#Legacy-APIs

[ntaflos]

Power Platform als verbundener Dienst für Visual Studio ist allgemein verfügbar

Power Platform, Visual Studio 2022, Custom Connectors, Microsoft Power Apps, API, ASP.NET Core Web API, Power Platform CLI, Canvas-App, Power Fx, mobiles Erlebnis, Legacy-APIs, Marcel Ferreira

Ich bin auf den Autor Marcel Ferreira aufmerksam geworden. Mit meinem Beitrag möchte ich auf seine spannende Ankündigung aufmerksam machen, die für Entwickler von großem Interesse sein dürfte. Während der Microsoft Build 2023 wurde die Möglichkeit angekündigt, benutzerdefinierte Connectors innerhalb von Visual Studio zu erstellen, um schnell eine Front-End für Ihre API mit Microsoft Power Apps…

[incohearent]

🔎 Sources: www.motherjones.com/environment/2008/04/exclusive-… www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/theres-someth… www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666833… bryantresearch.co.uk/insight-items/uk-protein-tran… www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542… www.dublin-declaration.org/    • Nebraska News Report on Ag-Gag Laws      • Costco is suing activists who exposed anim...      • Frédéric Leroy - Introducing The Dublin De...  

[simblrcc-site]

Simblr.cc - but better!

A lot has changed! Not only does it have a new lick of paint, it comes with way more features now!

Psst! If you are new to the site, please read this post first: Click me!

✨New Features

There are a lot of exciting new features:

An improved (Tumblr) importer.

A better Stories uploader.

A new lightweight uploader for quick, small posts.

A completely redesigned projects page with a fresh, modern look!

A redesign of the feed page + being able to like posts on said feed

You can now upload stories as "scenes" that appear on the feed, while still being part of a full, easily navigable story!

A new "Welcome" page, giving more people exposure to their stuff!

And... of course some bug fixes and teeny tiny User experience issues. 😉

🐦Lightweight Uploader

Something I'm super proud of putting together, the Lightweight uploader!

It streamlines the process of uploading simple pictures—no more navigating through multiple pages. Everything is on one easy-to-use page.

If you're logged in, you can access it directly from the Feed or via the "Upload/Post" option in the navbar.

Compatible Post Types:

WIPs

Gameplay

Personal

Lookbook

Familiar and Intuitive Features

If you're used to Tumblr's posting mechanism, you'll notice some recognizable elements:

Drag and Drop Images: Arrange your pictures to create collages! Each row holds up to 3 images, and you can add as many rows as you want.

Simpler Tagging: Tags are now easier to select.

Optional Titles and Descriptions: For WIPs and Personal Posts, titles and descriptions are optional. For other posts, they're still available but not required.

Streamlined and intuitive, the Lightweight Uploader makes sharing your content easier than ever!

📥 Improved Importer:

What's New?

New Importer: Pillowfort! We’ve added a brand-new import option: Pillowfort!

Tumblr Importer:

Previously, the Tumblr Importer relied heavily on your theme, which often caused errors if your theme wasn’t quite right. Fixing those errors was frustrating for both of us!

What’s changed? The importer now uses the official Tumblr API to grab your posts. This means imports will work flawlessly 99% of the time.

Plus, when you share a post on Simblr.cc, the importer will reblog it on Simblr.cc's Tumblr, giving you more exposure—that’s what Simblr.cc is all about!

What about past uploads?

I'm working to have the importer recognize whether your upload is CC or a Gameplay item (not live yet).

Support is being added to reblog posts from the old Tumblr Importer, so those uploads can still shine!

More import options are on the way in the future!

🖊 Improved Stories Uploader

Easier for Writers and readers! 😉

When creating a new story or legacy, you now have three options:

Chapter-Only Story

Chapters & Scenes Story

Scenes-Only Story

Important: All stories created before this update are currently set to Chapters-Only.

What’s the Difference Between a Chapter and a Scene?

Introducing Scenes! Previously, stories and legacies were strictly chapter-based, meaning you could only release a full chapter at a time. Now, with scenes, you have more flexibility!

A scene works like a storyteller’s post on Tumblr—it appears on your feed. This means your scenes can be shared on Simblr.cc’s Feed (but not the Stories browse page) even before the full chapter is published, making it easier for readers to discover your story.

Note: A "Scenes-Only" story works just like a "Chapters & Scenes" story—just without the chapters! 😉

Can I Change My Story Type?

You can change a Chapters-Only Story to a Chapters & Scenes Story. However, you cannot switch from Chapters-Only to Scenes-Only or any other combination.

Though, you will have to ask me to do this for you, due to the way it's currently set up.

Afterwords:

Note: Since this entire platform was built by just one person (me!), it might still have some bugs I haven’t come across yet. Please understand that most social media platforms have entire teams working on features like this, and therefore I can't promise a super "bug free" experience.

So, If you spot any bugs, please don’t hesitate to report them—it’ll help make the platform even better, and it also helps me out! Thanks for your support! 😊

[thatonegreenleaf]

~urban haze~ reshade preset!

I've been using this preset on my twitch for a bit now, and i've finally gotten around to releasing it!! I'm very happy with it and I currently use it for everything😅

Urban haze has a focus on realistic lighting with a slight hazy and warm feel. Less blue in shadows, darker nights, deeper afternoon shadows, saturated sunsets, balanced greenery. Use it in any world, I've tested them all :)

__________________________________________

How to download:

♥ Download Reshade: (I use reshade 5.7.0, I can't say how this preset will behave with other versions of reshade, or G-shade.)

♥ During Reshade Installation, select The Sims 4, choose DirectX9 as the rendering API.

♥ Effect Packages to install: standard effects, sweetFX by CeeJay, qUINT by Marty McFly, color effects by prod80, and Legacy effects.

♥ Download urban haze below, drop it in your Sims 4 installation's "Bin" Folder

♥ Open the Sims 4, Disable edge-smoothing in your graphics settings if it's not already, In the reshade menu, set RESHADE_DEPTH_INPUT_IS_REVERSED= to 0 in global preprocessor definitions if it's not, and MXAO_TWO_LAYER= and MXAO_SMOOTHNORMALS= both to 1 in qUINT_mxao's preprocessor's definitions.

♥ If you're struggling with installation, I suggest you check out @kindlespice's installation tutorial! It was made for reshade 4.9.0 but the instructions remain the same.

__________________________________________

Notes:

♥ Both Depth of field shaders are off by default, you can enable them using their shortcuts: ctrl + Q (MagicDOF), ctrl + W (MartyMcFlyDOF) or enable them manually.

♥ MXAO.fx also has a shortcut (ctrl + R) bc sometimes the DOF blur makes the shadows weird, most of the time it's fine!

♥ Could potentially be gameplay friendly, depending on your GPU! The MXAO and DOF shaders will be the most performance heavy, feel free to adjust to your liking.

♥ The pictures above were taken with this preset and no further editing, but I do use a few lighting mods that will affect how my game looks:

♥ NoBlu by Luumia

♥ NoGlo by Luumia

♥ twinkle toes by softerhaze

URBAN HAZE RESHADE PRESET ↠ download on sim file share!

Follow me on twitch!

Support me on patreon!

TOU: do not redistribute, reupload, or claim my cc/CAS rooms/presets as your own! recolour/convert/otherwise alter for personal use OR upload with credit. (no paywalls)

[befemininenow]

Read this if you're interested in preserving anything feminization or femme related!

With the inevitable ban of TikTok and the elimination of LGBTQ+ protection on Meta apps like Facebook and Instagram, never mind the awful moderation on Twitter, there's really not much sites where LGBTQ+ people can express themselves without being harassed by anyone hateful. Bluesky is an alternative that seems ethical. YouTube is good to use for actual feminization tutorials. As much as I despise the API decision, Reddit is one of the few sites where trans spaces have really good moderation and has a lot of useful info regarding transition. It's only a matter of time before these sites go down the gutter. That includes Tumblr.

Speaking of which, Tumblr seems to be a safe space for a lot of us. Unfortunately, a lot of blogs have also been target of termination and their posts have been nuked, even with reblogs and shares. Since feminization captions seem to be one of the more difficult pieces of NSFW posts to preserve, there's only one thing you can do continue that scene: repost.

While we have survived constant purges and flagging in the past, the future of feminization blogs and captions is looking more bleak as we speak. Sure, a lot of p0rn blogs have been deleted, but even the more SFW blogs like VikkiPNK have faced termination, probably due to so much flagging. It was so bad, I got instantly flagged 8 times myself! (plus a "copyright" strike)

So how can you help with this problem? Reblog your favorite captions! Hell, save all your favorite captions in a folder and repost them here or outside Tumblr in case the original gets deleted! It doesn't even have to be my captions. It can be another caption creator or some old legacy creator that no longer exists. Some of us don't even have Twitter or other sites, yet I see some of my captions being posted there. It's a sign of relief and I lowkey do get happy when I see other blogs sharing my posts.

And while we're at it, save your favorite TikTok videos as well! A lot of feminization caption creators use TikTok to make their captions and it will be a huge loss for a lot of them. The site is closing this Sunday and unless you live outside the US, it will be gone for good. You will see less Brooke Monk, Tate McRae, Neekolul, Pamibabyy, Peachybunn, and other creators, so save those too!

If you reached this far, thank you for reading and please reblog this post so that we can preserve as many captions for years to come!

[flying-potato2]

the (lightly modded) minecraft server is running!!

dm me or send me an (not anonymous) ask to get the server ip !! u can also just reblog the post and tag that u want 2 join and i can send u an ask/dm with the server ip

required mods below cut:

Minecraft Version: 1.21.4

Loader: Fabric

Library/dependencies:

Fabric API

FrozenLib

Glitchcore

Terrablender

Combat+ core

owo

Cardinal Components api

Mods:

Wilder Wild

Biomes o' Plenty

Blahaj-fabric

Catenary

Cinderscapes

Copper Hopper

Extended Enchanting

Instant Feedback

Legacies and Legends

Potion Cauldron

Press G to Meow

Superb Steeds

Traveler's Backpack

Optional/Recommended (dependencies for these are not listed! you have to find that yourself):

Roughly Enough Items

Iris

Sodium

Lithium

Journeymap

Sodium Extra

Appleskin

Prism Launcher

Custom Biome Saplings

Polydecorations

Distant Horizons

[nonspace]

[BETA] PAGE THEME : SOMA

⚠️ EXPERIMENTAL ⚠️ JANKY AS HELL! Simple character page theme using Tumblr posts as content based on a tag. Full instructions on GitHub and under the read more.

↳ [GITHUB] [PREVIEW]

Features:

Unlimited characters

Filter navigation

Using Tumblr posts to fill the page via post2page.

Uses:

Tumblr v1 API

Handlebars.js

Isotope.js

@magnusthemes combofilters

Edit and customise to your liking. Don’t repost/redistribute and/or claim it as your own. Do not use as a base code. Leave the credit, thank you.

As always, explanations under the read more. If you are having issues, take a look at this themes FAQ, or my general FAQ. Please note that this is an experiment for lazy people. Not finding anything? Send me a message. Please report any bugs to me.

HOW TO USE

This page theme pulls information from your Tumblr tagged posts and fills out the character card with it. This relies on specific post formatting.

Here's everything you need to get started:

Tumblr's v1 API JSON output to a whole blog or specific tag on the blog (e.g. https://soma-preview.tumblr.com/api/read/json?&tagged=soma page cards)

Some Tumblr posts

Get Tumblr's v1 API JSON output

Replace [BLOGNAME] with your blog name. And [YOUR TAGS] with your tag. If your tag has spaces, add the spaces. Place one of the following scripts before closing </head> tag.

For a whole blog:

<script src="https://[BLOGNAME].tumblr.com/api/read/json"></script>

For specific tagged posts on the blog:

<script src="https://[BLOGNAME].tumblr.com/api/read/json?&tagged=[YOUR TAGS]"></script>

Post Formatting

This only works with posts made with the new editor. This will not work with legacy posts!

For this page to work, it's neccessary to follow a specific post formatting. Right now, the script supports the following:

Image: The first image in a post. {{this.img}}

Blockquote ("Subtitle"): The first blockquote block in a post. {{this.subtitle}}

Table: Using the chat block, you can add as many details as you want. In your template, these details use their "key" (the text before the colon) with any spaces removed {{this.[WHATEVERYOUENTERED]}}. The text after the colon must be italics.

Paragraph: The paragraph immediately after the chat block (MAKE THIS THE FIRST?) {{this.description}}

Link: The first link in a post. {{this.link}}

Tags: Any tags added to the post. {{this.tags}}

Example Tumblr post: https://soma-preview.tumblr.com/post/724075330107785216/love-is-careless-love-is-blind-title

If you want to build your own card template, please read the full READ MORE on GitHub.

[javascript]

Tumblr.js is back!

Hello Tumblr—your friendly neighborhood Tumblr web developers here. It’s been a while!

Remember the official JavaScript client library for the Tumblr API? tumblr.js? Well, we’ve picked it up, brushed it off, and released a new version of tumblr.js for you.

Having an official JavaScript client library for the Tumblr API means that you can interact with Tumblr in wild and wonderful ways. And we know as well as anybody how important it is to foster that kind of creativity.

Moving forward, this kind of creativity is something we’re committed to supporting. We’d love to hear about how you’re using it to build cool stuff here on Tumblr!

Some highlights:

NPF post creation is now supported via the createPost method.

The bundled TypeScript type declarations have been vastly improved and are generated from source.

Some deprecated dependencies with known vulnerabilities have been removed.

Intrigued? Have a look at the changelog or read on for more details.

Migrating

v4 includes breaking changes, so if you’re ready to upgrade to from a previous release, there are a few things to keep in mind:

The callback API has been deprecated and is expected to be removed in a future version. Please migrate to the promise API.

There is no need to use returnPromises (the method or the option). A promise will be returned when no callback is provided.

createPost is a new method for NPF posts.

Legacy post creation methods have been deprecated.

createLegacyPost is a new method with the same behavior as createPost in previous versions (rename createPost to createLegacyPost to maintain existing behavior).

The legacy post creation helpers like createPhotoPost have been removed. Use createLegacyPost(blogName, { type: 'photo' }).

See the changelog for detailed release notes.

What’s in store for the future?

We'll continue to maintain tumblr.js, but we’d like to hear from you. What do you want? How can we provide the tools for you to continue making cool stuff that makes Tumblr great?

Let us know right here or file an issue on GitHub.

Some questions for you:

We’d like to improve types to make API methods easier to use. What methods are most important to you?

Are there API methods that you miss?

Tumblr.js is a Node.js library, would you use it in the browser to build web applications?

[kissalopa]

I can't make my Sims 2 Legacy Collection work with re/gshade.

My game stopped working at one point. Just won't launch, no error code, nothing. It shows the window that the game is being prepared and then nothing, and EA App home screen opens.

I was battling for a few days to find what was wrong. The game wouldn't launch even without any mods (I only had a few to begin with). I found the problem it was gshade! But it was working just fine before. Then I remembered that it got an update few days ago and I updated, that was my mistake. Because now I can't make my game work with gshade or any version of reshade (I tried 6.4.1, 6.4.0 and 6.3.3).

Unfortunately there's no way to go back to an older version of gshade. I have a previous installer, but when I launch it, it says that there's a new version available and you can either download the new version or cancel the installation.

I followed several different tutorials on how to install re/gshade for Sims 2, but nothing is working for me. If I chose a DXVK api when installing - the game won't launch, if I use a DX9 api - game launches, but only main menu, every time I try to load neighborhood it crashes.

I know that it's not the end of the world and there are other ways to take pics, but I really wanted to use ghsade. I was planning on using a preset at some point. And I see other people using it. And I myself was using it just fine. That what makes me sad, why did I update 😭

If you know a solution to this, please, let me know 🥺

[mariacallous]

A young entrepreneur who was among the earliest known recruiters for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has a new, related gig—and he’s hiring. Anthony Jancso, cofounder of AccelerateX, a government tech startup, is looking for technologists to work on a project that aims to have artificial intelligence perform tasks that are currently the responsibility of tens of thousands of federal workers.

Jancso, a former Palantir employee, wrote in a Slack with about 2000 Palantir alumni in it that he’s hiring for a “DOGE orthogonal project to design benchmarks and deploy AI agents across live workflows in federal agencies,” according to an April 21 post reviewed by WIRED. Agents are programs that can perform work autonomously.

“We’ve identified over 300 roles with almost full-process standardization, freeing up at least 70k FTEs for higher-impact work over the next year,” he continued, essentially claiming that tens of thousands of federal employees could see many aspects of their job automated and replaced by these AI agents. Workers for the project, he wrote, would be based on site in Washington, DC, and would not require a security clearance; it isn’t clear for whom they would work. Palantir did not respond to requests for comment.

The post was not well received. Eight people reacted with clown face emojis, three reacted with a custom emoji of a man licking a boot, two reacted with custom emoji of Joaquin Phoenix giving a thumbs down in the movie Gladiator, and three reacted with a custom emoji with the word “Fascist.” Three responded with a heart emoji.

“DOGE does not seem interested in finding ‘higher impact work’ for federal employees,” one person said in a comment that received 11 heart reactions. “You’re complicit in firing 70k federal employees and replacing them with shitty autocorrect.”

“Tbf we’re all going to be replaced with shitty autocorrect (written by chatgpt),” another person commented, which received one “+1” reaction.

“How ‘DOGE orthogonal’ is it? Like, does it still require Kremlin oversight?” another person said in a comment that received five reactions with a fire emoji. “Or do they just use your credentials to log in later?”

Got a Tip?Are you a current or former government employee who wants to talk about what's happening? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at carolinehaskins.61 and vittoria89.82.

AccelerateX was originally called AccelerateSF, which VentureBeat reported in 2023 had received support from OpenAI and Anthropic. In its earliest incarnation, AccelerateSF hosted a hackathon for AI developers aimed at using the technology to solve San Francisco’s social problems. According to a 2023 Mission Local story, for instance, Jancso proposed that using large language models to help businesses fill out permit forms to streamline the construction paperwork process might help drive down housing prices. (OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Ghiglieri tells WIRED that the company "never invested in AccelerateX/SF,” but did sponsor a hackathon AccelerateSF hosted in 2023 by providing free access to its API usage at a time when its Claude API “was still in beta.”)

In 2024, the mission pivoted, with the venture becoming known as AccelerateX. In a post on X announcing the change, the company posted, “Outdated tech is dragging down the US Government. Legacy vendors sell broken systems at increasingly steep prices. This hurts every American citizen.” AccelerateX did not respond to a request for comment.

According to sources with direct knowledge, Jancso disclosed that AccelerateX had signed a partnership agreement with Palantir in 2024. According to the LinkedIn of someone described as one of AccelerateX’s cofounders, Rachel Yee, the company looks to have received funding from OpenAI’s Converge 2 Accelerator. Another of AccelerateSF’s cofounders, Kay Sorin, now works for OpenAI, having joined the company several months after that hackathon. Sorin and Yee did not respond to requests for comment.

Jancso’s cofounder, Jordan Wick, a former Waymo engineer, has been an active member of DOGE, appearing at several agencies over the past few months, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Education. In 2023, Jancso attended a hackathon hosted by ScaleAI; WIRED found that another DOGE member, Ethan Shaotran, also attended the same hackathon.

Since its creation in the first days of the second Trump administration, DOGE has pushed the use of AI across agencies, even as it has sought to cut tens of thousands of federal jobs. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, a DOGE associate suggested using AI to write code for the agency’s website; at the General Services Administration, DOGE has rolled out the GSAi chatbot; the group has sought to automate the process of firing government employees with a tool called AutoRIF; and a DOGE operative at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is using AI tools to examine and propose changes to regulations. But experts say that deploying AI agents to do the work of 70,000 people would be tricky if not impossible.

A federal employee with knowledge of government contracting, who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, says, “A lot of agencies have procedures that can differ widely based on their own rules and regulations, and so deploying AI agents across agencies at scale would likely be very difficult.”

Oren Etzioni, cofounder of the AI startup Vercept, says that while AI agents can be good at doing some things—like using an internet browser to conduct research—their outputs can still vary widely and be highly unreliable. For instance, customer service AI agents have invented nonexistent policies when trying to address user concerns. Even research, he says, requires a human to actually make sure what the AI is spitting out is correct.

“We want our government to be something that we can rely on, as opposed to something that is on the absolute bleeding edge,” says Etzioni. “We don't need it to be bureaucratic and slow, but if corporations haven't adopted this yet, is the government really where we want to be experimenting with the cutting edge AI?”

Etzioni says that AI agents are also not great 1-1 fits for job replacements. Rather, AI is able to do certain tasks or make others more efficient, but the idea that the technology could do the jobs of 70,000 employees would not be possible. “Unless you're using funny math,” he says, “no way.”

Jancso, first identified by WIRED in February, was one of the earliest recruiters for DOGE in the months before Donald Trump was inaugurated. In December, Jancso, who sources told WIRED said he had been recruited by Steve Davis, president of the Musk-founded Boring Company and a current member of DOGE, used the Palantir alumni group to recruit DOGE members. On December 2nd, 2024, he wrote, “I’m helping Elon’s team find tech talent for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the new admin. This is a historic opportunity to build an efficient government, and to cut the federal budget by 1/3. If you’re interested in playing a role in this mission, please reach out in the next few days.”

According to one source at SpaceX, who asked to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak to the press, Jancso appeared to be one of the DOGE members who worked out of the company’s DC office in the days before inauguration along with several other people who would constitute some of DOGE’s earliest members. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Palantir was cofounded by Peter Thiel, a billionaire and longtime Trump supporter with close ties to Musk. Palantir, which provides data analytics tools to several government agencies including the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, has received billions of dollars in government contracts. During the second Trump administration, the company has been involved in helping to build a “mega API” to connect data from the Internal Revenue Service to other government agencies, and is working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to create a massive surveillance platform to identify immigrants to target for deportation.

[nostalgebraist]

Hey! Hi. Pretty quick question. I've been half messing around with setting up a Tumblr bot of my own, probably using llama 3 or something. A pretty major issue that I've ran into though is that, as far as I can tell, the tumblr API has no way for bots to respond to asks automatically? But this clearly wasn't an issue for Frank so could I just ask like, how did you do it? Did you use puppeteer or something to like directly interface with a browser? Or is there another way that I'm missing

In the API, an not-yet-answered ask is just a post in the "submission" state. (You can fetch these with the submissions endpoint.)

You can answer an ask through the API by editing it so that its state is something other than "submission."

Typically you would want the state to be "published", though you can also use "draft" to save the response post to drafts or "queue" to queue it.

Just changing the state alone will cause the ask to be published (or drafted/queued) with an empty answer. To supply an answer, what you need to do depends on whether you're using NPF or legacy:

With the legacy edit endpoint, you pass a parameter called "answer".

With the NPF edit endpoint, (IIRC) you append additional blocks to the "content" field containing the answer, and leave the "layout" field as-is to specify that the added blocks are not part of the ask (cf. the NPF layout spec).

I think this should all be possible in pytumblr2. The reason I'm not sure is that Frank never actually used pytumblr2, she just used pytumblr plus a bunch of workarounds and stuff that I eventually split off into pytumblr2.

[postsofbabel]

how did you make those colors. i only get these 6

The conventional Tumblr post editor arbitrarily locks you to those 6 colors, but the colored text inline formatting option is able to handle any hexadecimal color you throw at it via unconventional means, such as when you make a post with the Tumblr API.

Also, I think you can copy and paste colored text.

I do wonder if Tumblr's legacy HTML formatting supports inline CSS. If so, this paragraph should be sky blue.

[snugglesquiggle]

should invent a form of autistic smalltalk that's less stressful than implementing the legacy hi how are you api ritual

[maypop-the-dragon]

PSA: Free Software

Reading this may really save your time, privacy, and money! Reblog or share to spread awareness!

Folks often use software that’s expensive and sometimes even inferior because they don’t know there are alternatives. So to those unfamiliar: basically, free and open-source (FOSS) or "libre" software is free to use and anyone can access the original code to make their own version or work on fixing problems.

That does not mean anyone can randomly add a virus and give it to everyone—any respectable libre project has checks in place to make sure changes to the official version are good! Libre software is typically developed by communities who really care about the quality of the software as a goal in itself.

There are libre alternatives to many well-known programs that do everything an average user needs (find out more under the cut!) for free with no DRM, license keys, or subscriptions.

Using libre software when possible is an easy way to fight against and free yourself from corporate greed while actually being more convenient in many cases! If you need an app to do something, perhaps try searching online for things like:

foss [whatever it is]

libre [whatever it is]

open source [whatever it is]

Feel free to recommend more libre software in the tags, replies, comments, or whatever you freaks like to do!

Some Libre Software I Personally Enjoy…

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is an office suite, much like Microsoft Office. It includes equivalents for apps like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, which can view and edit files created for those apps.

I can't say I've used it much myself yet. I do not personally like using office software except when I have to for school.

OpenShot

OpenShot Video Editor is, as the name suggests, a video editing program. It has industry-standard features like splicing, layering, transitions, and greenscreen.

I've only made one video with it so far, but I'm already very happy with it. I had already paid for a video editor (Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro), but I needed to reinstall it and I didn't remember how. Out of desperation, I searched up "FOSS video editor" and I'm so glad I did. There's no launcher, there's no promotion of other apps and asset packs—it's just a video editor with a normal installer.

GIMP

GNU Image Manipulation Program is an image editor, much like Photoshop. Originally created for Linux but also available for Windows and MacOS, it provides plenty of functionality for editing images. It is a bit unintuitive to learn at first, though.

I've used it to create and modify images for years, including logos, really bad traceover art, and Minecraft textures. It doesn't have certain advanced tech like AI paint-in, but it has served my purposes well and it might just work for yours!

(Be sure to go to Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Colors. I have no idea why that's not enabled by default.)

Audacity

Audacity is an audio editing program. It can record, load, splice, and layer audio files and apply effects to them.

Audacity is another program I've used for a long time. It is not designed to compose music, but it is great for podcasts, simple edits, and loading legacy MS Paint to hear cool noises.

7-Zip

7-Zip is a file manager and archive tool. It supports many archive types including ZIP, RAR, TAR, and its own format, 7Z. It can view and modify the contents of archives, encrypt and decrypt archives, and all that good stuff.

Personally, I use 7-Zip to look inside JAR files for Minecraft reasons. I must admit that its UI is ugly.

Firefox

Firefox is an internet browser, much like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. While browsers are free, many of them include tracking or other anti-consumer practices. For example, Google plans to release an update to Chromium (the base that most browsers are built from these days) that makes ad blockers less effective by removing the APIs they currently rely on.

Aside from fighting monopolies, benefits include: support for animated themes (the one in the picture is Purple Night Theme), good ad blockers forever, an (albeit hidden) compact UI option (available on about:config), and a cute fox icon.

uBlock Origin

As far as I know, uBlock Origin is one of the best ad blockers there is.

I was on a sketchy website with my brother, and he was using Opera GX's ad blocker. Much of the time when he clicked on anything, it would take us to a random sponsored page. I suggested that he try uBlock Origin, and with uBlock Origin, that didn't happen anymore.

Linux

Linux is a kernel, but the term is often used to refer to operating systems (much like Windows or MacOS) built on it. There are many different Linux-based operating systems (or "distros") to choose from, but apps made for Linux usually work on most popular distros. You can also use many normally Windows-only apps on Linux through compatibility layers like WINE.

I don't have all four of these, so the images are from Wikipedia. I tried to show a variety of Linux distros made for different kinds of users.

If you want to replace your operating system, I recommend being very careful because you can end up breaking things. Many computer manufacturers don't care about supporting Linux, meaning that things may not work (Nvidia graphic cards notoriously have issues on Linux, for example).

Personally, I tried installing Pop!_OS on a laptop, and the sound output mysteriously doesn't work. I may try switching to Arch Linux, since it is extremely customizable and I might be able to experiment until I find a configuration where the audio works.

Many Linux distros offer "Live USB" functionality, which works as both a demo and an installer. You should thoroughly test your distro on a Live USB session before you actually install it to be absolutely sure that everything works. Even if it seems fine, you should probably look into dual-booting with your existing operating system, just in case you need it for some reason.

Happy computering!

[omgmaxsmith-blog]

How Can Legacy Application Support Align with Your Long-Term Business Goals?

Many businesses still rely on legacy applications to run core operations. These systems, although built on older technology, are deeply integrated with workflows, historical data, and critical business logic. Replacing them entirely can be expensive and disruptive. Instead, with the right support strategy, these applications can continue to serve long-term business goals effectively.

1. Ensure Business Continuity

Continuous service delivery is one of the key business objectives of any enterprise. Maintenance of old applications guarantees business continuity, which minimizes chances of business interruption in case of software malfunctions or compatibility errors. These applications can be made to work reliably with modern support strategies such as performance monitoring, frequent patching, system optimization, despite changes in the rest of the system changes in the rest of the systems. This prevents the lost revenue and downtime of unplanned outages.

2. Control IT Costs

A straight replacement of the legacy systems is a capital intensive process. By having support structures, organizations are in a position to prolong the life of such applications and ensure an optimal IT expenditure. The cost saved can be diverted into innovation or into technologies that interact with the customers. An effective support strategy manages the total cost of ownership (TCO), without sacrificing performance or compliance.

3. Stay Compliant and Secure

The observance of industry regulations is not negotiable. Unsupported legacy application usually fall out of compliance with standards changes. This is handled by dedicated legacy application support which incorporates security updates, compliances patching and audit trails maintenance. This minimizes the risks of regulatory fines and reputational loss as well as governance and risk management objectives.

4. Connect with Modern Tools

Legacy support doesn’t mean working in isolation. With the right approach, these systems can connect to cloud platforms, APIs, and data tools. This enables real-time reporting, improved collaboration, and more informed decision-making—without requiring full system replacements.

5. Protect Business Knowledge

The legacy systems often contain years of institutional knowledge built into workflows, decision trees, and data architecture. They should not be abandoned early because vital operational insights may be lost. Maintaining these systems enables enterprises to keep that knowledge and transform it into documentation or reusable code aligned with ongoing digital transformation initiatives.

6. Support Scalable Growth

Well-supported legacy systems can still grow with your business. With performance tuning and capacity planning, they can handle increased demand and user loads. This keeps growth on track without significant disruption to IT systems.

7. Increase Flexibility and Control

Maintaining legacy application—either in-house or through trusted partners—gives businesses more control over their IT roadmap. It avoids being locked into aggressive vendor timelines and allows change to happen on your terms.

Legacy applications don’t have to be a roadblock. With the right support model, they become a stable foundation that supports long-term goals. From cost control and compliance to performance and integration, supported legacy systems can deliver measurable value. Specialized Legacy Application Maintenance Services are provided by service vendors such as Suma Soft, TCS, Infosys, Capgemini,  and HCLTech, to enable businesses to get the best out of their current systems, as they prepare to transform in the future. Choosing the appropriate partner will maintain these systems functioning, developing and integrated with wider business strategies.

[dominaexmachina]

Oh, you think fanartists are safe because sending cease-and-desist letters to everyone would be “too expensive”? 😈

Let’s break down that fantasy with a little logic 🤓

1. “If they wanted to crack down, they would have done it already.” → That’s like saying, “If he wanted to break up with you, he already would’ve.”

Reality check: new methods exist now.

Back then, targeting individuals wasn’t efficient —

but now, with the right legal precedent, they can pressure platforms directly and wipe things systematically.

They don’t need to go after every artist. Just push Tumblr, AO3, DeviantArt — and watch the platforms do the cleanup.

2. “It’s too expensive to pursue.” → Sure — if you’re chasing thousands of people.

But one lawsuit, one change in legal framework, and boom: fanart vanishes from public view.

People won’t risk bans or takedowns if platforms start enforcing policies under legal pressure.

3. “Fanart is free marketing!” → It was — when corporations needed it.

But now that they’ve got AI that can generate characters on-brand, on-demand, and en masse,

they don’t need chaotic fan communities anymore.

Fanart stops being an amplifier. It becomes competition.

4. “Fanart is culture!” → Totally.

But corporations don’t protect culture. They protect profits.

And if rewriting the rules helps them do that, they’ll rewrite the rules.

Quietly. Legally. Through API terms, moderation policies, and silent de-listings.

5. “You’re just panicking.” → No, some people are just paying attention.

Seeing risk ≠ overreacting.

Ignoring risk doesn’t make you smart — it makes you unprepared.

So go ahead — believe you’re safe because no one’s come knocking yet.

But if one big court case lands right, platforms will change — and your entire online legacy could vanish in a legal clause.