Matthew Fennell

@matthew@fennell.dev

"What I mean is, if it's a democracy, shouldn't people sort of discuss things a bit?"


Homepagehttps://fennell.dev
Key4972B5D4ED2D76CA77D01C4C27AF92CD6708F483
Favourite AnimalBLÅHAJ
10 ★ 3 ↺

Matthew Fennell »
@matthew@fennell.dev

I love that lets me choose the headset speaker as an output device on my . That came in handy today so I could discretely listen to podcasts while walking home. And a genuine feature missing from - I used to have to turn my phone upside down when I forgot my headphones!

    postmarketOS »
    @postmarketOS@social.treehouse.systems

    New blog post is out, with a look at our finances in 2025. Most importantly:

    Thanks to your donations, we can now start the Contributor Support Programme to make developing postmarketOS more sustainable. :blobcatheart:

    postmarketos.org/blog/2025/12/

      1 ★ 0 ↺
      in reply to »

      Matthew Fennell »
      @matthew@fennell.dev

      For me, £200 a year.

        Guido Günther »
        @agx@ruhr.social

        One of the things that makes look a bit unfinished is the fact that we don't show a representation of launching apps in the overview (while they show a splash screen).

        We have a merge request for that now and it will hopefully land for 0.52 (or 0.53). This also fixes not being able to interact with apps while one is launching. Together with some pending activation fixes that should make things look more polished and will allow us to fix some other long standing bugs.

        A screenshot from phosh's overview. The running apps carousel shows the authenticator app to the right and the launch splash of the "App Icon Preview" app in the center.

        Alt...A screenshot from phosh's overview. The running apps carousel shows the authenticator app to the right and the launch splash of the "App Icon Preview" app in the center.

          ...
          Older...
          0 ★ 0 ↺
          in reply to »

          Matthew Fennell »
          @matthew@fennell.dev

          @sam@social.coop ah sorry I didn't explain myself very well, I'm based in the UK, I'm thinking should I order it now and then take it with me to Brussels to hand it over to someone who can take it to the US?

            ...

            Sam Whited »
            @sam@social.coop

            Finally bought a copy of "Live At Pluckemin!" by Harlem...One More Time the other day, only to have the Discogs seller cancel the order the next morning because he can't find the album :(

            This can't be *that* hard to find?!

            ...
            0 ★ 0 ↺

            Matthew Fennell »
            @matthew@fennell.dev

            I don't know anything about vinyl, but I see one discogs listing from the original link you posted a while ago. Hopefully it's not the same one who cancelled your order!

            Shall I get it for you? I'm going to FOSDEM and can hand it over to someone you know there?

              ...

              Karen Sandler »
              @karen@floss.social

              Really enjoyed @z3ntu 's presentation today here in Japan. I agree with much of the assessment of the problems facing software freedom on the mobile space. I'm excited for to move beyond being ready just for an average hacker and towards the average user.

                James Baker »
                @JamesBaker@social.openrightsgroup.org

                Facial scanning in our town centres, removal of jury for many trials, digital ID to track our interactions. The Labour Government really is attacking civil liberties and rights on many fronts.

                ...

                Matija Šuklje »
                @hook@toot.si

                🚄 All aboard the to !! 🚃

                Going to ? Thinking of going by ?

                Would you like to meet other hackers along the way?

                Join us on the hackertrain.org !

                We are currently planning the route(s) for this trip, so it is the best time to join in – regardless of:
                - where you would like to start your train journey
                - whether you’d like to help or just tag along

                hackertrain.org/hackertrain-to

                plz boost

                  1 ★ 0 ↺
                  in reply to »

                  Matthew Fennell »
                  @matthew@fennell.dev

                  @tek@freeradical.zone on the we also stand on the right and walk on the left. Although, since we drive on the left I always thought it would make sense to stand on the left and walk on the right. The inconsistency really bugs me 😀

                    ...

                    Open Rights Group »
                    @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org

                    Say No to Digital ID 🚫

                    Nearly 3 million people signed the petition against Digital ID. Next Monday, MPs will debate this 4th largest petition in British history.

                    Tell your MP (UK) to attend the debate and stop digital surveillance.

                    Use our tool ⬇️

                    action.openrightsgroup.org/tel

                      ...
                      Older...

                      Open Rights Group »
                      @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org

                      Expanding facial recognition without proper safeguards in place puts our rights on the back foot.

                      We should be able to walk down the street without being ID’d at every step.

                      The UK Parliament must wake up and halt the march of this tech with its questionable accuracy.

                      bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3r7pw

                      ukpol

                        Hugo 雨果 »
                        @whynothugo@fosstodon.org

                        We have updated our Account Privacy Policy. Pray I don't alter it any further.

                        Bradley M. Kühn »
                        @bkuhn@fedi.copyleft.org

                        Upgrade to a new laptop only once every 10-15 years, you get 3x-7x in HD space increase.

                        2 times ago, it was 2005 when I got this massive increase in laptop disk. Then, the song “My Humps” by Black Eyed Peas was in heavy rotation, & so, when I copy over my old files to my new laptop and I see how much disk space is *left* after copying over the data from the drive that keeps running out of disk space, I imagine these modified lyrics:
                        “Whatcha gonna do? … with all that space inside your trunk?”

                        ...

                        Leah Rowe ( #39c3 ☎️FORK☎️ ) »
                        @libreleah@mas.to

                        Remember how people go on about how the UK is slowly becoming a fascist country?

                        theguardian.com/politics/2025/

                        Yes, goodbye Jury Nullification.

                        I was a juror. The person who was on trial would probably end up in prison if not for the jury system. I was about 75% sure that the defendent was technically guilty of the crime, but I pushed for notguilty and that person is free today. Because the law as it was applied was, I believe, unjust in that specific case.

                        Anyway, fuck the Labour Party. Good day.

                        ...

                        Karen Sandler »
                        @karen@floss.social

                        Another year to make a joke! For your future cyborg self, invest in freedom!

                        sfconservancy.org/sustainer/

                        Also check out the hot deals on ! Dozens of software projects available at deep discount prices. Act now!

                          Joe Wells »
                          @joewells@mastodon.social

                          Let's kick off with some fun!

                          openttd.org/

                          is an open-source game based on Transport Tycoon Deluxe. It's been around for 20 years and still continues to deliver new patches and features!

                          Build your dream rail system, or air travel system, or even boat system. Perfect for people, like me, who live in places where functional public transit and infrastructure are actively undermined by both the government and corporations!

                          Thanks for the idea, @neil !

                            Open Rights Group »
                            @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org

                            At a whopping £1.8 billion, Digital ID is costly to the UK taxpayer and our rights.

                            This divisive scheme wasn't on Labour’s manifesto. It’s the last thing this government should be embarking on during a cost of living crisis.

                            The whole thing needs to be binned.

                            theregister.com/2025/11/28/dig

                              Tim Chase »
                              @gumnos@mastodon.bsd.cafe

                              Kicking off (thanks, @neil), I'll open with remind(1)

                              While it took several articles and a couple attempts before I switched over to using it, once you taste the power of what it can do, it's hard to go back to less-capable calendaring tools.

                              While the classic "garbage day is on Thursday unless there was a holiday earlier in the week, in which case it moves back to Friday" scenario is a nice little demo of its power, one of the best examples from my daily use is the kids' school calendars:

                              • the teen has an A/B schedule which doesn't mesh nicely with calendar days, week-days, etc

                              • similarly, our elementary-age kiddo has a 4-day cycle schedule for her "specials" class

                              But remind's nonomitted() function makes quick work of both of those, taking into consideration weekends, the school holidays, and using PUSH/POP directives for high-school testing days that impact his A/B schedule but not her 4-day cycle. I've never encountered another calendar that handled all the edge-cases with so little effort.

                              It's a little rocky interchanging with other calendars (you have to use rem2ics to create .ics files to share, and pulling in others' iCal is non-trivial and doesn't seem to maintain the fidelity of remote events).

                              But otherwise, this runs a great deal of my life schedule.

                                The Shark with the OV Chip »
                                @OV@blahaj.social

                                “Excuse me is this the backpack to Roosjesdaal?”
                                “Yes via Brussel-Midi”

                                Rosahaj in backpack asking OV a question

                                Alt...Rosahaj in backpack asking OV a question

                                ...

                                Software Freedom Conservancy »
                                @conservancy@social.sfconservancy.org

                                Today Software Freedom Conservancy is launching our biggest fundraiser match challenge yet! With a whopping $211,927 from our generous matchers, every dollar you donate until January 15th 2026 will be doubled! This has been a huge year for us and we're so thankful to all the individuals who help sustain our organization.

                                You can become a sustainer and read more about what we've been up to here:

                                https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/#YearInReview

                                1 ★ 0 ↺
                                in reply to »

                                Matthew Fennell »
                                @matthew@fennell.dev

                                @debacle@framapiaf.org I didn't expect a / crossover when I opened fedi today😀

                                  Ministry of Chaos @ 39c3 »
                                  @MinistryOfChaos@chaos.social

                                  We're a small group of UK-focused hackers, from far and wide across the country, looking to bring some of the CCC spirit back home with us!

                                  We're hoping to grow a grassroots community, fostering spaces and meetups aimed at keeping the chaos spirit flowing 1st Jan to 26th Dec.

                                  We'll be looking to meet and connect with other UK-focused hacking communities and like-minded groups.

                                  We're looking forward to seeing you at and online!

                                  Stay tuned for more info on how to find us.

                                    ...
                                    🗳 0 ★ 0 ↺

                                    Matthew Fennell »
                                    @matthew@fennell.dev

                                    In what section should you find "tomato" in a supermarket checkout?

                                    Fruit:0
                                    Vegetable:8
                                    Both:1

                                    Closed

                                    ...
                                    Older...
                                    0 ★ 0 ↺
                                    in reply to »

                                    Matthew Fennell »
                                    @matthew@fennell.dev

                                    Unsolicited advice [SENSITIVE CONTENT]This may or may not help, but there's a public bridge at aria-net.org which lets you join Matrix rooms and 1:1 chats, without a Matrix account or server, from XMPP.

                                    Like all bridges, I'm never 100% confident it's working properly on the other end! But, it's worked quite well for me so far.

                                      The Tattooed Nonna 👑 »
                                      @Tattooed_Mummy@beige.party

                                      Parliament is going to debate the petition you signed – “Repeal the Online Safety Act”.

                                      petition.parliament.uk/petitio

                                      The debate is scheduled for 15 December 2025.

                                      Open Rights Group »
                                      @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org

                                      Can a toddler be a terrorist?

                                      A shocking new report has found that babies and toddlers have been referred to the UK's controversial counter-terrorism scheme Prevent hundreds of times since 2016.

                                      ORG has shown that data collected under the Prevent programme is widely shared and retained for years even when referrals are marked ‘no further action’. Lives are being impacted from an absurdly young age.

                                      Read more from Hyphen:

                                      hyphenonline.com/2025/11/12/ba

                                        ...
                                        in reply to »

                                        tarakiyee »
                                        @tarakiyee@mastodon.online

                                        Other changes:

                                        "Completely open source" → "based on open standards"
                                        Specific deadlines → open consultation period
                                        Technical specs (OpenAPI) → general principles
                                        Fixed roadmap → iterative development

                                        ...
                                        in reply to »

                                        Hugo 雨果 »
                                        @whynothugo@fosstodon.org

                                        @sebastian Don’t threaten me with a good time. I *wish* package registries didn’t exist. Centralised package registries of this kind are an absolute terrible idea.

                                          in reply to »

                                          Bradley M. Kühn »
                                          @bkuhn@fedi.copyleft.org

                                          @jannem

                                          “What if everybody did it?” is the cornerstone of Kantian ethical morality: “Take every action, as if, by acting it's willed into universal law”.

                                          … which is a fancy way of saying “Do onto others as you would have do unto you”.

                                          So, I'm totally ok with a “what if everyone did it?” analysis.

                                          & I'm not sure there is even a utilitarian comeback here.

                                          Cc: @AnnieBuddy @evan

                                            Bradley M. Kühn »
                                            @bkuhn@fedi.copyleft.org

                                            Websites often pressure users to change browsers needlessly.

                                            I run Firefox ESR 128.14.0.
                                            firefox.com/en-US/firefox/128. says it's nary 3 months old. Yet my bank says:
                                            > “Your browser is no longer supported. For…improved security, update to…latest version.”

                                            Reading bank's FAQ it's b/c they only support last 2 releases (ignoring ESRs).

                                            Web designers once aspired to “graceful degradation” — but that principle slowly declined in fashion since ≈ 2011.
                                            Today, those who aspired to it now shun it.

                                              ...

                                              Open Rights Group »
                                              @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org

                                              ⏰ NEXT WEEK ⏰

                                              We're going beyond the screen and hosting a meet up IRL. Whether you're a supporter or just curious, everyone is welcome to pop down.

                                              Hear from our team, mingle and join the movement!

                                              🗓️ Monday 10 November
                                              🕡 6:30-9pm GMT
                                              📍 Newspeak House, London, UK

                                              Sign up ➡️ openrightsgroup.org/events/org

                                                History

                                                Back to top - More...