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Question: Is there a free to use chat/instant messaging server that supports ? Alternately, Is there any kind of chat/IM softeate that runs on both the and desktop and that DOES NOT require entering a phone number or using a mobile phone for setup (so, no WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal - if it requires a phone or phone number for setup or use then it is off the table).

Additional info: I already know that you can run on a server you control but the problem is that you then have to know how to secure it, and there is one user in particular that seems to have an ever-changing IP address (he uses T-Mobile's home internet service - if you know about that then you understand the problem). So you can't just set up iptables and allow his address because that address may be different from session to session, and since the start of February it seems it may be different for each application he uses, or each web site he visits (for example he can go to one of those sites that shows the IP address you're coming from and it will show a different address on each such site he visits). It's almost as though -Mobile is suddenly forcing all connections to go through something like the network. Which on the one hand is probably great for but not great if you are trying to get into a server that is configured to let you in based on your IP address.

We used to use Google Chat/Talk until they started requiring oAuth authentication (which most XMPP Clients don't support) and really would kind of prefer not to use Google for this purpose anyway. So, just wondering what alternatives might exist.

(And before anyone suggests direct messaging in , the issue there is whenever you send a private toot it throws you into the "Direct messages" section and then you lose your place in your home timeline. Mastodon REALLY needs to figure out how to save your current place in the timeline so you can easily get back to it, though that may in part be because the instance I use is running Mastodon v3.2.1 which I guess is rather old).

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If you voted for #Republican #Governor Mike DeWine, the response to the East Palestine Chernobyl is what we warned you about. He will do NOTHING to hold the company responsible & will slow walk admitting contamination for years. The #GOP is firmly focused on minimizing costs & consequences for their #corporate donors while helping them maximize profits. That’s it. That’s their platform. If you own lots of #stock, then that’s great for you. If not, you’re on your own. #MikeDeWine #EastPalestine

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@Jonathanglick
Yet, "everyone is created equal"
And "NO one is above the law"
is brainwashed into all Americans.
THIS is a MYTH.
Only the gullible believe this to be a fact.

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Homebrew 4.0.0 was released, featuring faster tap updates and bigger changes under the hood. They also switched from Google Analytics to their own anonymous analytics database.

Follow their new account @homebrew for future updates and check out at the release notes!

brew.sh/2023/02/16/homebrew-4.

#Homebrew #Mac #PackageManager

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oliverwillis.substack.com/p/th “It’s a pattern we’ve seen over and over again. From platforming the Whitewater attacks on President Bill Clinton, amplifying half-baked attacks on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and by endlessly hanging out in diners to speak to people who love Donald Trump and airbrushing literal Nazis, the Times has done it all.” Yep.

#NYTimes #NYTimesOpEd #Media #News #Journalism

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The real story behind all those UFOs the Air Force was shooting down last week is quite embarrassing.

I’m guessing someone at NORAD has now figured out why the sensitivity settings on the radar was turned down in the first place.

aviationweek.com/defense-space

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Fox News employees, including Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, knew claims blaming election fraud for Donald Trump’s 2020 loss were outlandish and false, even as the network continued to promote them as credible, newly unsealed court filing appears to show. nbcnews.com/media/private-fox-

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Oh, one quick tip… If you have a lot of smart switches, or other devices that require some effort to re-add to HomeKit (like removing switchplates, etc.), you’d do well to create a spreadsheet of the devices, their names, and their HomeKit codes. It’ll save you a lot of time if you ever need to repeat this exercise.

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I thought I’d post this, in case anyone else was having this problem…

TL;DR: If your Home invitations are not being received by people, it’s probably because your home and their account are using different versions of the HomeKit architecture. If they’re already on the new architecture, you’ll have to delete all homes in your account and then re-add them under the new architecture.

The problem: my partner and I just moved into a new house. After setting up the house with a bunch of HomeKit devices, I sent her an invitation to the house, which was never received. Repeated attempts, OS updates, and sending between different platforms yielded no results.

After a few calls with Apple, I finally got someone who understood the problem. In iOS 16.2, Apple released their “new HomeKit architecture.” In my case, I still had my old house in HomeKit, which was on the “old” architecture. So, when I added the new house, it was also added using the old architecture. After populating it with all of my devices, I deleted the old house and sent an invitation to my partner for the new house.

This is where the problems began.

When I deleted the old house, of which she was a member, it deleted the sole house in her HomeKit configuration, so her iCloud account was automatically updated to the new architecture. My account, however, was not, because I had the new house which was still using the old architecture. Unfortunately, an invitation sent from a device on the old architecture, to one on the new architecture is simply lost.

The key clue to all of this could be found on my iPhone, going to Home → Home Settings → Software Update (the one in the Home app; not the one in the Settings app). If my home had been updated to the new architecture, it would have reported, “This home and all accessories are up to date.” Instead, it said, “All accessories are up to date.” The difference is subtle, and arguably unclear, but the long and short of it is that the latter message indicated that I was still on the old architecture.

The fix was to delete the home (and any others) from my Home app. Upon creating the new home, the first device that I added was an Apple TV and a pair of HomePods, which would serve as the hubs for the newly-created home. After doing that, I went back to the Software Update page, and it reported that “This home and all accessories are up to date.” That was the indication that I needed, to continue to re-add all of my devices to the home, and send my partner an invitation, which she did receive.

For those of you with lots of devices in your home (I have over 50, including my HomeBridge devices), it can be cumbersome to re-add all of the devices, but the alternative was to wait for Apple to come up with a fix, which didn’t seem likely in the near future.

In any case, I hope this helps someone out there who was having this problem.

#macos #ios #ipados #home #homekit #newarchitecture

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#USA #Supermarkets #DataProtection #Privacy: "When you hit the checkout line at your local supermarket and give the cashier your phone number or loyalty card, you are handing over a valuable treasure trove of data that may not be limited to the items in your shopping cart. Many grocers systematically infer information about you from your purchases and “enrich” the personal information you provide with additional data from third-party brokers, potentially including your race, ethnicity, age, finances, employment, and online activities. Some of them even track your precise movements in stores. They then analyze all this data about you and sell it to consumer brands eager to use it to precisely target you with advertising and otherwise improve their sales efforts.

Leveraging customer data this way has become a crucial growth area for top supermarket chain Kroger and other retailers over the past few years, offering much higher margins than milk and eggs. And Kroger may be about to get millions of households bigger."

themarkup.org/privacy/2023/02/

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One for the what-could-go-wrong files: "You have to deploy it to a million people before you discover some of the things that it can do"

@rachellerman @nitashatiku
washingtonpost.com/technology/

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OpenAI plans to improve ChatGPT's behavior to reduce biases, allow more user customization, and get more public input into decision-making about system defaults (OpenAI)

openai.com/blog/how-should-ai-
techmeme.com/230216/p37#a23021

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Prominent stars and high-ranking executives at Fox News privately ridiculed Trump's 2020 election fraud claims, court documents show cnn.it/3Kb8div

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Dolby Vision vs. HDR10 vs. HDR10+ – What Are the Differences? buff.ly/3xtXDfe

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Outlawing abortion, criminalizing gender-affirming care, banning books...

The GOP is not the party of limited government. It’s not the party of "freedom," either.

It's the party of social control.

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Doctor appearing on CNN compares Sen. Fetterman's health problems with Rep. George Santos -- says they both shouldn't be in Congress. Seriously, he compared health issues with Santos' stream of lies! You should be ashamed CNN!

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