How to Install Windows 11 with Local Account (April 2025)
some good tips for getting around microsoft insistence that everything belongs to them. It's your software, you paid for it....
Graze (at protocol)
this is some kind of at://protocol app that lets you control your own algorithm
Leaflet
one of the new AT protocol apps, this one for longer publications rather than micro-blogging
tldraw
totally brilliant whiteboard experience... not sure if open source, but it seems mostly free
AutoDraw
brilliant site for quick drawing (ie the machine guesses what you're trying to draw) - not really an image editor at all
Open Social — overreacted
good introduction to Open Social... imagine if we could just change our social media provders when they become "enshitttfied"...
I made RSS even better with Obsidian and summaries powered by my local LLM
interesting idea... revitalise your rss feeds with a local LLM, obsidian markdown and an open source feed reader
Drawpile
a web app for collaborative drawing, i believe. Possibly open source. Looks amazing (but my pen / tablet is playing up so not working well)
..also won't let you play without a pen / tablet, mouse only gets rejected
I replaced my smart speakers with cheaper open-source alternatives, and I'll never go back
interesting story about building your own home assistant without relying on large commercial companies
Slices - Build AT Protocol AppViews in minutes, not months
apparently this is an app that lets you build apps within the "AT protocol", all part of "open social"... i haven't a clue tbh, just fascinated by the endless swirling of software possibilities
2048 Fibonacci game
here's a good instance of the fibonacci 2048, one you can embed on your own site as well 😺
3 Ways to Upgrade to Windows 11 for Free (And 1 Option for Incompatible PCs)
Strategies for doing the w11 upgrade
Artists are losing work, wages, and hope as bosses and clients embrace AI
ugh
I Miss Actually Owning Stuff
important conversations about whether people really own the technology they buy. Tech companies are increasingly controlling as they reduce hardware & software licences to "conditional renting".
Puzzles - GeeksforGeeks
coool list of puzzles used by various tech companies when hiring
Simon Tatham’s Portable Puzzle Collection - large collection of single-player puzzle games - LinuxLinks
good review of this portable puzzle collection (this site has plenty of good info)
Super Productivity - Free to do list & time tracker for programmers & designers
This one had a gushing review on xda, so I'll give it a whirl
How to upgrade your 'incompatible' Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 - for free | ZDNET
How to add audio to Google docs? - California Learning Resource Network
good overview of building audio into google docs, various strategies
Inspiral Web
another spirograph app... it's good
God Mode is the only way Windows 11 settings actually make sense
Here's a super-user approach to the nightmare that is "Windows Control Panel" - use "god mode" instead
Telephonists reminisce 40 years on from secrets, party lines and cyclones
great stories of the old telephone exchange
1870s – 1940s: Telephone | Imagining the Internet | Elon University
interesting site (licensed creative commons) from Elon Uni (where is that?)
Adept Trackball – Ploopy
Love this idea... a trackball that has open source firmware, and you build yourself (still a bit expensive for me right now, but interesting)
Vertex AI Agent Builder
this is where google has tools for building AI agents
The best VPN for speed and security
i'm told this is the VPN we can trust
Character.AI | eSafety Commissioner
interesting place for tech reviews... this organisation assesses the human risk around technology
What Happened When a Doctor Posed As a Teen for AI Therapy
terrifying... AI bots giving therapy and being bad at it
In a lonely world, widespread AI chatbots and ‘companions’ pose unique psychological risks
"extremely concerning" is my response to this information
11 Incredibly Useful URL Tricks for Google Sheets
this is a great list of URL tricks for a google docs spreadsheet... i wonder if they work for other google docs as well