On Tuesday, a Reddit user named "nhciao" posted a series of artistic QR codes created using the Stable Diffusion AI image-synthesis model that can still be read as functional QR codes by smartphone camera apps. The functional pieces reflect artistic styles in anime and Asian art.

See https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/06/redditor-creates-working-anime-qr-codes-using-stable-diffusion/

#technology #QRcodes #anime

If you have a digital multimeter on hand, it’s pretty straightforward to test your PSU and rule out power gremlins as the source of your computer problems. Standalone PSU testers are great, and we always have one on hand to get quick results. They can even give you useful values like the Power Good (PG) value that shows you how quickly your PSU comes up to full power—that’s something a multimeter can’t do.

But lots of people have digital multimeters on hand already and don’t have a PSU tester lying around. So while it’s nice to have a PSU tester for those little extra features like the PG value, you can get almost all the same data with a more hands-on approach using a multimeter.

These tests will work fine for the start-up and idle voltages, but won't be testing the PSU under high load (which is only applicable really when gaming or rendering video files, and the PC fails during those types of activities). I'd also do the inverse of these tests to test all the ground wires are good, i.e. put the red probe in one of the working positive voltage pins, and then use the black probe to test all the ground pins.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/833959/how-to-test-your-computers-psu-with-a-multimeter/

#technology #hardware #PSU

Nvote is a decentralized, vote-driven community similar to services like Reddit and HackerNews. Nvote is powered by Nostr (yes Nostr is more than just posting short or long-form social media text posts).

Why should I want to use this instead of a centralized service like Reddit?

• It's lightweight. No ads, no JavaScript. No images except in posts. (inline images can be disabled in settings)
• Full feature compatibility with privacy browsers like TorBrowser with JavaScript disabled.
• Community-based spam prevention with no centralized moderators.
• Publicly available activity data to help the community identify vote manipulation and astroturfing.
• Anyone can host a Nostr relay and mirror the data.
• Relays and clients can be run locally or be made public for other people to share.
• Ability to disable spam filters or even modify the client with custom filters.
• You don't have to rely on a single relay for content. You can configure the client to use other relays as data providers.
• Backend data is owned by nobody and can be digested by alternative clients without the need for special API permissions.

Yes, the service does need some love as it is mostly autoposting from Reddit by the looks of it, but there are a few users commenting I see.

See https://nvote.co/

#terchnology #Reddit #Nostr #Nvote #alternativeto

How many FPS can the human eye see? That’s a tough question because the human eye doesn’t really see in “frames per second,” and everyone’s eyes are different. We’ll talk about the biology, but the real question is what the upper limit is when it comes to FPS on monitors. At what point do you stop noticing FPS increases?

In the end, for competitive gaming needs, it's worth getting a monitor with a refresh rate higher than 60Hz—the higher, the better. You'll begin to get diminishing returns past 144Hz, however, the only way to know for sure is to try out the monitor with the highest refresh rate that you can find!

Of course, monitors are also not just about refresh rates, so the resolution, brightness, contrast, etc also all play a role too.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/888948/how-many-fps-can-the-human-eye-see/

#technology #monitors

Yes, Reddit is going through its own API pains right now, and of course it is anyway a centralised social network much like Facebook and Twitter. So the discussion around alternatives has been coming up again.

Lemmy has been around for a while, its technology is good, and it federates via ActivityPub to the rest of the Fediverse. You can also host your own instance and set your own terms and conditions. Sounds ideal? Well, there has also been quite an under current of issues raised about Lemmy's devs (something political I gather, but I had more of an ongoing issue with one or two users doing on-topic trolling, so I left).

Well there is now Kbin. It has "magazines" which are similar to subreddits, or you can just post to the main feed. Other users can vote up or down, and comment etc. It also federates via ActivityPub, and I love the fact it can be self-hosted using Docker.

Kbin is a decentralized content aggregator and microblogging platform running on the Fediverse network. It can communicate with many other ActivityPub services, including Mastodon, Lemmy, Pleroma, Peertube. The initiative aims to promote a free and open internet.

The project page is at https://kbin.pub/, and it looks like kbin.social is one of their main instances.

#technology #alternativeto #Reddit #Kbin #socialnetworking

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are a handy tool. But it’s all too easy to use them for the wrong task, misconfigure them, or otherwise make common VPN mistakes. Here’s how to avoid them and get the most out of your VPN service.

In most cases, it becomes a waste of money (or privacy) by not being aware of these issues. This is an easy-to-read article that just explains what these issues are, and what they mean. Nothing technical is required to address most of these.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/894286/10-common-vpn-mistakes-people-make/

#technology #privacy #VPN

On an iPhone or iPad, open the Files or Notes app and use "Scan a Document" to scan a document with your device's camera. On Android, use the Google Drive app to scan a document to your phone or tablet. (The Google Drive app works on iPhone and iPad, too.)

These existing apps actually do a very good job of scanning multiple pages, straightening pages, recognising the text, using existing storage, etc. There is no reason really today to go buy scanners or even 3rd party apps.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/209951/the-best-ways-to-scan-a-document-using-your-phone-or-tablet/

#technology #scanning #documents

Each website visit yields valuable data, sold to marketers so targeted ads can follow us around the web — unless you’re using the right browser. But what’s the best browser for privacy? There are myriad options other than Chrome or Safari if you’re concerned about online privacy and security.

If you aren’t mindful of your browsing data, you should be. We use our browsers for everything from banking to social media to email to online shopping, and a lot of sensitive data gets shared. We should be mindful of where that information is going, who can see it, and how (or if) our data is stored.

Because our data is the main source of profit for big tech, they’re incentivised to collect as much of it as possible, which they then sell to advertisers. Marketers then target us with ads, which follow us around the web for days or weeks at a time. Privacy-focused browsers can cut most or all of that intrusive data collection out of the online experience.

Even with cookies blocked, browser fingerprinting can still create a snapshot of your online behaviour. In the wrong hands, that can be used to identify or impersonate you, even though companies claim to anonymise collected user data. Even if bad actors don’t get into your bank account, they may get enough info to commit identity theft.

The best browsers for privacy depends on your needs and know-how, but Firefox, Tor, and Epic all offer unique features and functions that will help keep your data private online. Test drive each to learn which is best for you and for which situations.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/892396/which-browser-offers-the-best-privacy-protection/

#technology #privacy #browsers

The early test versions had some real oddities with the resizing, but I see now mine show as minimised icons, and then hovering, just expands them which looks quite OK.

Live from v1.52 onwards by right-clicking on a tab and toggling the vertical tabs choice on the drop-down menu.

See https://brave.com/vertical-tabs/

#technology #bravebrowser