We've built our own text-to-speech system with an initial English language model we trained ourselves with fully open source data. It will be added to our App Store soon and then included in GrapheneOS as a default enabled TTS backend once some more improvements are made to it.
We're going to build our own speech-to-text implementation to go along with this too. We're starting with an English model for both but we can add other languages which have high quality training data available. English and Mandarin have by far the most training data available.
Existing implementations of text-to-speech and speech-to-text didn't meet our functionality or usability requirements. We want at least very high quality, low latency and robust implementations of both for English included in the OS. It will help make GrapheneOS more accessible.
@tchambers It's not really platform specific. It currently runs on the CPU but we plan to add TPU support for Tensor and NPU support for Snapdragon in the future. It's made for GrapheneOS and we're not interested in doing any significant work on use outside of GrapheneOS. It will be possible to install it from our App Store on other Android 16+ operating systems but it's not our focus. We're focused on making GrapheneOS better and haven't gotten much out of making stuff available elsewhere.
Our full time developer working on this already built their own Transcribro app for on-device speech-to-text available in the Accrescent app store. For GrapheneOS itself, we want actual open source implementations of these features rather than OpenAI's phony open source though.
This is great news! I'll be interested to find out how well your English speech-to-text model copes with non-rhotic accents. (Think of a posh British "received pronunciation" accent, or anyone from southeast England, or Australia or New Zealand.) Currently, if I want something like Dicio to understand me, I have to put on an American accent, which my wife says is "creepy".
Both parties, still not the same. Despite stupid troll accounts trying to tell you they are. Trump expands policy banning aid to groups abroad that discuss or provide abortions: npr.org/2026/01/23/nx-s1-56832β¦
Dear friends from outside the Twin Cities: Did you know that when the Feds detain you without cause at Whipple--protesters, observers, citizens, non-citizens, doesn't matter--they release you into the cold with no coat, no phone (they keep your phone--why???), no way to get home. You could freeze to death out there. But fortunately a group called Haven Watch is waiting, a bunch of volunteers who usher released detainees into their warm cars, give them coats, burner phones mprnews.org/episode/2026/01/26β¦
Yβall! Personal friend of Kristy PuppyKiller #Noem, a completely unqualified #infosec wannabe, who couldnβt pass pen testeing, or a polygraph saying he didnβt want to sell data; the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (#CISA), Madhu #Gottumukkala, uploaded sensitive information to a public version of #ChatGPT, because of course he fucking did.
The info leaked was marked βfor official use only.β That designation is used within #DHS to identify information of a sensitive nature that, if shared, could adversely impact a personβs privacy or welfare or impede how federal and other programs essential to the national interest operate.
Thereβs now a concern that the sensitive info could be used to answer prompts from any of ChatGPTβs 700 million users. Critics have questioned whether Gottumukkala knows what heβs doing.
Corporate mediaβs complicity in the normalization of state violence is often framed as incompetence or oversight. A generous and inaccurate framing.
Billionaire owned corporate media has learned under this administration that challenging power brings retaliation and compliance protects profits. When journalism accommodates power, it ceases to serve the public.
This is precisely why independent media has become a necessity. Letβs Address This.
It's not just the disinformation, but the censorship, that risks undermining our republic
There are moments when the most important question is notΒ what is happening, butΒ why so many people are never told that it is happening at all? We are livβ¦
Doug Fordβs frivolous yet mean-spirited attacks on people who cycle in Toronto is dangerous and divisive. But itβs certainly had its intended effect of distracting from his shady deals with property developers.
βAhead of Wednesday's hearing, Longfield said the case was about ensuring the government respected the rule of law. βThe Ford government is wasting time and public money on a bad-faith culture war, against the advice of its own experts, at a moment when Ontarians need leadership focused on real solutions for real challenges,β he said in a statement.β
Unfortunately, the number of Belgian MEPs on X has risen from 55% to 86%. Thanks for the information, Christopher. There are seven more Belgian MEPs on X:
- Johan Van Overtveldt - Gerolf Annemans - Assita Kanko - Olivier Chastel - Bruno Tobback - Kathleen Van Brempt - Elio Di Rupo
At least one more Austrian politician has left X at the EU level:
Copilot enterprise appeared (again) in Outlook even though I keep closing the Copilot sidebar every time
It helpfully suggested that I use it to βsave time by setting up a meetingβ. That IS something a personal assistant would doβ¦
Well, once you give it a time, date, title, and whether itβs IRL or Teams it will then tell you βI canβt directly create meetings in Outlookβ and tells you to set it up yourself using Outlook
Microsoft really pumped 30 billion dollars into something that tells me it can schedule a meeting and actually canβt
Truly, we are at the pinnacle of technology when a PDA running Windows Mobile 6.1 has more capability than whatever the hell this is
I can imagine use cases where you actually want picture this big, but these are corner cases. Yet I'd totally expect both sides to handle it somehow (resizing, linking to original, whatever).
Thinking the #python community needs a python package manager manager.. Some system that would streamline the installation and versioning the 5 different package managers needed for a typical code base...
Use Snowflake to give censorship the slip in places where Internet is blocked.
Snowflake allows you to connect to the Tor network in places where Tor is blocked by routing your connection through volunteer proxies located in uncensored countries.
Similar to VPNs, which help users bypass Internet censorship, Snowflake disguises your Internet activity as though youβre making a video or voice call, making you less detectable to Internet censors.
We knew this was coming, but now the clock is running. From Privacy International:
"Yesterday the Trump Administration announced a proposed change in policy for travellers to the U.S. It applies to the powers of data collection by the Customs and Border Police (CBP)."
"If the proposed changes are adopted after the 60-day consultation, then millions of travellers to the U.S. will be forced to use a U.S. government mobile phone app, submit their social media from the last five years and email addresses used in the last ten years, including of family members. Theyβre also proposing the collection of DNA."
PI linked to and summarized a Federal Register entry describing the proposed requirements:
-All visitors must submit βtheir social media from the last 5 yearsβ
-ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) applications will include βhigh value data fieldsβ, βwhen feasibleβ βtelephone numbers used in the last five yearsβ -βemail addresses used in the last ten yearsβ -βfamily number telephone numbers (sic) used in the last five yearsβ -biometrics β face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris -business telephone numbers used in the last five years -business email addresses used in the last ten years.
I feel for anyone in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries, which make up ~ 10M jobs and ~ 3 percent of the nation's GDP. From the U.S. International Trade Administration (trade.gov)
"Inbound international travel to the United States plays a vital role in the Nationβs economy and promotes cultural exchange and understanding. Travel and tourism is the largest single services export for the United States, accounting for 22 percent of the countryβs services exports and 7 percent of all exports in 2023. The travel and tourism industry contributed $2.3 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2022 (2.97 percent of the countryβs GDP), supporting 9.5 million jobs."
Prior to February 2016 I typically visited the USA 3 times a year for up to six weeks.
Since February 2016 I have visited the USA twice in a decade, for a total of 10 days.
Entering the USA as a foreigner, with a Republican POTUS in the White House, *never* felt safe, but under Trump it looks diabolically dangerous. (And to a glance I resemble "one of them": I'm not female or dark-skinned.)
@cstross Honestly even returning from international travel as a US citizen doesnβt feel safe if you donβt check the right boxes in your personal profile. If I absolutely had to enter the US right now Iβd pre-clear in somewhere like Dublin, but the whole thing feels like a crapshoot.
@cstross Living here is not a walk in the park at this point...
I'd never ask anybody to travel here now. I'm glad I'm no longer in the events-organizing part of tech -- I couldn't host anything anywhere in the U.S. if it required people to come from outside.
Not our largest problem right now, but it's a fairly nasty symptom.
The US have been fingerprinting for over twenty years. Each time I complained about it, Canadians and Americans looked at me like "what are you talking about". And no reciprocity either because Europe is a bunch of cowards.
and coupled with immigration law having provisions that classify any kind of omission on an immigration, visa, or entry form as potential immigration fraud and grounds to disqualify the individual from ANY future status = anybody that forgets one email address or social media account theyβve had years ago is suddenly easily turned into an βillegal immigrantβ and passed into the jurisdiction of ICE for deportation and potentially a permanent life ban from the US.
@mariyadelano being deported by ICE is the least worst option. Its the in country shootings, death camps or illegal rendition to el salvador that would not be ideal because you forgot to include your microsoft online account that was force made when you attempted to log into your laptop with a local account.
@AAKL If the German football federation decides to either boycott the WC entirely or boycott matches in the US the rest of Europe will do the same. Mexico and Canada can handle the extra matches and tourists. FIFA can adjust quickly to cut the US out. The US matches will have low ranked teams playing in near empty stadiums.
@BLTpizza That's right. The doofus who made this deal doesn't care about the implications: they are not his cross to bear. But what is the criteria that will be used? Who will be banned from entry? Who will be punished? Based on what? Gender? Immigration? Opinion? Are visitors seriously considering handing over their DNA and entire family, email, and social media history for a decade to the people who just murdered another civilian in cold blood?
@AAKL @BLTpizza If the US doesn't want us to visit anymore, we won't visit. TV is nice for watching football. If the US doesn't want to buy from us, we won't buy from them. Sorry, not sorry, Amazon. It's that simple.
So given you have to go through US immigration/customs even if just transiting through the US, this is also going to impact US Airlines, as who wants to turn over all that data even if just spending a few hours air side on the way to some where else?
It's almost as if all that hero-worshipping of North Korea in Trump's first term of office led him to decide to close the US border and only allow the US citizens he's deporting out and Nigel Farage in.
Whose going to remember all of that anyways? Seems like an excellent way to pick out people they want to harass and claim its because they lied. Presumably they already have this data thanks to big tech
@Lazarou @troy Makes sense, facts don't matter to these people. It's not about finding out facts about anything but to show everyone who is the hammer and who the nail ..
1. Other countries may, and I think probably, will impose similar requirements on US people trying to enter those counties. In other words, the US would approach becoming a closed kingdom, like N. Korea.
2. Just wait until someone remembers Little Bobby Tables (image below).
The US have been fingerprinting for over twenty years. Each time I complained about it, Canadians and Americans looked at me like "what are you talking about". And no reciprocity either because Europe is a bunch of cowards.
If I was going to submit feedback it would be to enthusiastically recommend that they go ahead. The more people that are deterred from visiting the US, the better. Itβll be hard on a lot of industries and individuals, but itβll hasten the collapse of the regime.
IMO the only sensible way to enter the US is, and has been for some months, either via parachute or landing boat. Think "Operation Overlord." @craignicol
no-one has ever gathered my PII for the purposes of giving it to an enemy government, so I'm just going to assume that anyone complying with this will be contravening the GDPR π
π« Microsoft CEO warns that we must 'do something useful' with AI or they'll lose 'social permission' to burn electricity on it
ο½’ "People need to say, 'Oh, I pick up this AI skill, and now I'm a better provider of some product or service in the real economy," said Nadella. ο½£
I posted about this yesterday, but my GMail had a popup about integrating their AI stuff so that it could "organize my promotions folder" by relevance.
Of all the things in this world it could offer me, they went with the least useful configuration possible.
People who know that "AI" doesn't refer to a specific technology should get together with people who know that "vegetable" and "crab" and "tree" don't mean anything specific in biology and have a party.
Not about that, but I'm sure they could find a theme.
Welcome to semantics club. The first rule of semantics club is: βsemantics clubβ specifically refers to a gathering of members of semantics club for the purposes of talking about semantics.
The second rule of semantics club is you have to find an issue with the definition of βsemantics club.β
arguing over the definition of "AI" is a lot like arguing over the definition of "capitalism"... the AI broz love to point out the legitimate uses for AI in science, and medicine for example - while the anti-AI movement is basically always referring to generative AI and how terrible it is... sort of taking past each other and that's often by design
I find myself always indulging a crtain fantasy in which I burn the Fun Half bumper (ideally all 3) including sound onto 16mm film and time travel back to the 1970s and sneak the film reel into the AV room of my childhood elementary school, perhaps borrowing the label from one of the educational films. In some versions of the daydream I edit out that one F-bomb.
Kind of thing that sometimes makes me wonder how far have the various amount of patches I've sent have went.
And reminds me that I've even sent two reports to guix, without even having used it (was binary blobs I detected on gentoo and that guix didn't remove/workaround either).
The media more and more being pure spokespeople for government... it sure is the official stance, but it's so thinly veiled you'd expect the media to not go with it
well, with the 1951 Agreement, there are already American military bases there and they can already deploy military as they wish. If US gone rogue no deployment of EU troops can prevent that.
Our chancellor has no strategy beyond his next lunch. Believe me, it is that bad.
All that was on his mind was to wipe out the shame of being sidelined by Angela Merkel an become chancellor. He has never spent a single CPU cycle on what to do once he got there.
It is obvious that cooperation with Trump just moves the goalpost for the next demand.
it would not surprise me that pressure from exactly German automakers has caused the withdrawal of German soldiers from the Greenland mission. Not at all βplanned to last only two daysβ, but caving in to Tβs pressure propagandaβ¦
yes, it's weird how many adults do not understand this. who think, okay well all he wants is my lunch money, this one last time, okay.
as someone in the US, I BEG people: please stand up to him. cut off the US if need be. Edit, to add: And it need be! sever ties, cut off trade and tourism, consider us a pariah state because we are. It pains me to say this actually, but it's true.
yes, it is very predictable that some folks would cling to the idea they can negotiate with bullies.
But it's sad to me. This isn't a moral judgement; it's just ineffective. Accommodating or pleading with bullies will leave you roughshod. It's just true. Sorry, I don't make the rules.
Well, last time I've heard the industry was pushing into a fast settlement... this morning I've heard in Deutschlandfunk that the companies are willing to take losses because they also don't believe in appeasement any more.
And also the previous settlement was not good for the German economy: Although then there were no tariffs, American companies hesitated to buy German machines because they were unsure if there would be tariffs when their order arrives.
100% agreed! Unfortunately they have the weakest chancellor since 1949, and he is a Felon 47 fan boy on top. This fan clan behavior is dangerous and influencing Europe in a very dangerous direction. I really trust in France and Poland to be the voices of reason and they have the intelligence and backbone to be - I hope, really hope they guide the other countries, pull them together, especially GER as they are the head of the economic power and thus very powerful.
He has the nickname TACO because he always chickens out. If he is confronted with serious consequences he will cave. That is how he must be treated every time. Anything less and you look weak to him and he will think he can get anything he wants from you.
Nothing but food, gas & underwear until Dec 31, 2026. Save the money you would have spent, a significant chunk in cash.
The only spending exception: if you *have* to buy something essential or celebrate an event, it must be at locally owned business.
If everyone participates: - those in power will understand the people's will - everyone can afford a prolonged general strike, if necessary, starting Jan 1, 2027
I just noticed how, despite the 94% negative rating, thereβs still this breathless βCurious what a YES AI internet looks like?β at the bottom. They obviously would prefer a different outcome.
Can I get a taste of the no AI internet? Thatβs what I am more curious about. #DuckDuckGo #FuckFuckNo
This one, itβs perfect. Engineer wanted. Zalman-Weiskopf drive just like your last two ships, a six week loop from here to Zeta Reticuli then on to Rho Persei and back home. Thatβs a fabulous opportunity; youβd have access to leave on all the planets in the Zeta Herculis group. The beaches of Phi Lupi are unforgettable!
Lemme see. Starship Roberta Flack, ten year old cargo lugger, complement of twenty, ship language is Spanish. Yeah this looksβwait, no. What else you got?
Whatβs wrong with that one?
Theyβre a dog crew. Once you ship out with a guinea pig gang youβre ruined for other pet preferences.
@becomingwisest cat people would have you believe thereβs no other kind of crew, but thatβs largely because cats have a bad habit of accidentally spacing dog lovers
Google announced personal intelligence for Gemini which connects to Gmail, Photos, YouTube and Search history to personalize answers to your questions.
The example query is βwhat size tires are on my car?β which it can figure out from pictures or documents about your car.
This is a new frontier in creating platform stickiness and vendor lock-in if it actually works as well as they claim.
sounds potentially useful - and horrifying! Because even if they do all the right things, all it takes is a stalker/agent of the state unlocking any of your devices and they can suddenly get any piece of information about you (or they hold a gun to your head and make you do it).
Positive Christianity said (among other things) that Aryans were the new chosen people of God, and that therefore, white people could do all the stuff Jews did in the Old Testament, including genocide.
It was a doctrine rather than a denomination. I assume this was so that both Protestants and Catholics could follow it.
When you find evidence of Nazis bad-mouthing Christianity, they are generally criticizing the majority of Christians who did not followβ¦
β¦Positive Christianity, which the Nazis considered to be the only true form of Christianity.
There is a whole industry of conservative Christians who twist various details like this and try to claim that atheism caused people to become Nazis, and if only the Germans were Christian instead of atheist, WW2 and the Holocaust would never have happened.
I hope people understand how vacuous these arguments are. You can read Hitler's speeches and books and see that he used Christianity toβ¦
I hope people will keep all of this in mind. I do not know how the current fascist regime in the USA will end, but if the past is anything to go on, it will be ugly, and we can expect conservative Christians to immediately pin blame on someone else.
Please do not let them.
Please keep reminding people of Christian Nationalism and the role it played in turning America into what it is now.
Conservative Christians wanted to lie about the roleβ¦
β¦Christianity played in Nazi Germany, just as they lie about the role of Christianity in American slavery or in the American Jim Crow era.
I get that peopleβs religion is tied to their sense of self-worth, and that they therefore would want to lie about the bad stuff their religion did in the past, but in this particular case, the lies will leave future generations vulnerable to similar manipulation by profoundly evil people.
@lerxst That sounds a lot like the sentiments of a significant portion of Americans, who say βIβm into religion, man, just not ORGANIZED religion.β
They have always been a part of the faith landscape, and they are about to become an outright majority.
Despite this, most people donβt think about them, talk about them, or even know what they think or feel.
I'm not even into my own religion. Most days, I don't think much about it. When I do, I can't imagine having the hubris that I would have any inkling what the creator of the Universe would want, or even the temerity to anthropomorphize the concept of "want" to it.
@lerxst Yeah, that is how most βnone of the aboveβ theists are. They do not follow any specific religion (because organized religion is bad), but they tend to have vague spiritual beliefs that they consider unique to themselves.
It is weird that we finally have a name for them (even if it is a bad name). I remember talking to such people as a child in the 70s, and reading people expressing similar sentiments in the 1800s.
Addendum: When Positive Christianity came to America, it became a denomination. Each time it got exposed by the media as having a history with the Nazis, they changed their name and splintered into multiple factions.
At this point, you cannot identify them by name, only by what they teach.
If you are an American Christian, PLEASE teach your teenagers about the ideology of Positive Christianity and why those beliefs are bad. Otherwise, you leave them vulnerable. PC is still around.
ICE terrorizing tribes that don't play along with the government's detention center plans has echoes of a lot of fucked up history, but one thing that pops into my mind is Sutter's reign of terror around Northern California, burning down villages of tribes that won't go working in his fort.
We love to see it--community-created harm reduction infrastructure in the face of the alarming integration of AI agents into the Windows operating system (which is currently the most reckless deployment environment) β€
Agentic AI is the catch-all term for AI-enabled systems that propose to complete more or less complex tasks on their own, without stopping to ask permission ...
With agentic AI embedded at the OS level, databases storing entire digital lives accessible to malware, tasks whose reliability quickly breaks down at each step, and being opted-in without consent, Signal leadership is sounding the alarm for the induβ¦
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