Bob Call bobcallme@identi.ca
Earth
I'm Bob Call. I work on various libre software and free culture works with a focus in the area of embedded software development and breaking things.
Jason Self at 2018-03-29T03:08:00Z
Good news for royalty-free video codecs:
https://aomedia.org/the-alliance-for-open-media-kickstarts-video-innovation-era-with-av1-release/Yutaka Niibe, Bob Call, McClane likes this.
Jason Self at 2018-03-28T15:05:46Z
Seems that ActivityPub could be an interesting way to make a decentralized bug reporting system. Not that it was ever intended for such a thing but that's where the fun is.
Evan Prodromou, Bob Call, AJ Jordan likes this.
Were you idling on the SocialCG call? ;)Jason Self at 2018-03-06T14:42:25Z
Did you backup today?McClane, zykotick9, AJ Jordan, Bob Call likes this.
McClane, AJ Jordan, AJ Jordan, Bob Call and 1 others shared this.
Jason Self at 2011-10-29T04:40:44+00:00
My new RAM arrived; I'll install it soon. I find myself swapping sometimes with 2GB. Now I'll have 4GB.Bob Call likes this.
ActivityPub guest post on the FSF blog
Christopher Allan Webber at 2018-01-24T04:05:05Z
Bob Call, Daniel Koć, Yutaka Niibe, Ian Kelling and 7 others likes this.
Bob Call, clacke@libranet.de ❌, clacke@libranet.de ❌, clacke@libranet.de ❌ and 2 others shared this.
Yay!Jason Self at 2018-01-24T04:06:08Z
AJ Jordan likes this.
Loved reading this, Chris, as well as the post on your personal blog! Congrats <3
"Firefox, you're supposed to be in my pocket, not the other way around"
Laura Arjona Reina at 2015-07-13T13:20:18Z
"#Firefox, you're supposed to be in my pocket, not the other way around" http://dustri.org/b/firefox-youre-supposed-to-be-in-my-pocket-not-the-other-way-around.html /v @jrobb #freesoftware #nonfreesoftware #privacy
illyria, Bob Call, mray INACTIVE, lnxwalt@microca.st and 6 others likes this.
Olivier Mehani, lnxwalt@microca.st, lnxwalt@microca.st, lnxwalt@microca.st and 6 others shared this.
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There is a Linux version of Pale Moon. Unfortunately, I have not seen it in any distro repos.
I have not yet seen the more idiotic Firefox changes arrive in Seamonkey yet.
Cool, i will check it out.
Yeah i have seamonkey installed, but it seems to be based on a pretty old version of firefox. plus it is the whole bundle which is kind of some bloat. supposedly community managed, so maybe all this kinds of dumb stuff won't make it in.
IceCat ?@lnxwalt@microca.st : it's in the arch repo :-)
community/palemoon-bin 25.5.0-1Open source web browser based on Firefox focusing on efficiency.lnxwalt@microca.st likes this.
Jason Self at 2015-06-27T02:28:21Z
I'm so happy about today's Supreme Court decision. Attended a large rally outside the U.S. District Court in Seattle today. Felt good.Bob Call, Stephen Sekula, sazius, Scott Sweeny and 1 others likes this.
Jason Self at 2015-06-27T15:37:54Z
When it's already almost 80 degrees F (26 C) at only 7:30 in the morning you know it's going to be a hot day.Bob Call likes this.
Jason Self at 2015-06-27T17:27:18Z
Oh, damn it. I just realized I've been encoding the wrong video file all morning.Bob Call likes this.
Jason Self at 2015-06-30T23:10:15Z
Companies like Microsoft & Apple & etc. treat people so badly (with proprietary software, DRM, etc.) and yet are so successful. That seems backwards. Perhaps part of it comes from people that are used to being mistreated? Maybe they're so used to this they they don't think much of it or don't think they deserve any better? Maybe it's some form of Stockholm syndrome?Bob Call, lnxwalt@microca.st, X11R5, Carlos Augusto ARES and 2 others likes this.
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I think it's We Don't Care About Complicated-sounding Tech Issues Syndrome. (Or as I call it, Pittsburgh Syndrome, but that hasn't caught on yet).
I think a lot of people treat computing devices like disposable goods. A great example is a toaster: it's been years since I had a toaster that I could easily repair. Most of them are made of plastic and they just don't make spare parts for them. I'm a geek who repairs old stuff a lot, but I wouldn't consider repairing a toaster anymore, even though I did 20 years ago. (There's that guy who built a toaster from scratch to prove a point; I didn't like his conclusions much, but the general point of disconnection from our goods was a good one).
Thus, people seek computing devices the same way. They don't know how to repair them even if they have one that could be repaired. So, from their eyes, an Apple product doesn't look that different from GNU/Linux: except that the Apple is more shiny.
I see a similar culture in dog ownership too, oddly enough. Very few people will spend the time to go to shelters and adopt a perfectly good dog. My wife had a specific breed she wanted to adopt, etc. and we had to look for a while, but we got two (non senior) dogs that were already well trained and well behaved. Yet people still go to breeders for dogs because they want a puppy, even though you can also adopt puppies at many shelters.
I find it all really sad, but the problem for tech devices is getting worse. I thought the new-phone-ever-18-months culture would collapse during the economic downturn, but slave labor building the things plus price wars among data carriers means mobile devices are just modern toasters.
I start to cry sometimes to think about the fact that ironically, because I didn't pay attention to the toaster problem myself, it's likely someday soon I won't be able to find a toaster that doesn't have proprietary software on it. I'm pretty sure I'm actually going to die in a world where more of the software people use every day is proprietary than it was during my lifetime. That's what the Internet of things means.
Bradley M. Kuhn at 2015-07-01T00:27:38Z
uıɐɾ ʞ ʇɐɯɐs, jrobb, Douglas Perkins, Michael Mehrazar likes this.
It's a vicious cycle of locking-in consumers, making a lot of money off that lock-in, then using that money on a mix of R&D, user interface design, exclusive contracts, and advertisements. All of which keeps the vast majority of consumers unaware or apathetic of their lack of control.
I recall telling someone once that something is wrong with having to reboot to upgrade your media player. The response was that was how it has always been. my response to that was that doesn't mean it's right, just that it's always been broken...
David "Judah's Shadow" Blue at 2015-07-05T14:28:52Z
Olivier Mehani, Efraim Flashner, lnxwalt@microca.st likes this.
Jason Self at 2015-07-04T00:17:07Z
As the day goes by I've seen the cat slowly make their way across the floor from one side of the room to the other, so as to stay within the spot of sunlight coming through the window.Jason Self at 2015-05-24T18:18:13Z
We are all blindly floating helplessly in the darkness of the void.Bob Call likes this.
Timeline of the void.
nothing being everything
David Thompson at 2015-05-25T00:15:24Z
Just switched my laptop OS from Debian to GuixSD. Very happy with how well things work, despite being alpha. You, yes you, can duplicate my system precisely with this: https://git.dthompson.us/guixsd.git/blob/HEAD:/izanagi.scm
My user package manifest is fully reproducible, too: https://git.dthompson.us/guixsd.git/blob/HEAD:/profile.scmBob Call, Charles Stanhope, Christopher Baines, Yutaka Niibe and 3 others likes this.
Christopher Allan Webber shared this.
So awesome. I can't wait to be at that point.
Christopher Allan Webber at 2015-05-25T02:13:31Z
X11R5, a(n) person likes this.
Karl Fogel at 2015-05-29T15:18:44Z
Mathematics is the output of running the observable universe through a gradually-improving compression algorithm.Bob Call, Jason Self, der.hans, Timo Kankare and 1 others likes this.
Christopher Allan Webber shared this.
Wouldn't that be physics?Jason Self at 2015-06-01T19:29:55Z
On the same day as Windows 10 "reservations", libreCMC is advancing software freedom by releasing version 1.3.1. This marks the first release of the combined LibreWRT and libreCMC projects, with consolidated hardware support.XRevan86, Bob Call, Charles Stanhope, sirgazil and 2 others likes this.
Benjamin Cook, Benjamin Cook, Benjamin Cook, Benjamin Cook shared this.
Christopher Allan Webber at 2015-06-01T19:32:07Z
Guix: making it easy to use up gigabytes of HD space, but also get it all back ;)
Bob Call, Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠), X11R5, Efraim Flashner likes this.
Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) shared this.
Free Software Foundation at 2015-05-07T19:50:47Z
The FSF is hiring a full-time Web Developer! https://u.fsf.org/1b0Bob Call, uıɐɾ ʞ ʇɐɯɐs, jrobertson, j1mc and 1 others likes this.
Bob Call, mray INACTIVE, johns, johns and 1 others shared this.
Jason Self at 2015-05-07T19:03:34Z
Malware in your GPU? All the more reason we need free software everywhere and in every thing: http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/05/gpu-based-rootkit-and-keylogger-offer-superior-stealth-and-computing-power/Bob Call, Elena ``of Valhalla'', Charles Stanhope, Nathan Smith and 1 others likes this.
Mike Linksvayer, Christopher Allan Webber shared this.
Explain how it is all the more reason like I'm five^wnot already convinced that we need free software everywhere.Mike Linksvayer at 2015-05-08T18:43:33Z
Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) likes this.
I'm sure you are convinced already, Mike. :)Yeah, but my question was serious. Stories like this ought be used to convince new people, but I don't know how to do so. I can say this is yet another way your computer can be used against you and handwave about ways that free software militates against this, but honestly I wouldn't bet on convincing anyone not already convinced. I'm looking for a pithy way to connect new deep vulnerabilities like this and software freedom, for a general audience not already convinced. "All the more reason" is for the already convinced.
It ought be natural for articles like the one you linked to editorialize that this is why we need software freedom, but in order to do so there has to be something more than an assertion.X11R5 at 2015-05-07T08:26:04Z in Hawthorne, Nevada
Did you backup today? Can't remember? Your backups will know.afleck, Greg Grossmeier, Christopher Allan Webber, FLWNQWUD and 2 others likes this.
Christopher Allan Webber, Bob Call shared this.
Selfie
Running into Hillary Clinton at a restaurant in Iowa, my mom and one of her coworkers was able to get this selfie.Bob Call likes this.
selfie? it looks like the picture was taken by someone else! my favorite kind of selfie :-)Alexandre Oliva at 2015-04-16T17:41:42Z
X11R5 likes this.
Haha, she handed her phone to a Secret Service agent for the actual button pressing.
>> Alexandre Oliva:
“selfie? it looks like the picture was taken by someone else!”
Maybe they have telekinetic powers =)
Did the Secret Service agent sign a form handing over his claim to copyright?! ;)