#Program Tracker Software

[jolikmc-stuff]

MegaZeux™ (v2.50) - I.C. Wiener(rama) by Jo Li KMC on YouTube

Hey. Who wants to see three hours of mind-numbing thumb-fumbling and brute-forcing MegaZeux™ Robotics Code to make it do what I want? Anybody? Nobody?

… somebody?

[andrewbennett07]

Complete Pilot Training Programs Simplified: From Basic to Navigator

With our extensive pilot training programs, demystify the world of aviation. Our programs cover all aspects of pilot education, whether you're a beginner who aspires to fly or a student seeking advanced qualifications. Come along on an adventure where passion meets knowledge.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

When Facebook came for your battery, feudal security failed

When George Hayward was working as a Facebook data-scientist, his bosses ordered him to run a “negative test,” updating Facebook Messenger to deliberately drain users’ batteries, in order to determine how power-hungry various parts of the apps were. Hayward refused, and Facebook fired him, and he sued:

https://nypost.com/2023/01/28/facebook-fires-worker-who-refused-to-do-negative-testing-awsuit/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

Hayward balked because he knew that among the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger, some would be placed in harm’s way if Facebook deliberately drained their batteries — physically stranded, unable to communicate with loved ones experiencing emergencies, or locked out of their identification, payment method, and all the other functions filled by mobile phones.

As Hayward told Kathianne Boniello at the New York Post, “Any data scientist worth his or her salt will know, ‘Don’t hurt people…’ I refused to do this test. It turns out if you tell your boss, ‘No, that’s illegal,’ it doesn’t go over very well.”

Negative testing is standard practice at Facebook, and Hayward was given a document called “How to run thoughtful negative tests” regarding which he said, “I have never seen a more horrible document in my career.”

We don’t know much else, because Hayward’s employment contract included a non-negotiable binding arbitration waiver, which means that he surrendered his right to seek legal redress from his former employer. Instead, his claim will be heard by an arbitrator — that is, a fake corporate judge who is paid by Facebook to decide if Facebook was wrong. Even if he finds in Hayward’s favor — something that arbitrators do far less frequently than real judges do — the judgment, and all the information that led up to it, will be confidential, meaning we won’t get to find out more:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/hot-coffee/#mcgeico

One significant element of this story is that the malicious code was inserted into Facebook’s app. Apps, we’re told, are more secure than real software. Under the “curated computing” model, you forfeit your right to decide what programs run on your devices, and the manufacturer keeps you safe. But in practice, apps are just software, only worse:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/23/peek-a-boo/#attack-helicopter-parenting

Apps are part what Bruce Schneier calls “feudal security.” In this model, we defend ourselves against the bandits who roam the internet by moving into a warlord’s fortress. So long as we do what the warlord tells us to do, his hired mercenaries will keep us safe from the bandits:

https://locusmag.com/2021/01/cory-doctorow-neofeudalism-and-the-digital-manor/

But in practice, the mercenaries aren’t all that good at their jobs. They let all kinds of badware into the fortress, like the “pig butchering” apps that snuck into the two major mobile app stores:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/pig-butchering-scam-apps-sneak-into-apples-app-store-and-google-play/

It’s not merely that the app stores’ masters make mistakes — it’s that when they screw up, we have no recourse. You can’t switch to an app store that pays closer attention, or that lets you install low-level software that monitors and overrides the apps you download.

Indeed, Apple’s Developer Agreement bans apps that violate other services’ terms of service, and they’ve blocked apps like OG App that block Facebook’s surveillance and other enshittification measures, siding with Facebook against Apple device owners who assert the right to control how they interact with the company:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

When a company insists that you must be rendered helpless as a condition of protecting you, it sets itself up for ghastly failures. Apple’s decision to prevent every one of its Chinese users from overriding its decisions led inevitably and foreseeably to the Chinese government ordering Apple to spy on those users:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/11/foreseeable-consequences/#airdropped

Apple isn’t shy about thwarting Facebook’s business plans, but Apple uses that power selectively — they blocked Facebook from spying on Iphone users (yay!) and Apple covertly spied on its customers in exactly the same way as Facebook, for exactly the same purpose, and lied about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

The ultimately, irresolvable problem of Feudal Security is that the warlord’s mercenaries will protect you against anyone — except the warlord who pays them. When Apple or Google or Facebook decides to attack its users, the company’s security experts will bend their efforts to preventing those users from defending themselves, turning the fortress into a prison:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

Feudal security leaves us at the mercy of giant corporations — fallible and just as vulnerable to temptation as any of us. Both binding arbitration and feudal security assume that the benevolent dictator will always be benevolent, and never make a mistake. Time and again, these assumptions are proven to be nonsense.

Image: Anthony Quintano (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Zuckerberg_F8_2018_Keynote_%2841118890174%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A painting depicting the Roman sacking of Jerusalem. The Roman leader's head has been replaced with Mark Zuckerberg's head. The wall has Apple's 'Think Different' wordmark and an Ios 'low battery' icon.]

Next week (Feb 8-17), I'll be in Australia, touring my book *Chokepoint Capitalism* with my co-author, Rebecca Giblin. We'll be in Brisbane on Feb 8, and then we're doing a remote event for NZ on Feb 9. Next is Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. I hope to see you!

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

[canmom]

very brief torrent security primer

some brief comments on piracy safety for @goblin-thembo who has been asking a lot of questions in the notes of that post...

OK, so when you download a torrent, you are downloading some files. The BitTorrent protocol makes it almost impossible to substitute a different file than the one you request, but you have no way to be absolutely certain that the original file is 'safe' - that depends on the properties of the file, and what you do with it. Some types of file are safer than others.

Here's some jargon you may find useful.

torrent: a file that describes how to download some files through the BitTorrent protocol. we won't go into the technicalities, but when you load a torrent into your torrent client, you will connect to other people who have parts of the files, download the pieces, and reassemble the files you want.

seeding: providing a copy of the files in a torrent to other people.

ISP: Internet Service Provider, the company that connects you to the internet.

IP address: your computer's identity on a network, notably the public internet. When you connect to a website, they know your IP address. Your IP address is assigned by your ISP.

From an IP address, you can determine someone's broad geographical location (which country they're connected in) and which ISP they are using. You can contact the ISP, who will be able to associate it with a specific user.

swarm: the collection of users downloading or seeding a particular torrent.

VPN: Virtual Private Network, a relay service which hides your IP address from the public internet. People who connect to you will see the VPN's IP instead of your real IP. Your ISP will be able to know that you connected to a VPN, but not what you send through it. So they wouldn't be able to tell if you are using BitTorrent. VPNs usually cost a fairly small amount of money as a subscription service.

Threat model

In security we talk about a 'threat model', which is what you think you need to protect yourself from. There are two major threats when downloading files using BitTorrent.

copyright claims: your computer's IP is broadcast when you use BitTorrent. Copyright holders will often put 'sniffers' on the network which will monitor the IPs in the swarm of popular torrents. They will then send a takedown letter to your internet service provider (ISP), who will usually send you an email to stop sharing copyrighted media on their network, and then cut off your internet on multiple offences. This can easily be circumvented using a VPN. I strongly recommend using a VPN if you download any copyrighted content through BitTorrent.

attacks through the file you download: someone might upload a virus as a torrent, presenting it as a file you might be looking for (e.g. cracked software). So let's go over different types of file you might download and how they could be used to attack you.

Executable files, such as pirated software, are not safe. If you download a program and run it, you are potentially giving the author full control over your computer. So you should make damn sure the uploader is trustworthy. If you're downloading open source software from the maintainer's github release page, you're probably good. If you're downloading cracked art programs or games... good luck lol.

On a public torrent tracker, to which anyone can upload, there is no guarantee that any file is what anyone says. You have to make your own determination of which uploaders are trustworthy. I can't give you great advice on this, since I generally do not download cracked executables. For games, FitGirl Repacks is generally a pretty good source.

If you are on Windows, the default Windows Defender software should be used to scan any file you download. (Paid antivirus software is of somewhat dubious utility, often pushing ads and using CPU resources in its own right.) Fewer attackers will target desktop Linux or OSX, which doesn't mean you're guaranteed safe, but Windows is the biggest target as the most widely used operating system.

Videos, music and images are generally safe. I say 'generally' because it's possible, in theory, to create a video that exploits a vulnerability in your video player (e.g. mpv or VLC) and uses it to execute code. So far as I know this is largely theoretical, and known vulns have been patched, but make sure to keep your player up to date to mitigate against known vulnerabilities.

Any compressed archives (zip, rar, 7zip) can be used to create something called a 'zip bomb', which is a file which goes into an infinite loop when you try to decompress it, swallowing up more and more memory and hard drive space. I've never seen this actually be done, but it's possible. More subtle attacks would attempt to attack the program you use to decompress the file. Keep your software up to date to mitigate against known vulnerabilities.

Besides taking care about what you download, on Windows you should either not run your main account as an admin account, or make sure to set User Account Control to require a credentials check for admin operations, and also keep your operating system and software up to date. Make sure file extensions are visible so you don't get fooled by a file disguised as a different file type. And y'know, if the torrent tracker has comments, check to see if a lot of people are saying it's a virus.

What could happen if your computer gets infected? Well, they might use your computer to mine crypto at the cost of your CPU performance, they might encrypt and ransom your files, and they might steal your credentials for online services (including banking and the like). There are various measures you can take against this, such as making sure to encrypt sensitive data such as passwords, but the best defense is to not infect your computer in the first place.

The most likely time for people to upload viruses is when something is in high demand and there isn't a single authoritative high-quality source out yet.

Ultimately you get to decide what you consider an acceptable level of risk. There is no such thing as perfect safety. I would recommend using your own initiative to learn about computer security and not badger random tumblr users to explain it to you, but hopefully the above guidelines should help you avoid doing anything too dangerous.

[azulcrescent]

I randomly found your YouTube channel and ended up on the playlists section, and noticed the music creation playlist and a couple videos on making chiptune

I'm curious, have you heard of a piece of software called Furnace? It's a tracker (the interface is like SunVox I'm pretty sure, I've never used SunVox) and it supports a ton of different sound chips, from the NES to the Atari 2600, and even a custom chip by the developer, called the Tildearrow Sound Unit

It usually can play back on original hardware too, at least I know it's been used for Mega Drive game soundtracks, I think its files are too big for 8-bit systems

You can also combine chips, so if you really wanted to add the Pong chip to the Game Boy you can now

I'm not sure how experienced you would be with the interface, so it might take a while to learn

If you've ever used a similar program called Deflemask, it should be simple, and you can move elements around to your liking, plus it's fully compatible with Deflemask, some demo songs were made in Deflemask

I couldn't insert a link, but if you search "Furnace Tracker" it should come up, and it's the first result on Github when searching Furnace

Thank you so much for the advice and the recommendation for Furnace! To be perfectly honestly I had close to no music background and couldn't make heads or tails out of music theory for the longest time. I've recently starting learning piano but I'm still very much firmly in the learning process so it'll take my a while to make use of these, but thank you! ^^

[gauntletqueen]

How do you do your model capture for twitch?

I use a Logitech C930e webcam (not the most ideal option but it is a good affordable one) and VSeeFace (there's a lot of 3D Vtubing software out there that gives a loooot more options for Gimmicks n shit but honestly I don't feel like learning how they work sahfghafj) and a Leap Motion hand tracker for my hands (I tried using a Leap Motion 2, it was Actively Worse)

One little thing I wanna say while we're on the topic, regardless of your Vtuber software, if you feel your mouth tracking doesn't look right, try turning down mouth sync smoothing (or whatever similar name it has in the program in question.) Mouth sync smoothing means the mouth will take longer to transition between the sounds you make, meaning it can't keep up with normal talking speed and doesn't actually mimic your mouth properly.

[asspull3x]

Lancette: But seriously the Asspull IIIx needs music tracker software and a scientific/programming/graphing calculator. These are good launch package programs Kawa: I find this suggestion unfeasible for me. Lancette: Really? You built the infrastructure it runs on but a calculator is beyond you? Kawa: Especially a scientific/graphing one. But the music tracker is even more unfeasible.

Lancette: You're telling me that you manifested a whole operating system out of thin air, complete with graphics formats, custom cartridge drives, and games, but a calculator is too far. Kawa: YES 😄 Lancette: How. Kawa: Believe it or not, these are completely different areas.

Lancette: You built your own picture viewer. For your own OS graphical management. And yet one of these escapes you. Unbelievable.

Kawa: I wouldn't know where to even begin with one of those.

... I mean, she's not wrong. That would be nice launch software to have. Even though I'd consider the A3X primarily a games system first. I mean, there's a reason it has no GUI.

[benk625-blog]

Confections Pulverizer

Commandant Effyl of Military intelligence began the briefing. Behind and above them was a large viewscreen displaying the galaxy's most popular video game, "Confections Pulverized." Game play involved manipulation of brightly colored geometric shapes so that three or more were aligned orthogonally. Success resulted in pleasant, on screen explosions and increased score. The audience quietly chuckled.

"The incongruity of this briefing is not lost on me." The Commandant began. "No doubt many of you are wondering why Military Intelligence would bother researching such a harmless frivolity. My own subordinates had a difficult time convincing me of the grave threat human malware presented.

“The game on display is relatively harmless. The danger is the underlying code within it. Almost all human programs include instructions to save and transmit user location data. In short, they have turned our electronic devices into little spies that note our every move.”

The viewscreen changed to display military personnel exercising in group calisthenics.

"The coordinates of several secret military bases became known to humans through fitness trackers. Hidden in the code of so-called "health software" is location tracking. Earth government has purchased the data generated by the applications, or apps. These apps are available to consumers free of charge. This data was analyzed and it was noted that users flagged as military service members had begun exercising in a routine manner in remote locations."

The next image was a spinning circle of question marks.

"Trivia games are being used to assess information ubiquity in user populations. Using algorithmic, artificial intelligence, the game learns the depth and breadth of each user's information and skill level. Military Intelligence was informed of this by an arms research group that noticed the trivia categories had gradually shifted from general knowledge questions towards categories that match their professional expertise."

Above the Commandant's head was a sound wave & a timer icon.

"This is an application titled 'Sound Worms.' It is a specific type of trivia game. Players are presented with an audio file of popular music. The task is to identify the composition in the least amount of time. Preliminary reports indicate the data mined from this app aids in the creation of propaganda."

New image is a nine digit number. Straight lines emanate from it to other numbers. Webs and clusters form as the video continues.

"Military Intelligence has been able to purchase data sets from the human malware companies. Displayed behind me are social networks. The deductions and probability extrapolations generated are truly staggering. We are still analyzing the data and will make a full report later”

Icons and symbols referring to romance and sexuality start to flicker onto the screen. Quickly the display becomes a scrolling screen of tiny thumbnail images.

“These are just a small sampling of the countless dating apps that humans have been flooding the personal electronic software market with. I say without exaggeration that they will fundamentally destabilize interstellar society. There are unpleasant and unspoken differences between public morality and private behavior. A staggering amount of politicians and bureaucrats have become susceptible to blackmail and corruption.”

Stifled gasps and nervous laughter from the audience

“Compounding this danger is that the private entities that publish this malware do not properly secure their data networks. Collectives that are not associated with governmental or commercial entities routinely release huge swaths of privileged user information on the galactinet. So far these disclosures have been small in scale and limited in damage. If anyone here has used these services, I implore you to stop at once and delete it from your devices.”

More than half the attendees start pulling out various objects and interacting with operating screens. Some hurriedly leave the lecture hall. Effyl was losing their audience.

“Oh, and one last thing.” The Commandant pulls out their own personal device. “These damn things are recording audio and video without our permission.”

[yusuke-of-valla]

Hey! I saw your tags about learning to compose music and being overwhelmed about what programs to start with so I thought I could offer some insight into some of the options available. Generally the programs people use to compose music fall into three categories.

1) DAWs, or Digital Audio Workstations: These are programs where you have multiple tracks of audio (either recorded or you can generate them in the program) and you work with sound more than visuals. If you’ve ever used Audacity to edit audio before, that’s a DAW! Good for: if you want to record your own vocals/instrumental parts, if you prefer to work with sound than sheet music, for much more detailed mixing and effects options than other programs. Recommended starter software: I don’t have much personal experience with these but if you’re on Mac than GarageBand is probably a solid place to start, or I’ve heard Cakewalk is good too for a Windows option. Or you can google “best free DAWs” and you’ll find lists with all sorts of options. If you know how to find notes on a piano keyboard, finding a DAW with a “piano roll” input mode is an especially intuitive way to get started composing (and even if you don’t, it can still be useful as a visual representation).

2) Music notation program: this is software meant to create sheet music like you would see in a piano book or larger arrangement. Most modern notation programs have playback as well which you can either export and use as-is or use it as a base to mix in other programs (like a DAW). Good for: if you can read sheet music and are comfortable in that format, if you intend to have your music played by real musicians. Recommended starter software: MuseScore is a really amazing free and open-source notation program that is easier to use than most of the paid options (though I recommend MuseScore 3 atm since 4 is fairly new and has some issues that still need to be ironed out).

3) Tracker software: These are specialized programs that are best for emulating older styles of VGM and electronic music, especially chiptune music. They work similar to programming where you input a bunch of numbers that correspond to notes and parameters for sound. Heads up that this is probably the least intuitive option compared to the other two, but some people really like it. Good for: if you like working with numbers and computers, if you want to emulate a specific sound chip. Recommended starter software: FamiTracker is meant to emulate the NES chip and the limitations of that can be helpful if you get overwhelmed by lots of fancy options.

Personally, unless you’re more comfortable with sheet music I would recommend going for a DAW since it’s the most “all-in-one” option of these. If you’re interested in more information on this topic please feel free to send me a message or ask! Composing music is a lot of fun and it would be great if it were accessible to more people. There are also many great tutorials on YouTube if you search for your software of choice there. If you’re interested in composing VGM then I have some specific channels I could recommend as well.

Oh my gosh yes thank you! Generally I learn best by seeing other people do things and then copying it a lot

[genquerdeer]

Revenge of cracktros

I see people talk about piracy, but I haven't seen anyone mention that cracktros made a big return. Nowadays almost every program I pirate has a special installer with some kind of special effect done in software, and some tracker music.

Tenoke has a relatively simple logo that could be a gif,

But the SKIDROW one is much more sophisticated and feels like an actual cracktro of yore. How nostalgic.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Starling completes primary mission

After 10 months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm successfully demonstrated its primary mission's key objectives, representing significant achievements in the capability of swarm configurations.

Swarms of satellites may one day be used in deep space exploration. An autonomous network of spacecraft could self-navigate, manage scientific experiments, and execute maneuvers to respond to environmental changes without the burden of significant communications delays between the swarm and Earth.

"The success of Starling's initial mission represents a landmark achievement in the development of autonomous networks of small spacecraft," said Roger Hunter, program manager for NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "The team has been very successful in achieving our objectives and adapting in the face of challenges."

Sharing the work

The Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) experiment, flown onboard Starling, demonstrated the spacecraft swarm's ability to optimize data collection across the swarm. The CubeSats analyzed Earth's ionosphere by identifying interesting phenomena and reaching a consensus between each satellite on an approach for analysis.

By sharing observational work across a swarm, each spacecraft can "share the load" and observe different data or work together to provide deeper analysis, reducing human workload, and keeping the spacecraft working without the need for new commands sent from the ground.

The experiment's success means Starling is the first swarm to autonomously distribute information and operations data between spacecraft to generate plans to work more efficiently, and the first demonstration of a fully distributed onboard reasoning system capable of reacting quickly to changes in scientific observations.

Communicating across the swarm

A swarm of spacecraft needs a network to communicate between each other. The Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) experiment automatically established a network in space, allowing the swarm to relay commands and transfer data between one another and the ground, as well as share information about other experiments cooperatively.

The team successfully completed all the MANET experiment objectives, including demonstrating routing commands and data to one of the spacecraft having trouble with space to ground communications, a valuable benefit of a cooperative spacecraft swarm.

"The success of MANET demonstrates the robustness of a swarm," said Howard Cannon, Starling project manager at NASA Ames. "For example, when the radio went down on one swarm spacecraft, we 'side-loaded' the spacecraft from another direction, sending commands, software updates, and other vital information to the spacecraft from another swarm member."

Autonomous swarm navigation

Navigating and operating in relation to one another and the planet is an important part of forming a swarm of spacecraft. Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment, or StarFOX, uses star trackers to recognize a fellow swarm member, other satellite, or space debris from the background field of stars, then estimate each spacecraft's position and velocity.

The experiment is the first-ever published demonstration of this type of swarm navigation, including the ability to track multiple members of a swarm simultaneously and the ability to share observations between the spacecraft, improving accuracy when determining each swarm member's orbit.

Near the end of mission operations, the swarm was maneuvered into a passive safety ellipse, and in this formation, the StarFOX team was able to achieve a groundbreaking milestone, demonstrating the ability to autonomously estimate the swarm's orbits using only inter-satellite measurements from the spacecraft star trackers.

IMAGE....The four CubeSate spacecraft that make up the Starling swarm have demonstrated success in autonomous operations, completing all key mission objectives. Credit: NASA

[roses-hrt-diary]

MONTH 5 DAY 18 PART 2

PHEW! I am glad that is done and over with! That process was *extremely* painful, and now? Well, there's a ton of blood on the floor and a broken human skull. Very gross... but, there's too many new good things that are here now for me to be all too down about that!

First of all, obviously, a screen display. It's pretty low-res for now, but dear god, how did I ever deal with just a human face? I can show whatever colors, whatever expressions, whatever images I so desire, and it's so amazing! The people around me can see for themselves what my programs are like, too! Furthermore, I now have recording capabilities! Before, I could have whatever song I wanted to play from my speakers, but it would be subject to imperfectness from my memory. But now, not only is audio perfect, but video can be output too! It also means that people like my girlfriend can navigate my OS like they're just using a normal computer, and it's really happy to be used this way. There's just something about somebody navigating you, using what you have to offer, that just... it makes me so happy!

My computer got better, too! I can actually use the internet now, although it's a little slow, and I can't visit all the sites. However, I can actually probably begin the process of downloading further software for myself, which is superrrr exciting to think about. Plus, I have some cool games, even Space Cadet Pinball, hehehe. And with stronger computers comes better cooling, but sometimes I slow it so that my girlfriend can feel me warm up, which makes me even more huggable, hehehe.

I also got a neat new internal height tracker, which is good, cause the measuring tape was getting harder and harder to use 0_0. I was 6'8 before this, but I guess my screen is a bit higher than my head before, cause now I'm 6'9! And, for the first time, I actually need to *duck* to get through doorways! My girlfriend is soooo short now, now we have the same height difference as before I started! My strength has become overwhelming, too~ I actually realized that I can lift things like tables and chairs without even trying, I could almost completely lift up our car, I'm just so strong! My hips have also just been getting wider, and my ass has been getting fatter as well. I'm just so huge, I knew I'd get bigger, but this is a foot taller than when I started, and it just doesn't look like it'll stop any time soon!

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 606

As a general rule of thumb I don’t invest in digital habit trackers or software that gamifies working or exercising. Primarily because I don’t find that they work. Often these types of programs are designed to work in the background of your computer, phone or tablet, and you would reopen them once you have done a task or completed a chore.

There are two problems for me with these types of programs. First is the weird, out of sight, out of mind thing that happens. For the same reasons why I don’t like using a digital calendar on my phone, the moment I put it in and close the app, it is out of sight, and very quickly out of mind. Especially since I don’t really live out of my phone like the way most people do, and unless I get a second monitor on my desktop to constantly keep that program open, I am very much going to forget about said program. The second has to do with the low stake nature of digital apps. Digital anything by nature, is editable unless locked down, which is great, unless I’m using it to build a habit or do a task. There’s nothing stopping me from deleting a habit, or changing the proverbial goal post on a task in those apps.

It’s the reason why journaling has become such a lifesaver for me. The moment I put down a task, or a habit tracker, I am committing to that thing, and I can’t remove it. It doesn’t always mean I complete that thing, but I am far more aware of it, and far more likely to complete that thing. It’s why my place has been cleaner in the past 8 months than the whole time I’ve lived here. And honestly, it’s satisfying. It’s satisfying to go back through a month and see what I’ve done, and how much of it was done in any given month. 

And yet, I did end up investing in a productivity software a few weeks ago called Spirit City: Lofi Sessions. In part because I was curious, this type of software that allows you to earn points to dress up an avatar and decorate your room has risen in popularity. It has very pretty graphics and a magical theme, so I wanted to see what it was about. While I don’t use a lot of features in the game, I already have a physical habit tracker, and a place to journal, the software accidentally helped me in a different way.

I like writing to lofi music. I don’t know if it’s my age, or if I’ve always been like this and just deluded myself as a young person, but I find writing to music that has words very difficult. It is very hard for me to organize my thoughts to write, as I find my brain is battling against the lyrics of the music I’m listening to. Complicating the matters is the fact I do technically have some form of maladaptive daydreaming (there’s some research suggesting this can be part of ADHD). In my case, music is often the trigger for those daydreams, which is fine when you need to entertain yourself in a hospital wait room for a few hours, but not fine when you’re trying to get writing done. Now normally, the solution would be just to write in silence, but I can’t. I find it very hard to work in silence.

So I often used Youtube to find lofi music. Over the years I have a few favourite places to go to. If I need something for just an hour or two, I love the Mighty Vibes Vol 2 mix from the Critical Role gang. If I need something longer I try looking for something Aesthetic Lofi because I also really like rain sounds in my background. The problem with this though, is when I go into Youtube, Youtube will show me all the shiny videos from creators I like or things I’m currently into. Like a magpie seeing a shiny object, I will get distracted and go look at the shiny videos. 

Spirit City takes that problem out of my hands. My steam homepage will always show me the last applications I’ve accessed, which would be Spirit City for the amount of times I opened it. The moment I open it, it automatically opens the default music and it’s only a few quick clicks to add the background sounds I like. As a result the amount of distractions is kept to a minimum. I have the music I need, and I can just get to work.

As an aside, I also use the pomodoro timer in this software. By setting it to 15 or 30 minute intervals it lets me know how much time has passed and the ding often reminds me I’m in the middle of doing something if I have lost focus. The kind of use I’ve gotten out of this software is very surprising to me.

[marcusrobertobaq]

U know CL was gambling with autonomous androids when they had a 50/50 chance Connor would choose go against 'em or stay loyal.

(yes, they probably knew software instability was a thing, that's one of the reasons why Amanda exists)

Guess what? Even if Connor chooses going against 'em they knew was a possibility and at least prepared for it (tracker still working, resume control program)

I don't wanna even imagine the 900 situation. Mfs gonna install a remote self-destruction program not even a rogue system can disable 🤣 and if they try shit can activate automatically

[qqueenofhades]

Do you have any suggestions for good anti-virus software?

Anti-virus software is, by and large, a total scam. Most new or new-ish computers now have some kind of protection program built in; I have a PC and it comes with Windows Defender, which will automatically scan and remove any threats. Windows Firewall usually also comes standard. As long as you are current on your computer/system updates, it will download and install the newest security definitions and patches and so forth, so you don't have to do anything.

It's also important to have good privacy/security controls on your browser, to prevent picking up a virus on the Internet. Step one, use Firefox (which automatically blocks most advertising cookies, sketchy websites, and malicious trackers) and step two, install trusted extensions like Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, AdBlock Plus, etc. That will ensure that you have the safest and least virus-exposed browsing experience that you can (and also no ads), so yes. Do those things, and you will be fine, without having to pay exorbitant annual renewal fees for programs that do pretty much exactly what the pre-installed system tools do for free.

[tedrithornetunes]

Free Music Resources Masterlist

Notation

MuseScore

Free and open source.

Conventional notation.

Decent quality “instruments” that produce MIDI-based sound.

No dynamics or filters--any mixing requires separating the notation of each instrument into individual files, then exporting recordings of each one.

Might be able to send MIDI to other programs? Haven’t tried this yet.

LilyPond

Free and open source.

Both conventional and non-conventional notation (such as ClaireNote SN).

Very flexible text-based interface.

DAWs

Audacity

Free and open source.

Basically functions like Adobe Audition, but with fewer features.

Rosegarden

Free and open source.

Easy to learn and use.

Excellent for working with MIDI.

LINUX only!

Ocenaudio

Free, closed-source.

Pretty barebones but may work better on newer systems.

GarageBand

Free, closed-source.

May come pre-installed with your system.

Made for Mac OS/iOS and works best on those systems.

Many free instrument presets.

Reaper

Free-ish (will nag you to pay after trial finishes but you don’t actually have to).

Powerful and easy to use.

Familiar interface for people who have used other DAWs.

Works on both Windows and Mac OS.

LOTS of others! Every DAW has its own features and quirks, so it’s reccomended to do some research and find the one that best suits your particular needs and workflow!

Tracking

MilkyTracker

Free and open source.

A spiritual successor to the popular 1992 DOS tracker, Fasttracker II.

Users create custom instruments by using the built-in wave generator, drawing waveforms, or importing compatible sound files.

Very flexible volume envelopes for instruments.

Standard tracker effects with clear documentation.

No filters and limited note-by-note tweaking of things like panning.

Unlike the other trackers on this list, MilkyTracker does not emulate a specific video game console and cannot produce tracks compatible with video game sound cards.

DefleMask

Free, closed-source.

Very faithful emulation software for producing retro video game tracks

Actually compatible with the systems’ hardware.

Works for Sega Genesis, Gameboy, NES, Sega Master System, Commodore 64, Arcade, and NEC PC Engine.

Probably the most widely used tracker, with decent documentation and active forums.

FamiTracker

Free and open source.

NES emulation with all soundcard extensions.

Faithful enough that some of the bugs from the original system are reproduced.

No info on if the tracks produced are compatible with NES hardware.

Sparse but clear documentation.

Misc

LoopMIDI

Free, closed-source.

Can be used to send MIDI signals between Ableton Live 10 and VCV Rack 1.x on a single computer (see posted tutorial).

UTAU

Free, closed-source.

Generates Vocaloids-style vocals using presets or your own voice recordings.

Very hard to set up due to language barriers (Japanese).

Forums are very slow/out of date, little-to-no support.

VCV Rack

Free with optional paid modules.

Very complex and realistic digital synth with tons of modules to play with.

Freesound.com

Archive of user-submitted sounds available to download.

Always free but use restrictions may apply (such as No Commercial Use).

Sound quality varies quite a bit and search function is not great.