Microsoft Encarta was a big part of my childhood, and I wanted to pay tribute to classic software applications in general, so I decided to make a free encyclopedia app which uses Wikipedia as its source and can work fully offline.

While online, the app pulls everything from Wikipedia and Wikimedia sites, but it can also download packs from Kiwix to browse the full English Wikipedia in offline mode.

In true Encarta fashion, it also has built-in rich media capabilities, such as a photo/video/sound navigator, world map explorer, trivia-based games, and educational activities such as the periodic table and a solar system simulator.

It's just in beta right now, but I intend to add more Wikipedia capabilities (such as editing), more games, and more activities that cover all educational subjects.

Website: https://encyclopedia2000.com

GitHub: https://github.com/sburton0/encyclopedia-2000

Discord: https://discord.encyclopedia2000.com

CRT-mpv is a free add-on for the mpv player that puts any video inside a retro CRT TV: scanlines, curvature, colour bleed and glow. Unlike a simple filter, it's drawn at your screen's full resolution, so old 480p shows look sharp instead of blurry.

- 45 TV sets (NES, SNES, Dreamcast, PlayStation and more) including 16:9 and vintage variants.

- Clickable on-screen remote: presets, degauss, VHS tracking, channel static

- One-click install and uninstall on Windows, no admin rights

GPL-3.0: https://github.com/SeiferLK/CRT-mpv

Cone Player is a media player for Windows that takes the VLC Redesign concept by the designer Juxtopposed and builds it on a fork of the real VLC 4. So it's not a skin or a separate app that borrows VLC's engine: it's VLC itself with her whole interface on top, which means it plays everything VLC plays.

Some of what's in it:

- A cleaner player with a thick seek bar, seek preview thumbnails and a subtitle timeline you can drag to fix subtitle timing while you watch

- A settings sidebar with presets per show, so each series keeps its own subtitle and audio settings

- A library with Continue Watching, your folders, music and playlists, plus a mini player

- Dark and light themes with accent colors

- An installer that puts it in Start, "Open with" and Default apps, and installs next to your normal VLC instead of replacing it. Or use the portable zip.

While building it I also found and fixed a few bugs in VLC 4 itself, like a subtitle freeze and a hang when closing some HEVC videos.

It's free and open source (GPL). Windows 10 and 11 for now, Linux is coming.

Download: https://github.com/StickyGonzales/vlc-redesign-juxtopposed/releases/latest

Design by Juxtopposed (CC BY 4.0). Based on VLC by VideoLAN, not affiliated with either. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome.

Hi everyone!

I'm a PhD student researching how software professionals use and feel about AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Claude.

Survey: https://qualtricsxmnl6t8d69j.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Mlkb4yG3EvNpcO

Survey details:

• ⏱️ 10–15 minutes
• ✅ Multiple-choice and agree/disagree questions
• ✍️ No lengthy written responses
• No name, email, or phone number required

Who can participate? Adults (18+) who have worked in a software-related role within the past 12 months and used AI tools professionally.

🔗 Survey: https://qualtricsxmnl6t8d69j.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Mlkb4yG3EvNpcO

Your participation would really help my PhD research. Thank you!

As in the title. Have an old .mkv file of a movie, both theatrical and unrated footage in one file. Instructions say to switch between versions with haali trey icon, but it was depreciated years ago.

Anybody know how to do it nowadays?

Is there a good Windows application that brings all files together in one place?

I'd love to browse all my photos, videos, documents, and other file types separately with one click, similar to how Android Gallery works. Fast file search is also important.

Ideally, it would work offline, keep files private, and not require multiple apps for different tasks.

Does an application like this already exist? Which one would you recommend?

I was logged out from my creative cloud since it was a school account and now I cant unistall adobe programs, but Im scared it will also get rid of my psd files that i want to keep.

I'm the developer. Ledge turns the notch on a MacBook into a small status area.

What it shows

- What's playing, with controls and AirPlay output

- A timer

- Your next meeting, with a Join button

- Weather

- Notes

- Keep Awake, which keeps your Mac awake, even with the lid closed

- Volume and brightness, in the notch instead of the system pop-up

Details

- Free and open source (GPL-3.0). Optional tip jar, nothing locked.

- Needs a MacBook with a notch on macOS 26 or later.

- Asks for no permission until you turn on the feature that needs it.

Download: https://ledgeapp.dev

Homebrew: brew install --cask egemertbalcik/tap/ledge

Source: https://github.com/egemertbalcik/Ledge

Bug reports and ideas are welcome.

I'm the developer of Thought Meadow, a native iPhone notes app for iOS 17+. The released app is completely free, without ads, an account, analytics, in-app purchases or a subscription. The source is MIT licensed.

It covers a small local notebook workflow:

• Write and search note text offline; organize with folders, tags and pins.
• Preview basic Markdown and tick nested checklist items while preserving their indentation and text.
• Use English or Arabic, including mixed-direction notes.
• Import/export through Files, with an optional password-encrypted notebook.

The source includes the SwiftUI code, Xcode project and native checks, so it can be built independently. Recent maintenance fixed indented checklist handling and interface-language changes. The test matrix distinguishes simulator results from physical-iPhone cursor/undo and VoiceOver checks that are still pending. There has not been an independent security audit.

This release is iPhone-only, with no cross-device sync or shared lists. Optional paid cloud features are being considered for the future; they are not implemented in the current app.

App Store · Native source and build instructions · MIT license

I'd welcome concrete feedback on the writing and file export/import flow. A small dummy example is enough to report a problem; please keep private notes private.

​

Ho creato Battery Forecast, un'applicazione gratuita per Windows che stima la durata della batteria e i tempi di ricarica in base alla cronologia del tuo laptop.

Invece di mostrare solo la percentuale della batteria, offre:

• Tempo stimato fino al raggiungimento di una riserva configurabile.
• Stima dei tempi di ricarica per obiettivi come l'80%.
• Un grafico di previsione a 24 ore con un intervallo indicativo.
• Informazioni sullo stato di salute e storico della batteria.
• Avvisi configurabili e controlli nella barra delle applicazioni.

Utilizza il modello Timestral-28M di Mistral AI completamente offline. Non è richiesto alcun accesso al cloud o account.

Supporta Windows 10/11 su x64 e ARM64.

Questa è una versione per Windows di Till Dusk di Matteo Bonfanti. L'accuratezza delle previsioni è ancora in fase di valutazione.

GitHub e download: https://github.com/Mattboxx/battery-forecast

Screenshot: https://mattboxx.github.io/battery-forecast/

Il programma di installazione non è attualmente firmato e include componenti di terze parti con termini di licenza separati, documentati nel repository.

Sarei lieto di ricevere feedback dagli utenti di laptop Windows disposti a provarlo!

I built a simple desktop tool using Python that extracts emails, phone numbers, IPs, and errors automatically from .csv, .json, .docx, and .txt files. It handles folders instantly without freezing and I can build that with a simple and easy Graphical Interface.

I can build custom scripts or desktop tools tailored to any file type you need.

If you need a quick script or a tool like this for your work, just shoot me a DM.

**I can show you how the tool works before buying.**

After 5 months and 1,500+ hours of development, I'm finally releasing Zephium.

Fully OSS, built in Rust. 40 MB. Not a Chromium fork. Native adblocking, major Chrome extension support, a custom agentic browsing engine, and a lot more. It's not just another wrapper built in a few days.

Deeply integrated powerful productivity tools like Tasks, Notes, Time & Focus (with site blocking), etc.

And... Work mode: a shared environment where you and AI agents can browse, research, build, and get real work done together. Live browser sessions, parallel sub-agents, tools, files, components, and interactive results, all in one canvas.

AI is optional (disable in one click). No telemetry. BYOK support and local models.

Launch video (35K+ views in 1 day): https://youtu.be/QbSarcWspvw
GitHub: https://github.com/zephium-browser/Zephium
Website: https://zephium.app

A colleague of mine published a piece on our company blog about using formal methods to define high-level specifications for software as an alternative to using the unreliable English language as the primary method of guiding LLMs to write code. It's a super interesting read!

I think one of the most relevant parts is his discussion on how in the past, writing and reviewing code by hand was not merely an "output" but also an essential act of solidifying the "mental model" of the system for you and your team, and as that practice dies, so too do our mental models. Switching to writing the high-level, formal specification using TLA+ and then letting the LLM loose to just "make it work" allows teams to capture the speed of AI driven development without losing their fundamental understanding of what the system is supposed to do.

The article is here if anyone is interested in having a read!

Hi, I'm trying to extract the video recordings from an external hard disk (specifically one from a Sony HDD/DVD recorder) but Isobuster is way too expensive. Do you know any other software that can help me? Thanks in advance

Hello, I need an application that helps me create mind maps it just needs to be easy to use. It doesn't have to be anything complex, I simply want to create subheadings under a main heading, and further sub-levels beneath those

Any help is greatly appreciated

Hello everyone, does anyone know of a free background remover program that runs locally on a computer and actually works well? I’d like to install a program and use it whenever I need it, without depending on the internet. I tried Filee Background Remover, but it works very poorly: it cuts into the main subject, leaves some lines, and isn’t precise around the edges.

I need it for artistic photographs. The artwork itself was photographed, but a little of the background is visible around it. I need a program that can remove that background. Do you have any quality recommendations?

Thank you.

Hello, I genuinely dont even know what happened to my laptop. I left it on and went away for 5 minutes, came back and my cat was standing on the keyboard, the laptop had turned off. When I turn it on, it gave me SBAT error, so I looked it up and it said to disable secure boot. I went ahead and did that but then it gives GRUB minimal bash issue. I dont even have Linux anymore, I had dual boot Linux years ago. Now it keeps booting Ubuntu (?) and i cannot find "Windows". Is it over? Did everything somehow get wiped off?

I deleted Ubuntu, and it came back. I put it low priority and disabled the check, it came back and there is two Ubuntus now.

I am devastated genuinely what am I supposed to do

Hey everyone! I'm using my free time to build a virtual software trade fair simulator where you can walk around, visit company booths, and play around with their failed software products. I've added Windows Vista as the first exhibit! If you like the idea and want to see this project continue, give it a star. If there's a piece of software you hate and want to add to the fair, feel free to open a merge request :D

https://github.com/vahmoh25/FailedShits

I have some old session files that need a remix using some modern tools and effects. Any ideas to get the session control files to import into any modern free DAW?