Notices by switching.social (switchingsocial@mastodon.at), page 2

If you're currently using #GoogleAnalytics, you are helping Google spy on your own site's visitors.

To protect your visitors' privacy, try switching to an independent free open source alternative like #Matomo:

https://matomo.org

The self-hosted version is FLOSS and (of course) free of charge, while the managed hosting version is a paid account.

It's GDPR compliant and by default respects "Do Not Track".

You can also follow the developers on here:

@Matomo

#AlternativesAtoZ #Analytics

Instagram has really messed up with their latest update, so it might be a good moment to promote the privacy-friendly chronological-timeline ad-free goodness of #PixelFed:

https://switching.social/ethical-alternatives-to-instagram/

If you know someone who is p'd off with Instagram right now, let them know there are #alternatives ?

#Instagram #DeleteInstagram #InstagramUpdate

As we've had a nice surprise Xmas present with @pixelfed starting to federate today, here's a new section on switching.social which explains what PixelFed is in non-technical terms:

https://switching.social/ethical-alternatives-to-instagram/

If you know someone who is thinking about dumping Instagram and looking for alternatives, try sending them this link ?

#DeleteInstagram

#CryptPad is an open source privacy-friendly alternative to Google Docs:

https://cryptpad.fr/

You can also follow them on here:

@cryptpad

CryptPad lets you edit documents online and work on them collaboratively.

It uses a "zero knowledge" principle where no one else (not even the service provider) can see your documents unless you give them an access key.

Accounts are free up to a certain storage limit, with paid accounts for additional storage.

#AlternativesAtoZ #DeleteGoogle

#Blender is a free open source software suite that lets you do 3D computer animations, 2D animation and video editing.

You can follow them here:

@Blender

...and you can follow their official PeerTube account here:

@blender

Their main website is here:

https://www.blender.org/

Blender has been used to make many films including recent Netflix sci-fi feature "Next Gen", but my particular favourite is their fantasy short "Sintel":

https://kino.social/sintel-2010/

#AlternativesAtoZ #Animation #CGI

#Anfora is an open source online photo album, an ethical alternative to Instagram.

It's currently under development, you can follow the latest updates at:

@anfora

If you're a developer, you can help out at:

https://github.com/anforaProject/anfora/

Anfora will use the ActivityPub standard to form a decentralised network of independent sites.

As AP is the same standard used by Mastodon, Pixelfed, Pleroma etc you will be able to follow Anfora accounts from these sites too.

#AlternativesAtoZ #DeleteInstagram

Surprise surprise ?

"Google has been accused of breaking promises to patients, after the company announced it would be moving a healthcare-focused subsidiary, DeepMind Health, into the main arm of the organisation."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/14/google-betrays-patient-trust-deepmind-healthcare-move (via @jcbrand )

Reminder that patients did not even give consent to this data going to Google in the first place:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/16/googles_deepmind_and_royal_free_hospital_deal_inexcusable/

Google has no problem breaking privacy promises. They cannot be trusted.

#DeleteGoogle #BreakUpGoogle #Privacy

These are all open source Fediverse projects that need help with localisation:

Friendica
https://www.transifex.com/Friendica/friendica/

FunkWhale
https://docs.funkwhale.audio/translators.html

Mastodon
https://weblate.joinmastodon.org/projects/mastodon/

PeerTube
https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/blob/develop/support/doc/translation.md

Halcyon (Twitter-like client for Mastodon/Pleroma)
https://translate.zanata.org/project/view/halcyon

Mastalab (Mastodon app)
https://crowdin.com/project/mastalab

Trunk (opt-in people to follow on Fediverse)
https://octodon.social/@kensanata/100986318207250337

Reply if there are others!

Well well well... it's #FollowFriday :blobsurprised:

? @Ubports UBports: Developing the Ubuntu Touch mobile OS

?️ @BaptisteGelez Plume: Open source federated blogging platform

? @GetTogetherComm GetTogether: Open source federated alternative to MeetUp.com

? @thelinuxgamer The Linux Gamer: Linux gaming on YT & Twitch

? @grumpygamer Ron Gilbert: Creator of Monkey Island

Previous #FF posts:
https://mastodon.at/@switchingsocial/100803066158522725

#FFed #Alternatives

Friendica, the federated open source alternative to Facebook, has just released its 2018.09 update:

https://friendi.ca/2018/09/23/friendica-2018-09-released/

The 2018.12 update (due by the end of the year) will apparently include #ActivityPub support :blobcheer: :blobaww: :blobgrin:

You can try Friendica out right now on instances such as https://squeet.me, https://libranet.de, https://nerdica.net and others:
https://dir.friendica.social/servers

You can also follow the Friendica blog at @news

#DeleteFacebook

So, as you may have read, the European Parliament voted today as follows:

#Article13 (upload filters)
Passed: 366 for, 297 against

#Article 11 (link tax)
Passed: 393 for, 279 against

(They also banned people taking unofficial video or photos of sports events ⚽ ? ? )

So, close but not enough ?

However, this was not the final vote. There will be more negotiations and a final vote in spring of 2019.

I would advise following Julia Reda, one of the good MEPs:

https://juliareda.eu/2018/09/ep-endorses-upload-filters/

If you have an #Android smartphone, you might want to try installing the @fdroidorg app store.

F-Droid is an alternative app store that only carries apps that respect your privacy.

To install it, go here on your Android phone:

https://f-droid.org

Click on Download F-Droid to start. (You may need to allow installation of unknown apps, either when prompted or in settings.)

For a more in-depth look at #alternatives on F-Droid, see @ChrisWere's video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c2GTbXYknI

#DeleteGoogle

There's a #stats site that gives a rough idea of how many people use the #Fediverse / #Federation at:

https://the-federation.info/

IMPORTANT NOTE: The site is opt-in, so it only includes figures from servers that have chosen to be part of the stats. Actual user numbers are probably larger.

If you run an instance/node/pod and want to be included in the stats, enter your site's location in the following address:
https://the-federation.info/register/<yournode.tld>

Hello new #Mastodon folks! ?

Have you heard of the #Fediverse? ?️

It's a set of community projects that use the #ActivityPub standard to talk to each other.

Mastodon is the most well developed, but there are many works in progress too:

Instagram -> PixelFed ?
@pixelfed
https://pixelfed.social

YouTube -> PeerTube ?️
https://joinpeertube.org/

SoundCloud -> Funkwhale ?
@funkwhale https://join.funkwhale.audio/

MeetUp -> GetTogether ?
@GetTogetherComm
https://gettogether.community

...and many others.

Great to see so many new people trying #Mastodon :blobcheer:

Most common barrier for them seems to be the interface, but this could perhaps be made much easer with a single tweak of the Mastodon UI: allow a double-width home column, either optionally or as default.

Twitter has several columns like Mastodon, but the main feed is wider so it's always clear which column is which. There's a sense of focus that Masto lacks.

Has this been proposed? If not, can someone propose it?

@Gargron

There's an amazing number of #ActivityPub #alternatives now available or under development:

Twitter -> @Mastodon and #Pleroma

Instagram -> @pixelfed and @anfora

YouTube -> #PeerTube ( @Chocobozzz )

Soundcloud -> @funkwhale

MeetUp -> @GetTogetherComm

Medium -> #Plume ( @BaptisteGelez )

Reddit -> @prismo and Anancus ( @tuxether )

LinkedIn -> @cloutstream

Google Calendar -> @calendar_social

Anything missing from the list? What else is needed?

#Federation #Fediverse

You can avoid #YouTube's weird algorithms and broken subscription system by subscribing to channels through RSS instead. You don't need an account, just a feed reader.

Put the channel's username in this address:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?user=USERNAME

You can then add this RSS address to your feed reader app.

For example, OnePotChefShow's RSS feed is:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?user=OnePotChefShow

You can also make RSS feeds from channel IDs (strings of letters and numbers):

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNELID

#RSS #BringBackRSS

Thank you to @rysiek for pointing out that you can follow #Blender's new PeerTube instance on Mastodon at @blender

(It works because both #PeerTube and #Mastodon use the #ActivityPub standard)