/gentleos-vintage-pc-operating-system/

#blog #RetroComputing #VintageComputing #OpenSource #FOSS

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A vintage Zenith TurbosPORT 386 laptop folded open with keyboard visible and on the screen displaying GentleOS. Next to the laptop sits bold white title of 'GentleOS' with a subtitle of 'Vintage Hobby Operating System' and '8086+ 16-bit / i396 32-bit' all against a brown wood grain background.

New York & California now require 3D printers to "block" gun files.

Problem: a printer can't tell a gun part from a pipe fitting.

Open-source firmware can't be locked down either.

Why this law can't work 👇
https://geekrealmhub.com/3d-printer-drm-laws-technically-impossible/

#3DPrinting #OpenSource #TechPolicy

Hello Fediverse!

This is the very first post on this friendly new instance for everyone who likes, uses, and enjoys talking about free and open source software, especially Linux, BSD, and illumos operating systems.

#fediblue #darkblueproject #mastodon #opensource #freesoftware #fediverse

Shotcut is a free and open-source video editor for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

It offers timeline editing, filters, transitions, audio tools, hardware encoding, and support for hundreds of formats via FFmpeg.

A privacy-friendly alternative to Premiere Pro, Filmora, and CapCut, no subscriptions, no lock-in, and no watermarks.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=shotcut

#OpenSource #VideoEditing #Privacy #Linux #Windows #macOS #FOSS

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Screenshot of the Shotcut project page. At the top are build status badges showing successful builds for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Below, a large heading describes Shotcut as a free, open-source, cross-platform video editor. The page includes a screenshot of the Shotcut interface, showing a video editing workspace with media bins, preview window, timeline tracks, audio meters, filters, and waveform displays. The preview displays a motorcycle video project titled “A Bike Show,” demonstrating Shotcut’s professional editing capabilities.

WinDiskWriter a free and open-source macOS tool for creating bootable Windows USB installers.

It supports Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7, and Vista, works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, and can automatically handle large install.wim files, EFI booting, and Legacy BIOS compatibility.

A handy tool for Mac users who need to install or repair Windows without using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=windiskwriter

#OpenSource #macOS #Windows #USBBoot #TechTools #Privacy

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Screenshot of the WinDiskWriter project page. The page features a purple WinDiskWriter logo and banner for macOS, with the slogan “Say NO to TPM and Secure Boot. Say YES to Windows 11 on any device.” Below are project badges showing GPL-3.0 licensing, over 458,000 downloads, version 1.3, and code statistics. A section titled “Windows USB Disk Creator for macOS” explains that the tool creates bootable Windows USB installers supporting both UEFI and Legacy BIOS, allowing Windows installation on PCs, Intel Macs, and certain virtual machines.

Finalmente secret chat crittografate su Telegram Desktop! Mercurygram porta privacy e sicurezza sul tuo Linux. #Mercurygram #TelegramDesktop #Linux #Privacy #Security #OpenSource

https://www.linuxeasy.org/mercurygram-desktop-telegram-secret-chat-crittografati/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Meet #ArcaneChat: a secure and decentralized private messenger

Anonymous: No phone number or any data required for registration!

Private: All your conversations and pictures are end-to-end encrypted, only visible by the chat members

Discreet: No one can discover you or know that you are using the app! only people you share your invitation link can talk to you

It is magic! ✨

#digitalindependence #privacy #security #family #encryption #autonomy #european #openSource #europe #decentralization

#libreoffice #joplin #microsoft #office #copilot #opensource #oss #ai #linux #macOS #windows

After Bluesky, Threads, and so on, the whole #WSocial thing is another reminder that it was never about the #Fediverse being "too complicated" or "just for nerds".

A bafflingly large amount of people genuinely only act on a gut feeling telling them that only commercial products with fancy marketing owned by a for-profit corporation can be trustworthy, 'official' and 'legal', for the lack of a better word.

If something is a commercial offering by a competent-looking, rich family man in a suit, it's clearly an official, legal, trustworthy product. You can be proud of using such a fancy-looking service.

When they see a community-run open-source project or a grassroots initiative, their first instinct is that it must be shady, illegal, complicated, broken or predatory in some way. It's probably some aftermarket grey area bootleg made by weird tech nerds, political groups with an ulterior motive, conspiracy theorists or some naive teenage hackers. They'd also be embarrassed for using it in front of their peers and neighbours; who uses some free back-alley software, are you poor or something?

The same people are the reason why Google is using the word 'sideloading', why scammers love wearing fancy suits, why people suddenly act childishly helpless in front of LibreOffice, or why DIY HRT is so demonised.

They trust any kind of 'official approval' over their own senses. If someone does something that isn't 'approved', they're a bad person or clearly endangering themselves and others. No idea why exactly, but psh, it must be wrong somehow, or everyone would do it, right?

If people on the Fediverse understood that the whole "it's all so complicated and clunky" thing is just a thinly veiled excuse for a general disdain for non-commercial software, we could finally stop making all our software imitate their corporate equivalents in a futile attempt to appease people who never gave us a chance in the first place.

You'll never convince them to treat it in good faith no matter how much effort or money you put into UX or 'ease of use'. All you're doing is making the software worse, e. g. through things like dot-social, verified accounts or begging brands, corporations and politicians to join and give your product some kind of 'official' validation.

#mastodon #openSource #linux

RE: https://floss.social/@kde/116758969592817721

Get KDE Plasma 6.7 on Fedora KDE Desktop Edition!

➡️ https://fedoraproject.org/kde/

#Fedora #KDE #FedoraKDE #Linux #OpenSource

KDE » 🌐 2026-06-16
@kde@floss.social

Plasma 6.7 is out and landing soon on your distro of choice!

You can look forward to easier menu customization, better control over your mics, and, as for virtual desktops... Well, well, well! You get keyboard navigation and the much anticipated feature of having separate virtual desktops on different monitors.

Find out about all the new stuff packed into Plasma 6.7 here:

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.7.0/

#Plasma6 #desktop #FreeSoftware #OpenSource

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A video showing two monitors and how you can move from one virtual desktop to another independently on each monitor

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A video showing a user switching from virtual desktop to virtual desktop using the PgUp/PgDown keys

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An animation showing how you can move stuff in and out of the "favorites" section in your launch menu just be dragging and dropping.

Map your footprint.
Score the leak.
Get a plan.

Inventory the services that hold your data. Answer a few questions about how you use each. Get a privacy grade with prioritized fixes.

https://privacyscore.me

#opensource #privacy #freesoftware #technology #apps #lifestyle #economy

Brave Origin, minimalist paid build, launches at $59.99 one-time, removing AI, VPN, Wallet, Rewards, while retaining Shields and Chromium patches.🧭
Linux users get Origin free, while other platforms can toggle or strip optional features, reflecting a more modular, privacy controlled browser build.🔧

🔗 https://brave.com/blog/brave-origin/

#TechNews #Brave #BraveOrigin #Privacy #Browser #FOSS #Cybersecurity #OpenSource #Linux #AI #VPN #DataPrivacy #Tech #Security #Chrome #Chromium #Free

A Proton survey of 3,000 people in the UK, France, and Germany found 45% may avoid businesses using US tech for data storage over privacy concerns 🇪🇺
The survey also found 65% believe European businesses should prioritize local technology providers, highlighting interest in digital sovereignty 🔐

@protonprivacy

🔗 https://proton.me/business/blog/european-digital-independence-survey-2026

#TechNews #Proton #Europe #DigitalSovereignty #Privacy #DataProtection #US #Cybersecurity #Business #OpenSource #Security #Technology #USA #Infrastructure #EU

In a policy statement¹, @conservancy said:
> “#FOSS projects should not shun contributors who choose to use LLM-gen-AI systems.”

@dalias' reply:
>> “LOL WTF NOPE. 🤡”

While it was surely unintentional, your reply is quite similar to the cruelty of traditional #FreeSoftware rhetoric — wherein we shunned people for *using* #Apple & #Microsoft. Such users deserve sympathy and help toward more software freedom.

Same goes for #LLM-backed generative #AI users.

¹ https://sfconservancy.org/llm-gen-ai/llm-backed-generative-ai-recommendations.html

#OpenSource

Ubuntu 26.10 cambia il modo di scrivere su desktop con Myna: dettatura vocale locale, privacy al centro e uso immediato in ogni campo di testo. #Ubuntu #Linux #AI #OpenSource #Privacy #Accessibilità

https://www.linuxeasy.org/ubuntu-26-10-punta-sulla-dettatura-locale-con-myna/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Coming up in #LibreOffice 26.8, our next major release (due in August): the border toolbar button in Calc is now a split button that remembers and reapplies the most recently used border style. Thanks to Andreas Heinisch for implementing this feature! #foss #openSource #freesoftware

Four easy steps to elevate your privacy & security this year:

Choose a privacy-respecting browser 🌐 Check out: https://privacytests.org/

Use a privacy-first search engine 🔎 (Startpage, DuckDuckGo, self-hosted options etc.) further reading: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/search-engines/?h=search+engine

Use privacy-respecting email 📧 (Proton, Tuta, ) further reading: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/email/

Use only E2EE messaging apps 🔒 (cross-platform with minimal metadata: Signal) further reading: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/real-time-communication/

You're welcome… spread the word! Sharing is caring 🎁💬

The gift that keeps on giving: data retention, compartmentalization, FOSS, privacy & security. #FCKBigTech stick it to them… #FCKSurveillanceCapitalism 🖕Privacy security isn't a sprint; it is a marathon… Even a journey of over 9k steps begins with the first one… 🙏 💚Use E2EE, full-disk encryption, back up, and update…

#Privacy #Security #E2EE #FOSS #OpenSource #DataProtection #Browser #SearchEngine #Email #Messaging

It turns out, sharing is caring:

#FOSSEPS proves open source isn’t just about code; it’s about collaboration, sovereignty, and smarter public services

📂 1,000+ solutions in the EU Open Source Catalogue
🔗 Stronger governance for publiccode.yml
🛡️ Mapping critical dependencies
🔒 Bug bounties for resilience

https://interoperable-europe.ec.europa.eu/collection/ec-ospo/news/fosseps-preparatory-action-key-outcomes-and-achievements

#OpenSource #DigitalSovereignty #PublicSector #EUinnovation