I featured TinyPilot a few days back which is open source, but they exclude the remote USB mount from their open source version, and their focus is more towards a subscription model. It will however do what most folks probably want, and it's big plus for the purchased hardware is its pure plug-and-play approach.

PiKVM on the other hand is fully open sourced (so all the functionality is available) with an added benefit that it can also (with some hardware interfacing) monitor the hardware LEDs and manage the ATX power of the remote device. It has more flexibility in working with versions of the Pi prior to v4, and can also work in read-only mode with the Pi's SD card, to help preserve it's life. PiKVM is at https://github.com/pikvm/pikvm.

The video does a good job of highlighting some of the differences between the two KVMs and also explains why you'd want to use a KVM in the first place for remote devices.

See https://youtu.be/TIrkEr2AeDY

#technology #opensource #KVM #PiKVM #raspberrypi

DigiTech is a digital products portal of South Africa that is supported by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies. The purpose of DigiTech is to collect data about digital products developed in South Africa with an aim of supporting the products’ technology enablement and promote and expand their adoption and use. Through DigiTech, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies seeks to promote SA developed digital products in other markets whilst facilitating partnerships with other countries on co-promotion of local technologies.

The Marketplace shows some really interesting government / citizen related apps. So it is not clear if this site will merely promote suitable apps, that are then downloaded from the actual Apple, Android, and other apps stores. The Marketplace page contains no links at all to any of the actual apps being promoted. SA Government already actually has a single central portal for citizens, called eServices. I would have thought that would also have been the place for citizens, not only to transact with gov, but to also obtain this information about mobile apps to use.

So yes, an early review by Business Insider, was not glowing about this site at all. It is possibly because it is not well explained how it fits into the existing ecosystem of services and apps by government for citizens. It also has a few grammar errors, and no secure SSL certificate. The eServices site also started out with lots of fanfare a few years ago, but no-one speaks about it really in the media any more. This new site does not even link to the eServices site.

Besides that, though, the initiative is a good one to promote local developers and apps that will assist citizens.

See http://www.digitech.gov.za/portfolio-marketplace

#technology #southafrica #government #mobileapps #DigiTech

It is basically a hardware device (buy theirs or build your own with a Raspberry Pi 4 or above), that is connected to the remote device's HDMI/DVI/VGA/USB so that you have a working keyboard and mouse, and can see the actual display output. It therefore requires no software or drivers at all on the remote device that you want to manage.

I have a use case for this with my CCTV device where nearly everything can be down through it's web interface remotely, except that I cannot actually shut it down, nor can I update camera firmware remotely. TinyPilot allows me to do this.

One thing to note though is the open source version does not remotely mount media such as a USB stick. You'd have to have the USB stick stuck into the remote device, allowing you still though to flash that USB stick, or work with other files remotely downloaded.

See https://github.com/tiny-pilot/tinypilot

#technology #remotemanagement #opensource #tinypilot

The app, called iSinkwe – the isiZulu word for a bushbaby – adds and synchronises human-narrated or computer-generated audio to text. It aims to make textbooks, class notes and other documents more accessible to learners by making reading and learning more interactive.

iSinkwe functions by adding audio, which can be recorded manually by someone or generated by a computer using a standard Electronic Publication Version Three (EPUB3) document, to text documents.

There is already an Android app, with an iOS app and a Windows store app still to follow.

See https://techcentral.co.za/csir-develops-app-to-help-kids-learn-to-read/211355/

#technology #SouthAfrica #reading #literacy #education

This is really great news as the service was becoming fairly unusable for me for the last few months. Tested it now and seems buttery smooth. I also see more resolution options, which in the past had some dependency on what was uploaded.

You don't know about Odysee...? Well, it is used by many YouTubers as a safe backup for their videos in case they get a ban on YouTube, and many use it as their primary video sharing platform to escape the YouTube tracking. So in many cases you will find a lot of YouTuber's content there just as it appears on YouTube (Odysee can be configured to actually automatically republish any public video that you have uploaded to YouTube). But it has it's own vibe and culture, and many also see it as having a lot more freedoms.

And yes it does have a cryptocurrency that you can earn or spend there, but that is totally by the way and can be ignored if you're not interested.

See https://odysee.com/@Odysee:8/mayroundup:4

#technology #odysee #videos #alternativeto

Known as eLEAP, the tech also means that the OLED panels would have a longer lifespan, estimated by Japan Display to be three times longer than current models, even at the higher brightness levels.

eLEAP's advantage is that it offers a larger 'aperture ratio', which is basically how much of the space of each OLED pixel can actually be devoted to the parts that put out light.

And best of all, this isn't some theoretical 'we did it in a lab one time' breakthrough. Japan Display says that it's in talks to start sample production of OLED screens made with eLEAP by the end of 2022, and that it plans to provide the technology to other display makers too.

See https://www.techradar.com/news/oled-tv-breakthrough-fixes-all-the-techs-problems-and-its-coming-soon

#technology #OLED #eLeap

For blind people to use a computer, they need a screen reader which reads the text on the screen in a synthetic voice or with a braille display. But in many cases, screen reading software costs more than the computer itself. In the past, this has left computers inaccessible to millions of blind people around the world. This is a critical problem, because without computers, access to education and employment is severely limited, not to mention everyday functions such as online banking, shopping, and news.

NVDA has been translated by volunteers into more than 55 languages, and been used by people in more than 175 countries. It has also won multiple awards.

See https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/

#technology #screenreader #accessibility #disability #sightimpaired

While smartwatches have always been able to relay notifications, the ability to make emergency calls was a big step forward in making them standalone devices.

Generally, Emergency SOS features have two functions. The first is to call local emergency responders if you find yourself in a bind. For instance, if you take a nasty spill and can’t make it to the phone, your watch can call 911. The second is to relay your location to a select group of trusted contacts. For folks who want to leave their phone at home, these features can ensure that your loved ones will be able to find you if you’re injured or need help.

You don’t necessarily need a cellular watch to make use of Emergency SOS. However, a cellular watch is the best option if you want Emergency SOS to be available at all times. Otherwise, you’ll need to have your phone nearby or your watch will need some sort of internet connectivity via Wi-Fi.

Most cellular services worldwide do have free emergency numbers, which can be used even your account is depleted, or without even having a valid SIM card. Looking at the details for South Africa, for example, an Apple Watch can call emergency services without the phone IF it was set up once to work with a cellular service. A watch is by far the most convenient way to very quickly trigger an emergency call, but I'm just not sure what works with a non-cellular watch in WiFi range of the phone, to actual emergency services. Mine does at least appear to trigger normal phone calls through the phone, so I'd expect it should still work.

The big takeaway, though, is you do need to configure and set up your watch (and you should do the same for your phone) for SOS calls, as many watches and phones will triggers alerts for falls, vehicle accidents, etc on your behalf.

See https://www.theverge.com/23123590/smartwatch-emergency-sos-how-to-apple-samsung-google-garmin

#technology #SOS #emergency #smartwatch

A newly implemented e-commerce rating system in the city-state of Singapore has rated Facebook's Marketplace as the least trustworthy e-commerce platform, behind Amazon and its Alibaba-owned Asian analogue Lazada. The ratings system, known as the E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR) [PDF], was launched on May 14th by the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS).

From personal experience, my own daughter has been defrauded twice via Facebook Marketplace. My own dealings with Amazon have not been bad, as they at least have a call centre which sorts things out for you. On Facebook's side, they have zero interest in sorting anything out, as it is mostly user to user sales. Locally we also have a marketplace called Bid or Buy, and they can act as the middle-person by accepting the client payment, you dispatch the goods, and then withdraw the funds from them if the buyer has received them in order. This has worked very well for me, as it also assures me that an actual payment has been made. I'd happily part with a small percentage for this service, as it gives the buyer some peace of mind too.

See https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/facebook_rated_least_safe_ecommerce/

#technology #marketplace #singapore #ecommerce