It might seem obvious that software created using tax money should +be available for everyone to use and improve. Free Software +Foundation Europe recentlystarted a campaign to help get more people +to understand this, and I just signed the petition on +Public Money, Public Code to help +them. I hope you too will do the same.
+A few days ago, I wondered if there are any privacy respecting +health monitors and/or fitness trackers available for sale these days. +I would like to buy one, but do not want to share my personal data +with strangers, nor be forced to have a mobile phone to get data out +of the unit. I've received some ideas, and would like to share them +with you. + +One interesting data point was a pointer to a Free Software app for +Android named +Gadgetbridge. +It provide cloudless collection and storing of data from a variety of +trackers. Its +list +of supported devices is a good indicator for units where the +protocol is fairly open, as it is obviously being handled by Free +Software. Other units are reportedly encrypting the collected +information with their own public key, making sure only the vendor +cloud service is able to extract data from the unit. The people +contacting me about Gadgetbirde said they were using +Amazfit +Bip and +Xiaomi +Band 3.
+ +I also got a suggestion to look at some of the units from Garmin. +I was told their GPS watches can be connected via USB and show up as a +USB storage device with +Garmin +FIT files containing the collected measurements. While +proprietary, FIT files apparently can be read at least by +GPSBabel and the +GpxPod Nextcloud +app. It is unclear to me if they can read step count and heart rate +data. The person I talked to was using a +Garmin Forerunner +935, which is a fairly expensive unit. I doubt it is worth it for +a unit where the vendor clearly is trying its best to move from open +to closed systems. I still remember when Garmin dropped NMEA support +in its GPSes.
+ +A final idea was to build ones own unit, perhaps by basing it on a +wearable hardware platforms like +the Flora Geo +Watch. Sound like fun, but I had more money than time to spend on +the topic, so I suspect it will have to wait for another time.
+ +While I was working on tracking down links, I came across an +inspiring TED talk by Dave Debronkart about +being a +e-patient, and discovered the web site +Participatory +Medicine. If you too want to track your own health and fitness +without having information about your private life floating around on +computers owned by others, I recommend checking it out.
+ +As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
+Dear lazyweb,
+ +I wonder, is there a fitness tracker / health monitor available for +sale today that respect the users privacy? With this I mean a +watch/bracelet capable of measuring pulse rate and other +fitness/health related values (and by all means, also the correct time +and location if possible), which is only provided for +me to extract/read from the unit with computer without a radio beacon +and Internet connection. In other words, it do not depend on a cell +phone app, and do make the measurements available via other peoples +computer (aka "the cloud"). The collected data should be available +using only free software. I'm not interested in depending on some +non-free software that will leave me high and dry some time in the +future. I've been unable to find any such unit. I would like to buy +it. The ones I have seen for sale here in Norway are proud to report +that they share my health data with strangers (aka "cloud enabled"). +Is there an alternative? I'm not interested in giving money to people +requiring me to accept "privacy terms" to allow myself to measure my +own health.
+ +As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
+For a while now, I have looked for a sensible way to share images +with my family using a self hosted solution, as it is unacceptable to +place images from my personal life under the control of strangers +working for data hoarders like Google or Dropbox. The last few days I +have drafted an approach that might work out, and I would like to +share it with you. I would like to publish images on a server under +my control, and point some Internet connected display units using some +free and open standard to the images I published. As my primary +language is not limited to ASCII, I need to store metadata using +UTF-8. Many years ago, I hoped to find a digital photo frame capable +of reading a RSS feed with image references (aka using the +<enclosure> RSS tag), but was unable to find a current supplier +of such frames. In the end I gave up that approach.
+ +Some months ago, I discovered that +XScreensaver is able to +read images from a RSS feed, and used it to set up a screen saver on +my home info screen, showing images from the Daily images feed from +NASA. This proved to work well. More recently I discovered that +Kodi (both using +OpenELEC and +LibreELEC) provide the +Feedreader +screen saver capable of reading a RSS feed with images and news. For +fun, I used it this summer to test Kodi on my parents TV by hooking up +a Raspberry PI unit with LibreELEC, and wanted to provide them with a +screen saver showing selected pictures from my selection.
+ +Armed with motivation and a test photo frame, I set out to generate +a RSS feed for the Kodi instance. I adjusted my Freedombox instance, created +/var/www/html/privatepictures/, wrote a small Perl script to extract +title and description metadata from the photo files and generate the +RSS file. I ended up using Perl instead of python, as the +libimage-exiftool-perl Debian package seemed to handle the EXIF/XMP +tags I ended up using, while python3-exif did not. The relevant EXIF +tags only support ASCII, so I had to find better alternatives. XMP +seem to have the support I need.
+ +I am a bit unsure which EXIF/XMP tags to use, as I would like to +use tags that can be easily added/updated using normal free software +photo managing software. I ended up using the tags set using this +exiftool command, as these tags can also be set using digiKam:
+ ++ ++exiftool -headline='The RSS image title' \ + -description='The RSS image description.' \ + -subject+=for-family photo.jpeg +
I initially tried the "-title" and "keyword" tags, but they were +invisible in digiKam, so I changed to "-headline" and "-subject". I +use the keyword/subject 'for-family' to flag that the photo should be +shared with my family. Images with this keyword set are located and +copied into my Freedombox for the RSS generating script to find.
+ +Are there better ways to do this? Get in touch if you have better +suggestions.
+ +As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
+Last night, I wrote +a +recipe to stream a Linux desktop using VLC to a instance of Kodi. +During the day I received valuable feedback, and thanks to the +suggestions I have been able to rewrite the recipe into a much simpler +approach requiring no setup at all. It is a single script that take +care of it all.
+ +This new script uses GStreamer instead of VLC to capture the +desktop and stream it to Kodi. This fixed the video quality issue I +saw initially. It further removes the need to add a m3u file on the +Kodi machine, as it instead connects to +the JSON-RPC API in +Kodi and simply ask Kodi to play from the stream created using +GStreamer. Streaming the desktop to Kodi now become trivial. Copy +the script below, run it with the DNS name or IP address of the kodi +server to stream to as the only argument, and watch your screen show +up on the Kodi screen. Note, it depend on multicast on the local +network, so if you need to stream outside the local network, the +script must be modified. Also note, I have no idea if audio work, as +I only care about the picture part.
+ +
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Stream the Linux desktop view to Kodi. See
+# http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Streaming_the_Linux_desktop_to_Kodi_using_VLC_and_RTSP.html
+# for backgorund information.
+
+# Make sure the stream is stopped in Kodi and the gstreamer process is
+# killed if something go wrong (for example if curl is unable to find the
+# kodi server). Do the same when interrupting this script.
+kodicmd() {
+ host="$1"
+ cmd="$2"
+ params="$3"
+ curl --silent --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+ --data-binary "{ \"id\": 1, \"jsonrpc\": \"2.0\", \"method\": \"$cmd\", \"params\": $params }" \
+ "http://$host/jsonrpc"
+}
+cleanup() {
+ if [ -n "$kodihost" ] ; then
+ # Stop the playing when we end
+ playerid=$(kodicmd "$kodihost" Player.GetActivePlayers "{}" |
+ jq .result[].playerid)
+ kodicmd "$kodihost" Player.Stop "{ \"playerid\" : $playerid }" > /dev/null
+ fi
+ if [ "$gstpid" ] && kill -0 "$gstpid" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+ kill "$gstpid"
+ fi
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT INT
+
+if [ -n "$1" ]; then
+ kodihost=$1
+ shift
+else
+ kodihost=kodi.local
+fi
+
+mcast=239.255.0.1
+mcastport=1234
+mcastttl=1
+
+pasrc=$(pactl list | grep -A2 'Source #' | grep 'Name: .*\.monitor$' | \
+ cut -d" " -f2|head -1)
+gst-launch-1.0 ximagesrc use-damage=0 ! video/x-raw,framerate=30/1 ! \
+ videoconvert ! queue2 ! \
+ x264enc bitrate=8000 speed-preset=superfast tune=zerolatency qp-min=30 \
+ key-int-max=15 bframes=2 ! video/x-h264,profile=high ! queue2 ! \
+ mpegtsmux alignment=7 name=mux ! rndbuffersize max=1316 min=1316 ! \
+ udpsink host=$mcast port=$mcastport ttl-mc=$mcastttl auto-multicast=1 sync=0 \
+ pulsesrc device=$pasrc ! audioconvert ! queue2 ! avenc_aac ! queue2 ! mux. \
+ > /dev/null 2>&1 &
+gstpid=$!
+
+# Give stream a second to get going
+sleep 1
+
+# Ask kodi to start streaming using its JSON-RPC API
+kodicmd "$kodihost" Player.Open \
+ "{\"item\": { \"file\": \"udp://@$mcast:$mcastport\" } }" > /dev/null
+
+# wait for gst to end
+wait "$gstpid"
+I hope you find the approach useful. I know I do.
+ +As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
+A while back, I was asked by a friend how to stream the desktop to +
PS: See
+
A while back, I was asked by a friend how to stream the desktop to my projector connected to Kodi. I sadly had to admit that I had no idea, as it was a task I never had tried. Since then, I have been looking for a way to do so, preferable without much extra software to @@ -71,7 +386,7 @@ echo rtsp://192.168.11.4:8080/test.sdp \
Note the 192.168.11.4 IP address is my desktops IP address. As far as I can tell the IP must be hardcoded for this to work. In other words, if someone elses machine is going to do the steaming, you have -to update screenstream.m4u on the Kodi machine and adjust the vlc +to update screenstream.m3u on the Kodi machine and adjust the vlc recipe. To get started, locate the file in Kodi and select the m3u file while the VLC stream is running. The desktop then show up in my big screen. :)
@@ -81,6 +396,79 @@ the audio quality is really bad. No idea if the problem is package loss or bad parameters for the transcode. I do not know VLC nor Kodi enough to tell. +Update 2018-07-12: Johannes Schauer send me a few +succestions and reminded me about an important step. The "screen:" +input source is only available once the vlc-plugin-access-extra +package is installed on Debian. Without it, you will see this error +message: "VLC is unable to open the MRL 'screen://'. Check the log +for details." He further found that it is possible to drop some parts +of the VLC command line to reduce the amount of hardcoded information. +It is also useful to consider using cvlc to avoid having the VLC +window in the desktop view. In sum, this give us this command line on +the source end + +
+cvlc screen:// --sout \
+ '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:rtp{sdp=rtsp://:8080/}'
+and this on the Kodi end
+ +
+ ++echo rtsp://192.168.11.4:8080/ \ + > /storage/videos/screenstream.m3u +
Still bad image quality, though. But I did discover that streaming +a DVD using dvdsimple:///dev/dvd as the source had excellent video and +audio quality, so I guess the issue is in the input or transcoding +parts, not the rtsp part. I've tried to change the vb and ab +parameters to use more bandwidth, but it did not make a +difference.
+ +I further received a suggestion from Einar Haraldseid to try using +gstreamer instead of VLC, and this proved to work great! He also +provided me with the trick to get Kodi to use a multicast stream as +its source. By using this monstrous oneliner, I can stream my desktop +with good video quality in reasonable framerate to the 239.255.0.1 +multicast address on port 1234: + +
+ ++gst-launch-1.0 ximagesrc use-damage=0 ! video/x-raw,framerate=30/1 ! \ + videoconvert ! queue2 ! \ + x264enc bitrate=8000 speed-preset=superfast tune=zerolatency qp-min=30 \ + key-int-max=15 bframes=2 ! video/x-h264,profile=high ! queue2 ! \ + mpegtsmux alignment=7 name=mux ! rndbuffersize max=1316 min=1316 ! \ + udpsink host=239.255.0.1 port=1234 ttl-mc=1 auto-multicast=1 sync=0 \ + pulsesrc device=$(pactl list | grep -A2 'Source #' | \ + grep 'Name: .*\.monitor$' | cut -d" " -f2|head -1) ! \ + audioconvert ! queue2 ! avenc_aac ! queue2 ! mux. +
and this on the Kodi end
+ +
+ ++echo udp://@239.255.0.1:1234 \ + > /storage/videos/screenstream.m3u +
Note the trick to pick a valid pulseaudio source. It might not +pick the one you need. This approach will of course lead to trouble +if more than one source uses the same multicast port and address. +Note the ttl-mc=1 setting, which limit the multicast packages to the +local network. If the value is increased, your screen will be +broadcasted further, one network "hop" for each increase (read up on +multicast to learn more. :)!
+ +Having cracked how to get Kodi to receive multicast streams, I +could use this VLC command to stream to the same multicast address. +The image quality is way better than the rtsp approach, but gstreamer +seem to be doing a better job.
+ +
+cvlc screen:// --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:rtp{mux=ts,dst=239.255.0.1,port=1234,sdp=sap}'
+As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address 15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
@@ -401,246 +789,6 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my addressI VHS-kassettenes -tid var det rett frem å ta vare på et TV-program en ønsket å kunne se -senere, uten å være avhengig av at programmet ble sendt på nytt. -Kanskje ønsket en å se programmet på hytten der det ikke var -TV-signal, eller av andre grunner ha det tilgjengelig for fremtidig -fornøyelse. Dette er blitt vanskeligere med introduksjon av -digital-TV og webstreaming, der opptak til harddisk er utenfor de -flestes kontroll hvis de bruker ufri programvare og bokser kontrollert -av andre. Men for NRK her i Norge, finnes det heldigvis flere fri -programvare-alternativer, som jeg har -skrevet -om -før. -Så lenge kilden for nedlastingen er lovlig lagt ut på nett (hvilket -jeg antar NRK gjør), så er slik lagring til privat bruk også lovlig i -Norge.
- -Sist jeg så på saken, i 2016, nevnte jeg at -youtube-dl ikke kunne -bake undertekster fra NRK inn i videofilene, og at jeg derfor -foretrakk andre alternativer. Nylig oppdaget jeg at dette har endret -seg. Fordelen med youtube-dl er at den er tilgjengelig direkte fra -Linux-distribusjoner som Debian -og Ubuntu, slik at en slipper å -finne ut selv hvordan en skal få dem til å virke.
- -For å laste ned et NRK-innslag med undertekster, og få den norske -underteksten pakket inn i videofilen, så kan følgende kommando -brukes:
- --youtube-dl --write-sub --sub-format ttml \ - --convert-subtitles srt --embed-subs \ - https://tv.nrk.no/serie/ramm-ferdig-gaa/MUHU11000316/27-04-2018 -- -
URL-eksemplet er dagens toppsak på tv.nrk.no. Resultatet er en -MP4-fil med filmen og undertekster som kan spilles av med VLC. Merk -at VLC ikke viser frem undertekster før du aktiverer dem. For å gjøre -det, høyreklikk med musa i fremviservinduet, velg menyvalget for -undertekst og så norsk språk. Jeg testet også '--write-auto-sub', -men det kommandolinjeargumentet ser ikke ut til å fungere, så jeg -endte opp med settet med argumentlisten over, som jeg fant i en -feilrapport i youtube-dl-prosjektets samling over feilrapporter.
- -Denne støtten i youtube-dl gjør det svært enkelt å lagre -NRK-innslag, det være seg nyheter, filmer, serier eller dokumentater, -for å ha dem tilgjengelig for fremtidig referanse og bruk, uavhengig -av hvor lenge innslagene ligger tilgjengelig hos NRK. Så får det ikke -hjelpe at NRKs jurister mener at det er -vesensforskjellig -å legge tilgjengelig for nedlasting og for streaming, når det rent -teknisk er samme sak.
- -Programmet youtube-dl støtter også en rekke andre nettsteder, se -prosjektoversikten for -en -komplett liste.
-VG, -Dagbladet -og -NRK -melder i dag at flertallet i Familie- og kulturkomiteen på Stortinget -har bestemt seg for å introdusere en ny sensurinfrastruktur i Norge. -Fra før har Norge en «frivillig» sensurinfrastruktur basert på -DNS-navn, der de største ISP-ene basert på en liste med DNS-navn -forgifter DNS-svar og omdirigerer til et annet IP-nummer enn det som -ligger i DNS. Nå kommer altså IP-basert omdirigering i tillegg. Når -infrastrukturen er på plass, er sensur av IP-adresser redusert et -spørsmål om hvilke IP-nummer som skal blokkeres. Listen over -IP-adresser vil naturligvis endre seg etter hvert som myndighetene -endrer seg. Det er ingen betryggende tanke.
-Brevpost er beskyttet av straffelovens bestemmelse som gjør det -kriminelt å åpne andres brev. Dette følger av (ny) straffelovs -§ 205 -(Krenkelse av retten til privat kommunikasjon), som sier at «Med -bot eller fengsel inntil 2 år straffes den som uberettiget ... c) -åpner brev eller annen lukket skriftlig meddelelse som er adressert -til en annen, eller på annen måte skaffer seg uberettiget tilgang til -innholdet.» Dette gjelder såvel postbud som alle andre som har -befatning med brevet etter at avsender har befatning med et lukket -brev. Tilsvarende står også tidligere utgaver av den norske -straffeloven.
- -Når en registrerer seg på usikre digitale postkasseløsningene, som -f.eks. Digipost og e-Boks, og slik tar disse i bruk, så gir en de som -står bak løsningene tillatelse til å åpne sine brev. Dette er -nødvendig for at innholdet i digital post skal kunne vises frem til -mottaker via tjenestens websider. Dermed gjelder ikke straffelovens -paragraf om forbud mot å åpne brev, da tilgangen ikke lenger er -uberettiget. En gir altså fremmede tilgang til å lese sin -korrespondanse. I tillegg vil bruk av slike usikre digitale -postbokser føre til at det blir registrert når du leser brevene, hvor -du befinner deg (vha. tilkoblingens IP-adresse), hvilket utstyr du -bruker og en rekke annen personlig informasjon som ikke er -tilgjengelig når papirpost brukes. Jeg foretrekker at det er -lovmessig beskyttelse av min korrespondanse, som jo inneholder privat -og personlig informasjon. Det bidrar til litt bedre vern av personlig -integritet i dagens norske samfunn.
-The leaders of the worlds have started to congratulate the -re-elected Russian head of state, and this causes some criticism. I -am though a little fascinated by a comment from USA senator John McCain, -sited -by The Hill and others: - -
-- -"An American president does not lead the Free World by -congratulating dictators on winning sham elections."
-
While I totally agree with the senator here, the way the quote is -phrased make me suspect that he is unaware of the simple fact that USA -have not lead the Free World since at least before its government -kidnapped a -completely innocent Canadian citizen in transit on his way home to -Canada via John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 and -sent him to be tortured in Syria for a year.
- -USA might be running ahead, but the path they are taking is not the -one taken by any Free World.
-So, Cambridge Analytica is getting some well deserved criticism for -(mis)using information it got from Facebook about 50 million people, -mostly in the USA. What I find a bit surprising, is how little -criticism Facebook is getting for handing the information over to -Cambridge Analytica and others in the first place. And what about the -people handing their private and personal information to Facebook? -And last, but not least, what about the government offices who are -handing information about the visitors of their web pages to Facebook? -No-one who looked at the terms of use of Facebook should be surprised -that information about peoples interests, political views, personal -lifes and whereabouts would be sold by Facebook.
- -What I find to be the real scandal is the fact that Facebook is -selling your personal information, not that one of the buyers used it -in a way Facebook did not approve when exposed. It is well known that -Facebook is selling out their users privacy, but a scandal -nevertheless. Of course the information provided to them by Facebook -would be misused by one of the parties given access to personal -information about the millions of Facebook users. Collected -information will be misused sooner or later. The only way to avoid -such misuse, is to not collect the information in the first place. If -you do not want Facebook to hand out information about yourself for -the use and misuse of its customers, do not give Facebook the -information.
- -Personally, I would recommend to completely remove your Facebook -account, and take back some control of your personal information. -According -to The Guardian, it is a bit hard to find out how to request -account removal (and not just 'disabling'). You need to -visit -a specific Facebook page and click on 'let us know' on that page -to get to the -real account deletion screen. Perhaps something to consider? I -would not trust the information to really be deleted (who knows, -perhaps NSA, GCHQ and FRA already got a copy), but it might reduce the -exposure a bit.
- -If you want to learn more about the capabilities of Cambridge -Analytica, I recommend to see the video recording of the one hour talk -Paul-Olivier Dehaye gave to NUUG last april about - -Data collection, psychometric profiling and their impact on -politics.
- -And if you want to communicate with your friends and loved ones, -use some end-to-end encrypted method like -Signal or -Ring, and stop sharing your private -messages with strangers like Facebook and Google.
-