Vodafone is showing off a “prototype” Mobile Private Network device that runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 computer and a Lime SDR XTRX board. The company believes that it could be a low-cost solution for businesses or individuals who want a private cellular network.

A Mobile Private Network (MPN) is exactly what it sounds like—private and portable internet based on mobile 4G or 5G connectivity. Vodafone’s prototype is basically an internet router, but it allows you to build an independent 5G network with reserved coverage. In a business environment, this is a secure and reliable alternative to Wi-Fi.

A Mobile Private Network (MPN) is a dedicated business network that allows businesses to interconnect people and things using 4G or 5G technology. While enabling new applications, MPN can also support companies’ existing business-critical services with a local network on their premises, providing a secure, reliable and available connectivity. It serves as an alternative to Wi-Fi but differs from a public mobile network by providing private reserved coverage that is subject to agreed performance (if you bought it as a service) and local, protected data flow.

The mission-critical nature of systems and applications at airports, factories, warehouses or ports demands such secure and reliable connectivity that is better served by 4G/5G than Wi-Fi. Its use cases include businesses in various industries dealing with sensor data monitoring, location and tracking, robotics, self-driving or autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs), augmented reality, connected workers and more. When combined with edge computing, MPN can support immediate responses and decision-making.

See https://www.reviewgeek.com/146350/vodafone-builds-a-portable-5g-network-using-a-raspberry-pi/

#technology #MPN #networks #RaspberryPi

Samsung's Good Lock is a software suite that lets you unlock the full customization potential of your Galaxy phone. Basically, Good Lock contains a series of modules designed to tweak every facet of the user interface, including the lock screen, notification panel, overview menu, and much more. Need a vertically scrolling app drawer? You can set that up with Good Lock.

Samsung overhauled Good Lock two years ago, and the service has continued to pick up new features. The suite now has 20 modules in total, and you can choose what modules to install based on your needs and willingness to tinker with One UI. So let's get started with Good Lock, and see the extensive customisation that is possible on your Galaxy phone.

I remember in the past, even on Google phones, having to root the phone to obtain this type of access to customisations. So it is quite welcome that an OEM provides out of a "secondary box" themselves. Essentially you need to install the Good Lock app from the Galaxy Store, and can then choose which modules to install and activate.

For some reason (and no-one seems to know why) the Good Lock app is not available (or active) in every region. So if that is the case for you, you can alternatively install the Fine Lock app from the Google Play Store. It is a bit more indirect with regard to the modules, but it firstly does take you directly to the correct download page on APKMirror, and secondly it does provide the same integrated experience as the Good Lock app itself.

See https://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-good-lock

#technology #Samsung #GoodLock #FineLock #customisation

I've resisted this for a bit, but finally gave in and tried it out a week back. I opted for the three bottom swipes, so everything is still actually in the same position (to make the transition a bit easier) but I may still progress to the side swipe.

Yes, the muscle memory does actually kink in quite quickly, and I'm sticking with it. It gains a bit of extra screen space for you, but the theory too is that it is quicker to just swipe, than to aim for the actual buttons as a press. Also having recently switched back from using an iPhone, it actually feels a bit similar as iOS uses the swipe up for return to home screen, and swipe up and sideways to see recent apps.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/869806/its-time-to-stop-using-three-button-navigation-on-android/

#technology #Android #gestures #navigation

Pixelfed is one of many social networks in the Fediverse, but it focuses specifically on photo and video sharing. This is an update to my previous video (which was more detailed about its workings and relationship with other networks).

Pixelfed has undergone a lot of user interface improvements (as well as a dark mode) and now also has native Android and iOS apps (both in beta as at Feb 2023).

I'll also be answering four typical questions that new, or prospective, users ask, such as:

1. Why Pixelfed and not Mastodon or another network?
2. How do I find a server?
3. Why is my home feed empty?
4. How do others find/follow me?

The video may also serve new users well on just how to get started with Pixelfed.

Watch https://youtu.be/JErOvoH7_Vw

#technology #Pixelfed #decentralised #opensource #Fediverse

I love DXOMARK's tests as they are quite rigorous and score across different categories. So I've been waiting for this one specifically to be published.

Something worth noting is that the tests are conducted as standard point and shoot, so extra tweaks a phone may have, are not taken into account. This means some shortcomings can be addressed, but you really need to get to know your phone's camera settings (same for any tool you're going to want to get the most out of). For example if delayed shutter response needs to be minimised, on the Samsung you can change the priority from quality to speed instead (but it means going three or more levels deep to change that setting, which most people don't just do on the fly). The iPhone consistantly beats most other phones as they continuously buffer photos beforer the shutter button is pressed, achieving a near instant exposure on the press.

Samsung has a lot of lenses and by default the 200MP is not always used (you need to select it, or change a setting that allows it to use the "best lens" for the magnification you are selecting). Although the 200MP has the sharpest detail, it loses a bit in terms of HDR and dynamic range (so you may want to use it to shoot in RAW mode for later editing for example).

Other useful features are not really tested either, such as the iPhone has a great built-in mode for creating waterfall and night light trail effects. On the Samsung you can use the Expert RAW app to achieve the low light effects, but for daytime waterfall effects you're going to need to use a third party app.

What I do is to make detailed notes about what I've learnt about each device I use, so that if I'm in the field and I can use those as a cheat sheet to quickly see what tweaks I need to apply. It's also useful to know what types of modes your camera has.

See https://www.dxomark.com/samsung-galaxy-s23-ultra-camera-test/

#technology #photography #DXOMARK #GalaxyS23Ultra

Gimbals for a smartphone or DSLR aren’t anything new. These fantastic gadgets have been around forever with videographers, in the film industry, and recently for mobile devices. Many brands like DJI make great handheld smartphone gimbals (or stabilizers) perfect for social media users or amateur filmmakers.

So, if you want steady, smooth, professional-looking videos, here’s how these gadgets work and why you should buy one.

Prices actually start from around $50 to $80 so they need not be a very expensive item. Although it is always mentioned they are for shooting video, the same principle applies for long exposure night shots where such a device should also help make a difference.

See https://www.reviewgeek.com/145642/what-is-a-phone-gimbal-and-why-should-i-use-one/

#technology #gadget #gimbal #photography

Something many (me included) did not originally realise, was that the temperature sensor on the Galaxy Watch was not intended to display "body temperature". Firstly for the reason that it is only skin temperature (not body core temperature) and secondly that it was really intended to help compliment identifying sleep cycles etc.

So now the feature will be used, in partnership with Natural Cycles, in order to provide the most accurate menstrual tracking possible. There is also a setting on Health Connection to define what gets synced or shared to other apps, so it is possible to disable that and keep the data local (for the USA obviously due to legal issues there).

See https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-watch-5-cycle-tracking/

#technology #health #GalaxyWatch #menstrualcycles

KDE’s Plasma desktop environment, once considered something of a resource hog, has more features than ever and is Linux’s most configurable desktop, yet it’s as easy on resources as relatively lightweight desktops such as Xfce.

Over the two-and-a-half decades of its existence, KDE has gone from being a single desktop which aimed to provide a consistent, friendly interface to become an entire family of associated software. These days it is a hub for several related projects, which include the popular KDE Plasma desktop environment, the Plasma Mobile interface for handheld devices, and a large collection of desktop applications. These applications range from simple text editors to messaging clients, from development tools to a file manager, and from video editing software to a web browser. It’s quite large collection of powerful, cross-platform utilities.

One of the best ways to become familiar with KDE software, particularly the latest versions coming out of the KDE project, is to run a Linux distribution called KDE Neon (officially presented as “KDE neon”). The KDE Neon project publishes regular updates which feature Ubuntu as the core operating system with the latest version of the KDE Plasma desktop running on top.

But KDE desktop also gets bundled as a standard desktop variation on many other distros such as Ubuntu (Kubuntu), openSUSE, Alt Workstation K, Fedora, Manjaro, ROSA Desktop, etc. In fact, I think I discovered KDE on Ubuntu, and then stuck with KDE as I moved to Linux Mint, and finally to Manjaro (my desktop look and feel was the same across all of them).

See https://fossforce.com/2023/02/kde-plasma-full-featured-desktop-thats-surprisingly-easy-on-resources/

#technology #Linux #opensource #KDE

FOSDEM The Open Source Policy Summit is an annual event which attempts to explain the importance of software freedom to governments and policy makers.

The Policy Summit is an annual event organized by the Open Forum Europe, a Brussels nonprofit which describes itself as an "independent think tank which explains the merits of openness in computing to policy makers and communities across Europe."

This is an important job, but you might be forgiven if you've not heard of it before because it has a rather different focus to commercial or community events. While businesses are concerned with things like cost-effectiveness and service-level agreements, the public sector needs to think more about issues such as digital sovereignty.

The governments of nation states need to consider different priorities. For example, if you choose some cloud application for communications or storage, you need to think about where the servers are on which those apps will actually run, and where your data will be stored. Much of the software industry is American, and many PaaS apps use AWS and other cloud providers which are also primarily based in the USA. Given that the largest war in Europe since 1945 is under way not far from the eastern borders of the EU, this is focusing legislators' minds somewhat.

See https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/09/open_source_policy_summit/

#technology #FOSS #opensource #government #datasovereignty