Firefox has a neat feature in the context menu for a link. It's called 'Copy Clean Link' and it removes a buncha tracking shit.

#TechIsCoolSometimes

I accidentally discovered a new-to-me feature in Sakura (also in Konsole). If I hit F11, I'll get a truly full screen version of the console ... while still having the extra benefits that come with running it in a GUI as opposed to a virtual terminal.

(Example things that work better from the GUI side: changing font size, better color support, better mouse integration.)

#TechIsCoolSometimes

So Long, Marianne

If you use a streaming service to listen to music, you might already be familiar with having lyrics play on the screen as the music goes. Read more

#Music #Technology #TechIsCoolSometimes

If you're considering linking to something that may fold under the weight of Mastodon servers trying to ping it for OpenGraph data, jort.link has been made for that specific purpose.

#TechIsCoolSometimes

I set environment variables for some of my most common folders. So now I can go cd $writing or pushd $projects whenever. Saves me a ton of typing.

It's slightly more annoying to set up on Linux and Mac than on Windows but, if you use the command line a lot, it's hugely worth it.

#TechIsCoolSometimes

Did you know you can interact with Lemmy / Kbin / PieFed from your Mastodon account? This functionality offers an entry point to the advantages of federated discussion forums that doesn't require you to create another account.

#Mastodon #TechIsCoolSometimes

Regarding the last boost, I'm not sure I'd program regular software in it.

But when you combine QB64 with Inform, it seems to meet the "Holy Grail" of compiled GUI software that you can program once and use on Windows / Mac / Linux without packaging in Yet Another Browser.

I don't think I'll leave Python for it, but there are a few projects I might consider using it to implement.

#TechIsCoolSometimes

In 2003, Justin Frankel (from #Nullsoft, developer of #WinAmp) released a peer-to-peer file sharing application called WASTE. This is actually slightly after the initial release of BitTorrent. WASTE is named for a motto in Thomas Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49. The acronym WASTE stands for We Await Silent Tristero's Empire. It's a term used by an underground postal service. Their symbol is a crude, stick figure image of a horn with a trumpet mute in it.

WASTE as software did more than just allow file transfer. It had chat built in. Like the Fediverse, it's decentralized. However, the networks don't necessarily connect to each other. You would need an in with someone else to join a WASTE network.

Almost as soon as Justin published it, the company that owned Nullsoft (AOL) pulled WASTE back and said that Justin hadn't been authorized to distribute the software so the GNU GPL license it had been released under wasn't valid.

WASTE has been reimplemented a number of times with new features and protocol changes that, in some cases, aren't cross compatible with other WASTE implementations. According to a Sourceforge page, Blackbelt WASTE had its most recent update on 2025-01-27, hinting that WASTE is alive and in operation today.

(This toot owes an obvious debt of gratitude to Wikipedia for the particulars. I had the WASTE software, but never used it beyond opening it. I read The Crying of Lot 49 but it's hard to know whether I read it before Justin released the software.)

#WASTE #p2p #TechHistory #TechIsCoolSometimes

Did you know that the concept of hypertext is at least 90 years old? Roughly 79 years ago, Vannevar Bush published As We May Think, introducing the concept of the Memex which went on to inspire what we thought of as the World Wide Web.

#TechIsCoolSometimes #hypertext #TechHistory