EPA Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/climate/epa-energy-star-eliminated.html

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43911252

Skype, one of the pioneers in internet telephony, has officially ended its support on May 5, 2025. While it was not perfect, Skype held a special place for many as their first experience with online calling. As we bid farewell to Skype, it's important to look ahead at the alternatives that can fill the void. Here are some free and open-source options that can replace Skype seamlessly:

Jitsi

Switch to Jitsi, the free and open-source video conferencing tool. Here's why Jitsi is a great choice:

- Cross-Platform: Jitsi works on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, making it accessible to everyone.

- Easy Sharing: Share your screen, files, and even collaborate on documents in real-time.

- Rich Media Support: Jitsi supports high-quality video and audio, ensuring a smooth and engaging experience.

Get started with Jitsi, visit https://jitsi.org/

Matrix (Element)

Matrix is an open standard for decentralized communication, and Element is its flagship client. It supports text messagin ...

...g, voice and video calls, and file sharing. Matrix's decentralized nature allows users to host their own servers, providing greater control over their data.

- Interoperability: Matrix can bridge with other communication platforms, making it versatile.

- End-to-End Encryption: Ensure your communications are secure with built-in encryption.

- Cross-Platform: Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Learn more about Matrix and Element at https://element.io/

Session

Session is a decentralized messaging app that emphasizes privacy and security. It uses the Oxen network for secure communication and does not require a phone number or email address for registration.

- Privacy-Focused: No phone number or email required, ensuring anonymity.

- Cross-Platform: Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

- Decentralized: No central servers, reducing the risk of data breaches.

Explore Session at https://getsession.org/

Signal

Signal is known for its strong focus on privacy and security, offering end-to-end encryption for all communications, including voice calls, video calls, and messaging.

- End-to-End Encryption: All communications are secure and private.

- Cross-Platform: Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Download Signal at https://signal.org/

Mumble

Mumble is primarily designed for voice communication, offering low-latency, high-quality voice chat. It's often used by gamers and communities that require clear and reliable voice communication.

- Low-Latency: Ensures smooth and clear voice communication.

- Cross-Platform: Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Get started with Mumble at https://www.mumble.info/

Don't Get Stuck with MS Teams!

#SkypeAlternatives #OpenSource #Privacy #CommunicationTools #Jitsi #Matrix #Element #Session #Signal #Mumble #MSTeams #Microsoft #Skype #Jitsi #Teams #OpenSource

#VideoConferencing #Privacy #Security #Collaboration #RemoteWork

#TechNews #TechTransition #DigitalTransformation

🌐 Aggiornamento FedIDB: da .org a .com!

Il punto di riferimento per il Fediverso si rinnova: https://fedidb.com.

A me il vecchio .org piaceva di più mi pareva più chiaro: https://fedidb.org (nostalgia dei vecchi tempi?).

@fediverso

#fedidb #fediverso

@osuosl@fosstodon.org has been around for 22 years. They kindly host our gitlab for 6 months now, and provide important services for more than 150 other free and open source software communities such as @alpinelinux@fosstodon.org, @chimera@gts.chimera-linux.org , @debian@framapiaf.org, @fdroidorg@floss.social, @gentoo@fosstodon.org, @gnome@floss.social, @LineageOS@fosstodon.org, #ReplicantOS, @torproject@mastodon.social. Now their future is in jeopardy 😢

We usually don't ask this, but please boost for reach, this is important infrastructure for so many FLOSS projects!

https://osuosl.org/blog/osl-future/

#osuosl

Major Linux & Open Source Sponsor Needs Your Help #Linux #YouTube https://youtu.be/gVzOa1j4OaE

#EU to ban anonymous #crypto accounts and #privacy coins by 2027

https://cointelegraph.com/news/eu-crypto-ban-anonymous-privacy-tokens-2027

#Monero #anonymity #ZCash

Italian Linux Society ha partecipato alla consultazione #AGCOM 2025, per la libera scelta anche per le connessioni in fibra ottica!

#RouterFreedom

Massima diffusione! 🙏

https://www.ils.org/2025/5/consultazione-agcom-modem-fibra-libero/

@Techaltar@mas.to A dream would be for Fairphone achieving the list of requisites set by GrapheneOS, I think @kuketzblog@social.tchncs.de mentioned what it would take: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/grapheneos-der-goldstandard-unter-den-android-roms-custom-roms-teil7/

Discord just announced they're going public and picked up the Activision Blizzard guy who pushed microtransactions on everything. In about a year, it will probably be unusable and all of the niggas who used it to host documentation, FAQs, and forum answers are in for a rude awakening finally.

Skype.com - July 2004

https://web.archive.org/web/20040727010441/http://skype.com/

Hey Fediverse friends 👋

We're happy to help make the web a little more connected and open.

With our ActivityPub plugin you can connect your Discourse community to Mastodon and the wider Fediverse

Check out all the details in our latest blog post:

https://blog.discourse.org/2025/04/discourse-and-the-fediverse/

How Do I Comment On PeerTube



https://video.fedihost.co/w/9i4GY4p1EGWqi1oaJLvNqC

One of the most common requests related to the Fediverse is an alternative to Facebook Groups.

There are now two major forum platforms which are Fediverse compatible:

➡️ NodeBB, follow them at nodebb@fosstodon.org and find out more at https://nodebb.org

➡️ Discourse, follow them at Discourse@mastodon.social and find out more at https://discourse.org

You can interact with both of them from Mastodon etc. They're not exactly like FB Groups, but are definitely worth trying to see if they fit your needs.

#Fediverse

Open letter against ProtectEU

New name, same problems: The EU now calls Chat Control "ProtectEU", but it comes with the same backdoor issues as before.

https://tuta.com/blog/open-letter-against-protecteu

#ChatControl #ProtectEU #encryption

So big surprise, I actually uploaded a couple videos on cyber security! In the first one I use hyprland as an example of bad practice code and why a security audit would catch things not being merged by upstream

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3NCiHybX23Q

But then the maintainer of the project talked to me over discord where we went over the different problems and he confirmed my suspicions about the security culture problem over at hyprland

(Sorry for mono audio I had to reinstall obs)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UN_LvtWCeCA

1 month later: Spam is still an issue on matrix.org.

I am one tap away from opening CSAM and gore in public. I can't even disable picture embeds on element@mastodon.matrix.org for Android. Worse, it's a rather large notification, making it too easy to accidentally tap!

matrix@mastodon.matrix.org said they were planning some mod tools, but there doesn't seem to be any temporary fix at the moment.

Refund4Freedom https://pavia.ils.org/news/refund4freedom/

If you're using #Element X on #Android, make sure you're up to date. The #vulnerability was patched in version 25.04.2.

#FOSS #FreeSoftware #LibreSoftware #OpenSource #Security #Privacy #Matrix

@usdAG@infosec.exchange
https://infosec.exchange/@usdAG/114478194638016465

https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-want-to-love-linux-it-doesnt-love-me-back-post-1-built-for-control-but-not-for-people/

»Linux “just works”—if you can see.

If you’re blind?

You boot into a live image and get nothing.

No speech. No braille. No login prompt feedback. Maybe Orca starts, maybe not.

Maybe you know the shortcut (Alt+Super+S?) but does that even work in this session type?

Is it Wayland? Is it X11? Is the screen reader bound to a key combo that doesn’t exist on your keyboard?

You open the installer?

“Next. Button. Button. Button. Button.” That’s all Orca says.

Ubuntu MATE 12.04 had a working, labeled, navigable installer.

Ubuntu MATE 24.04? It’s garbage.

No headings. No structure. No sense of where you are. Just unlabeled buttons and blank space.

This isn’t a bug.

This is neglect.«

Thanks for writing this article, @fireborn@dragonscave.space

#Accessibility #a11y

🚨BREAKING: #Fortnite is coming to US App Store any day now!

US judge said #Apple “outright lied” to steal from app developers & increase prices for users - all to uphold its greedy #monopoly.

But the days for FEES on web transactions are finally gone.

Fortnite was submitted to the US App Store yesterday - so it now lies with Apple to publish it quickly: https://x.com/TutaPrivacy/status/1921269111373652385

Read the whole story: 👉 https://tuta.com/blog/apple-us-antitrust-ruling