That centralized low-power machine can even be your phone, if it has enough storage for your needs.

This is exactly how I use Syncthing, and as the author says, it sure would be nice if more things were just files. Really, most things are stored locally as files, but not always in a way that plays nice with syncing. Like, I can sync my Firefox profile between machines (it’s all in one folder), but I found it prone to conflicts, with little to resolve those conflicts.

In a similar vein, local-first apps built with Conflict-free replicated data types (CRDTs) can be another way to avoid server dependency. I haven’t seen any significant apps built this way yet (just occasional blog posts about it). I imagine the CRDT approach would work better for individual apps, since conflict resolution can be written in a way that works best for a given app, but I also imagine that such apps would not play nicely with a generic sync solution like Syncthing.

Actually, it’s more the opposite. Sorry, I don’t think I explained too well. The watch works just fine on its own without a smartphone. For functions that require phone and watch working together, Gadgetbridge lets them communicate (e.g. when you receive a text message on your phone, Gadgetbridge will let you read the text on your watch).

The apps on the watch will work with or without a smartphone. However, installing apps from the Bangle app loader requires the watch have a Bluetooth connection to a phone or computer. After apps are installed, they will run even without the Bluetooth connection.

Finally, note that the Bangle does not have an internet connection on its own; it has no cellular or wi-fi radios on board. So any apps that require a network connection (e.g. weather) will only work when paired to a phone with Gadgetbridge. I think there are other watches with wi-fi, but I’m not familiar with them.

I have been using a BangleJS 2 for the last year, and have quite liked it. There is a companion app, Gadgetbridge, to install on your phone, which is available through F-Droid (there is a Bangle-specific version of it, or a generic version that supports a bunch of other smart watches). There is also an app store (all free software) for apps that run on the Bangle itself. It includes a heart monitor, but no music streaming.

I’ve also been watching rePebble as they start making new Pebble smartwatches. I’ve never owned one, but a lot of people swear by them. They are now fully open source and have an app store. No idea if they can stream music.

I believe that’s pretty much what happened after the dot-com crash. A lot of fiber was laid during the bubble, it went dormant after the crash, but it was useful afterward as the internet continued growing.

Are you talking about the calendar that appears when you click the time on the (by default) right side of the task bar? Because mine shows a full month. This is how it’s been since I upgraded from Windows 10. So I don’t know what setting you have to change, but at least it’s possible.

Just finished Stray. Yes, I got it because you play as a cat (who was created with great detail), but it also has solid storytelling, world building, and level design.

Thanks, that’s an excellent article, and it’s exactly what I was looking for.

I got hung up on this line:

This requires deterministic math with explicit rounding modes and precision, not the platform-dependent behavior you get with floats.

Aren’t floats mostly standardized these days? The article even mentions that standard. Has anyone here seen platform-dependent float behaviour?

Not that this affects the article’s main point, which is perfectly reasonable.

Started Into the Breach after getting it a few weeks ago in a Steam sale for less than $4. Excellent tactical gameplay with randomized encounters challenging enough that I haven’t successfully completed a run yet.

That sounds like an issue with the underlying OpenStreetMap data that is used by Organic Maps (and CoMaps, and OsmAnd, and others). Map quality depends on where you are in the world and who is contributing to the maps there. If data is incomplete around you, you could contribute to it (but easier said than done, I know).

I can’t say why the route would be hours longer than Google maps, but I’ve noticed OsmAnd~ tends to overestimate drive time for me (I think it overestimates delay from traffic lights). Or it could just be that calculating routes on your phone doesn’t always give results as good as calculating routes on Google’s servers.

I used to have scripts like that, but eventually switched to ssh aliases. You can set up an alias for each machine in ~/.ssh/config with lines like this:

Host p1
    HostName 192.168.1.123
    Port 22
    User pi

Then access with ssh p1. Slightly more typing, but avoids adding more commands to your $PATH. Also has the benefit of letting you use the same alias with other ssh-related commands like sftp.

Automatics also allow for engine braking. From a quick search, it sounds like a toss-up as to whether that triggers brake lights. Regardless, the article mentions the benefit is not only from cars slowing down, but also from indicating that a car is preparing to stop or “that a stationary vehicle might initiate movement”. Neither of those can be done by an engine brake, so front brake lights would still have a benefit even with a driver that likes engine braking.

I feel like you may have misunderstood the article. It’s talking about how support is increasing for dedicated Copy keys, and that programmable keyboards make it easy to use dedicated Copy keys. The article does not mention changing the behaviour of Ctrl-C.