The XMPP Standards Foundation: The XMPP Newsletter October 2025

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Welcome to the XMPP Newsletter, great to have you here again!
This issue covers the month of October 2025.

The XMPP Newsletter is brought to you by the XSF Communication Team.

Just like any other product or project by the XSF, the Newsletter is the result of voluntary work … ⌘ Read more

@zvava@twtxt.net happy belated birthday! Also, I would love to see that website. I went to the one listed on your profile, and saw the old one, not this one. I like the current, and also the pink look of the one of the screenshot!

@thecanine@twtxt.net I like Apple’s Liquid Glass. While I see there are many hatters, I haven’t had an issue with it on iOS, macOS, watchOS, nor tvOS. Have them all working fairly flawlessly.

@prologic@twtxt.net I requested an invitation. There are many like this, so it will be interesting to see how it develops. I also hope you are not hosting this on your infrastructure, at least not once you decide to monetise. I know self hosting is fun and all, but it also introduces variables that directly collide with a business model.

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org … sounds like a bad day. 😅

Voting behavior in elections strongly linked to future risk of death
Voting behavior in elections is strongly linked to the future risk of death, and is likely a stronger determinant of health than education—considered a key influence on health—suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. ⌘ Read more

Design trends I think will take off in 2026
but tierlist

S - move from flat design to more detailed, 3D, more complex logos.

A - glass, not just liquid, Windows Vista, 7, 11,… accessibility concerns, but I like to see it.

B-/C+ - black and white icons, favicons. I did it before it was cool, but it’s getting overused.

E - gradientslop, barely started, already all blends together.

Why CNCF TAGs are the core of cloud native innovation (and where to find them at KubeCon Atlanta)
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2025 is just around the corner in Atlanta. While you’re mapping out your schedule for co-located events like Observability Day and Platform Engineering Day, don’t forget to connect with the groups… ⌘ Read more

reagami: A minimal zero-deps Reagent-like for Squint and CLJS
Comments ⌘ Read more

Sculpt OS 25.10 released
In the light of this year’s roadmap focus on “rigidity, clarity, performance”, Sculpt OS 25.10 looks the same as the version 25.04 but might feel different as it includes countless under-the-hood improvements of the two preceding framework releases 25.05 and 25.08. User interaction on performance-starved platforms like the PinePhone has become visibly smoother thanks our recent CPU scheduling advances. The streamlined block-storage stack combined with various refinements of the pac … ⌘ Read more

@prologic@twtxt.net @aelaraji@aelaraji.com I’m glad you like ‘em. :-)

SpaceX’s Starlink and other satellites face growing threat from sun
There are now over 10,000 satellites in orbit, more than at any point in history, and this growing number is starting to reveal how solar storms could disrupt internet mega constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink ⌘ Read more

I think the cats from my street like me ⌘ Read more

** Autumnal week notes **
Someone I grew up with happened to go to the same college as me, and now we happen to live in the same relatively small city. We’ve been totally casual but pretty consistent mainstays of each others’ lives for going on 20 years at this point. She’s also one of the few people that I run into who knows that I can’t actually see well enough to reliably tell people apart from any further away than like 4 or 5 feet, and I always feel really appreciative whenever she waves that she also always says“hi” and who … ⌘ Read more

A friend told me my cat looks like a toasted marshmallow - is this true ⌘ Read more

Repair Video
⌘ Read more

Debian to add hard Rust dependency to APT
It seems like a number of Debian ports are going to face difficult times over the coming months. Debian developer Julian Andres Klode has sent a message to the Debian mailing lists that APT will very soon start requiring Rust. I plan to introduce hard Rust dependencies and Rust code into APT, no earlier than May 2026. This extends at first to the Rust compiler and standard library, and the Sequoia ecosystem. In particular, our code to parse .deb, . … ⌘ Read more

@kiwu@twtxt.net hey, not random! How dare you! (with Greta accent, and emphasis). LOL. Old man here doing, well, like old man do. Wait until you are old, and that will give you a better idea. :-P

Why does he sit like that😭 ⌘ Read more

Deals: AirPods Pro 2 for $170, $100 Off Apple Watch Ultra 3, & More
AirPods Pro 2 are fantastic earbuds and offer advanced features like hearing aid functionality for mild to moderate hearing loss, active noise cancellation, high fidelity sound, water and sweat resistance, Spatial Audio, custom fit, transparency mode, ear detection, a USB-C charging case, and more. AirPods Pro 2 – $170 (down from $249) Apple Watch Ultra … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/11/01/de … ⌘ Read more

This was a bit of a challenge. Wanted to see if I can make a small version, combining the best/most interesting parts, of the previous ones. Like the black lines separating each colour, an interesting pose, more anatomically correct legs… something of a best of the 2025, profile picture.

Endangered across west Africa, leopards thrive in I.Coast reserve
Like other big cats, the leopard is endangered across West Africa. Yet in Ivory Coast’s Comoe National Park, the famously spotted feline appears to be doing rather well—surprisingly, given the reserve’s conflict-riven recent history, according to researcher Robin Horion. ⌘ Read more

feels like i just held her 3 weeks ago, but she’s almost a year old now 🥺 ⌘ Read more

Heart Mountain
⌘ Read more

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Yeah, give it a shot. At worst you know that you have to continue your quest. :-)

Fun fact, during a semester break I was actually a little bored, so I just started reading the Qt documentation. I didn’t plan on using Qt for anything, though. I only looked at the docs because they were on my bucket list for some reason. Qt was probably recommended to me and coming from KDE myself, that was motivation enough to look at the docs just for fun.

The more I read, the more hooked I got. The documentation was extremely well written, something I’ve never seen before. The structure was very well thought out and I got the impression that I understood what the people thought when they actually designed Qt.

A few days in I decided to actually give it a real try. Having never done anything in C++ before, I quickly realized that this endeavor won’t succeed. I simply couldn’t get it going. But I found the Qt bindings for Python, so that was a new boost. And quickly after, I discovered that there were even KDE bindings for Python in my package manager, so I immediately switched to them as that integrated into my KDE desktop even nicer.

I used the Python KDE bindings for one larger project, a planning software for a summer camp that we used several years. It’s main feature was to see who is available to do an activity. In the past, that was done on a large sheet of paper, but people got assigned two activities at the same time or weren’t assigned at all. So, by showing people in yellow (free), green (one activity assigned) and red (overbooked), this sped up and improved the planning process.

Another core feature was to generate personalized time tables (just like back in school) and a dedicated view for the morning meeting on site.

It was extended over the years with all sorts of stuff. E.g. I then implemented a warning if all the custodians of an activitiy with kids were underage to satisfy new the guidelines that there should be somebody of age.

Just before the pandemic I started to even add support for personalized live views on phones or tablets during the planning process (with web sockets, though). This way, people could see their own schedule or independently check at which day an activity takes place etc. For these side quests, they don’t have to check the large matrix on the projector. But the project died there.

Here’s a screenshot from one of the main views: https://lyse.isobeef.org/tmp/k3man.png

This Python+Qt rewrite replaced and improved the Java+Swing predecessor.

I just really like this pic of my cat and want to show her off ⌘ Read more

Sorry, but interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS really is a comet, not aliens
Interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS are exciting, but there is no reason to claim that they are evidence of alien spacecraft – sometimes a comet is just comet, says Robin George Andrews ⌘ Read more

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org Hmmmmmmmmmmmm … guess I should take a look at Qt. 🤔 That’s the one popular toolkit that I’ve never really tried for some reason. I really don’t like C++ (might as well use Rust), so I’ll also use Python.

Fevela.me – A newsreader-like client for the Nostr social network
I created Fevela, a fork of the great Jumble, because I wanted a Nostr social client that would give me back full control of my attention and time. So I designed an interface similar to that of old good newsreaders, which for me is perfect to encourage exploration of interesting content rather than doomscrolling. I then added some ad hoc filters that can help reduce noise and improve the signal.

Unlike traditional social media that’s designed to maximize your time on t … ⌘ Read more

Electrochemical system converts plant compound into two valuable products at once
A research team has created a new kind of electrochemical “two-in-one” system that turns plant-based molecules into two useful products at once. Using a finely tuned single-atom ruthenium catalyst, the process combines two chemical reactions, oxidation and hydrogenation, inside a single electrolytic cell, much like cooking two dishes in the same pot without mixing up the flavors. Details of the research were p … ⌘ Read more

Rob Jetten, leader of the progressive-centrist D66 party and likely next Dutch PM, says Europe must ‘defeat Putin’ ⌘ Read more

@bender@twtxt.net Kaboom! Hahaha, I did not think of that at all, thanks for pointing it out, mate! :‘-D

But let me clarify just in case: I honestly do not want to bash this project. In fact, it’s a great little invention. It’s just that I’m not conviced by the current user interface decisions. Anyway, web design isn’t right up my alley. I just wanted to add some fun. And luckily, at least someone liked it so far. :-)

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org

The one for Delphi was quite good.

It was! I didn’t use Delphi for long, though. Dunno why, I always gravitated towards Visual Basic back then. 😅

These days I don’t deal with GUI programming anymore.

I also avoid it when possible, because … it’s exhausting, because … the tools that I have/know are “subpar”. Doing anything regarding GUIs always feels like a chore. That wasn’t the case in the VB days.

Well, I made this in ~2009 with Java/Swing and it was pretty nice to work with, custom widgets and all:

https://movq.de/v/de26d5edb3/s.png

I wouldn’t dare doing this with GTK.

Theming on Qt6 is a bit unusual (you have to install qt6ct and then set an environment variable for every Qt program?), but at least pcmanfm-qt doesn’t look like brain damage anymore now. 🤔 (Except there’s no darkmode. What is this, 1980?)

https://movq.de/v/2d0d5da3d2/s.png

She looked at me like this and yeah, I guess I’m hers now 😭❤️ ⌘ Read more

Holly! I thing I might have figured out a way to twt like a true caveman 🤣
The sad thing tho is this caveman will have to cheat a bit in order to replay properly…
(P.S: I hope the multi-lines trick works, if not then F..rog it!)

After almost two years, they’ve finally decided that they like one another. ⌘ Read more

Why is there no findprg like grepprg ⌘ Read more

Hurricane Melissa is being fuelled by exceptional ocean heat
The monster hurricane pummelling Jamaica is powered by abnormal sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean, which were made at least 500 times more likely by global warming ⌘ Read more

There are no really good GUI toolkits for Linux, are there?

They’re either slow (like GTK4, Qt6), don’t support Wayland (like Tk), and/or unmaintained (like GTK2 and many others).

10 Wildly Different Movie Takes on Nuclear War
The Cold War spawned more than fallout shelters and duck-and-cover drills. During that era when geopolitical tension hung over audiences like a mushroom cloud, filmmakers channeled the nuclear threat into art, satire, and spectacle. Some explored human frailty, others turned to monsters or absurdity, but all reflected the fears—and sometimes the dark humor—of the atomic […]

The post [10 Wildly Different Movie Takes on Nuclear War](https:/ … ⌘ Read more

The fate of Marineland’s belugas exposes the ethical cracks in Canadian animal law
Most people think countries like Canada have strong animal protection laws, but it doesn’t. A case in point is the unfolding tragedy-in-the-making at Marineland. ⌘ Read more

I’d like to speak to the Bellcore ManaGeR
I love it when I discover – usually through people smarter than I – an operating system or graphical user interface I’ve never heard of. This time, we’ve got Bellcore MGR, as meticulously detailed by Nina Kalinina a few weeks ago. I love old computers, and I enjoy looking at old user interfaces immensely. I could spend a whole evening on installing an old version of MS Word and playing with it: “Ah, look, how cute, they didn’t invent scrollbars just … ⌘ Read more

Iguanas on Clarion Island, Mexico, found to predate human presence in the Americas
An international team of biologists, including those at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, have discovered that the spiny-tailed iguanas on Clarion Island (Mexico), previously thought to be introduced by humans, have likely been there since before humans colonized the Americas. ⌘ Read more

Racial disparities persist in victim compensation for homicide survivors
Families of Black homicide victims are more likely to file victim compensation claims but face disproportionately high denial rates, according to a Rutgers Health study. ⌘ Read more

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org They’re seriously telling us at work: “Can it be AI’d? Do it, don’t waste time!” Shit like that is the result. (What’s this weird gray triangle in the bottom right corner?)

@javivf@adn.org.es not having any issues on my M4 mini, no. Smooth. There are some visual discordances I don’t like, but if I give them a blind eye I can live with them. 😅

Bringing trains back: Rail’s surprising role in a sustainable future
Chelsea Haney,  Staff Writer  -  New Atlas

_Stephan: While China, Europe, and Japan have developed very sophisticated high speed-passenger rail, in fiscal year 2022, Amtrak’s long-distance trains averaged only 48 mph between stations. There are a few lines running short distances in the Northeast U.S. that get up to 150, but there is nothing like China’s long range passenger rail that avera … ⌘ Read more

Dark matter could color our view of the universe
Dark matter has two central properties: it has mass like regular matter, and unlike regular matter, it reacts weakly or not at all with light. Neutrinos satisfy these two criteria, but neutrinos move through space at nearly the speed of light, making them a form of hot dark matter. The observations we have suggest that dark matter is cold. ⌘ Read more

This is what a 25-year-old cat looks like, approximately 141 years old in human years. ⌘ Read more