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
XMPPxmpp:matthew@fennell.dev
Key4972B5D4ED2D76CA77D01C4C27AF92CD6708F483
Favourite AnimalBLÅHAJ

Karen Sandler »
@karen@floss.social

While unfortunate to have a cancellation, I'm excited to announce that we will have an "audience choice" session in the Legal & Policy Devroom at . You can either fill out the online form to suggest a topic, or just write it on a piece of paper and hand it to one of the Devroom organizers. We want to hear from you!

fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event

cc @kirschner, @bkuhn, @richardfontana, @tmarble, @lexelas

    Sam Whited »
    @sam@social.coop

    Where do I apply for one of these "paid agitator and insurrectionist" jobs I keep hearing so much about? I keep doing it for free so it would be nice to get a pay check.

    Daniel Gultsch »
    @daniel@gultsch.social

    The only relevant feature for any instant messaging app (or social app, for that matter) is: Are my friends using it? People will gladly overlook minor inconsistencies or missing features as long as they can communicate with their friends. We shouldn’t recommend as a stepping stone before Jabber/XMPP becomes "good enough," if goodness is defined by the number of people using it.

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      Christine Lemmer-Webber »
      @cwebber@social.coop

      help I've been programming in lisp for too long, I don't remember how to put commas after arguments anymore. I can't add a semicolon to the end of a line

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      Leah Rowe ist kein Roweboter »
      @libreleah@mas.to

      theguardian.com/world/live/202

      Rip up trade deals with the US. They're not worth the paper they're written on anymore.

      Repeal anti-circumvention laws; allow companies in every nation to reverse engineer US tech, and sell better, cheaper alternatives, even to Americans - this would create leverage over the USA.

      Cory Doctorow raised this idea at his 39c3 talk, recently. I agree. Those trade deals promise low/no tariffs and we let US tech walk all over us. Well now there is nothing to lose (never was).

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      Matthew Fennell »
      @matthew@fennell.dev

      The Greater #London #LinuxUserGroup is having a #meetup at Kings Cross Tandoori on 24 Jan at 19:00.

      If a casual chat about and over a curry sounds fun, please come join us! Just reply to me by the end of 21 January so I know numbers for the booking.

      Time: 24 Jan, 19:00

      Address:

      Kings Cross Tandoori
      341 Gray’s Inn Road
      WC1X 8PX

      Hope to see you there, and any questions feel free to ask.


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        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/

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            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.

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                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?

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                  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?

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                    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.

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                      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 😀

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                        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

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                          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

                            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?”

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                            Leah Rowe ist kein Roweboter »
                            @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.

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                            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!

                              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

                                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

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                                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

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                                Matthew Fennell »
                                @matthew@fennell.dev

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

                                  Ministry of Chaos »
                                  @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.

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                                    Jonas Schäfer »
                                    @jssfr@zombofant.net

                                    I love how the only way I noticed the outage of ~AWS~ Cloudflare is that people on Fedi are shitposting about it.

                                    Nothing I use depends on it, that's lovely.

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                                    Matthew Fennell »
                                    @matthew@fennell.dev

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

                                    Fruit:0
                                    Vegetable:8
                                    Both:1

                                    Closed

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                                    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

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                                        Tara 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

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                                        History

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