Monday, June 30, 2025

Free and Open-Source Artificial Intelligence Software (2025)

The Best 7 Free and Open-Source Artificial Intelligence Software:
https://www.goodfirms.co/artificial-intelligence-software/blog/best-free-open-source-Artificial-Intelligence-software
"TensorFlow is an open-source artificial intelligence software that helps you develop and train Machine learning models. It presents the library for high-performance numerical computation. Across a variety of platforms (CPUs, GPUs, TPUs) this free AI software allows easy deployment of computation due to its flexible architecture.
...
You will find the primary use of this software in voice/sound recognition, text-based applications, image recognition, video detection, and time-series data. The time series algorithms of TensorFlow are mainly used in the field of finance, accounting, and enterprise /resource planning."


Chat with AI without privacy concerns -
Jan is an open source ChatGPT-alternative that runs 100% offline.

https://jan.ai/


The best open-source AI models: All your free-to-use options explained:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-best-open-source-ai-models-all-your-free-to-use-options-explained/
"Running open-source Gen AI models requires specific hardware, software environments, and toolsets for model training, fine-tuning, and deployment tasks."


free AI training from IBM:  
https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-free-ai-training-from-ibm-could-boost-your-resume-in-10-hours/


Open Source Windows Artificial Intelligence Software:
https://sourceforge.net/directory/artificial-intelligence/windows/


Jarvis - Personal Assistant for Linux, macOS, & Windows:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/jarvis-personal-assist.mirror/
"Jarvis is a simple personal assistant for Linux, MacOS and Windows which works on the command line. He can talk to you if you enable his voice. He can tell you the weather, he can find restaurants and other places near you. He can do some great stuff for you. In order to start Jarvis just clone this repository and run python installer. Run Jarvis from anywhere by command Jarvis. You can start by typing help within the Jarvis command line to check what Jarvis can do for you. Plugins may be modified using the decorators @alias, @require and @complete."


GPT-4/o1 AI Assistant -
Open Source, Personal Desktop AI Assistant for Linux, Windows, and Mac with Chat, Vision, Agents, Image generation, Tools and commands, Voice control and more.
https://pygpt.net/
"Desktop AI Assistant for Linux, Windows and Mac, written in Python.
Works similarly to ChatGPT, but locally (on a desktop computer).
11 modes of operation ..."
"PyGPT supports a wide range of AI models, including o1, o3, GPT-4, GPT-4o, GPT-4 Vision, GPT-3.5, and DALL-E 3. It also integrates models via LlamaIndex, and Ollama—like Llama 3, Mistral, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, DeepSeek, Bielik, and Anthropic Claude. With internet search, speech synthesis and recognition, customizable prompts, conversation history, and plugin support, it provides a comprehensive AI toolkit for diverse tasks."






Friday, June 27, 2025

Password Manager Reviews 2025

The best password managers in 2025:
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-password-managers,review-3785.html#section-the-best-password-manager-overall
Best for iPhone:  "NordPass is a password manager with a simple, intuitive design from the company behind NordVPN. It's still a relatively new password manager compared to the competition but it has added a number of new features like a web vault, a standalone browser extension and biometric login support across all platforms in an effort to catch up.
...
In addition to its individual and family plan with support for up to six people, there's also a free tier. NordPass free allows you to store an unlimited number of passwords and it also comes with autofill capabilities, passkey support, secure notes and multifactor authentication. However, the free tier only allows you to stay logged in on one device at a time. NordPass' paid plans are a bit more expensive than the competition but frequent discounts can cut the cost of a subscription significantly."
58% off - NordPass Premium - 2 Years - $1.29/mth
43% off - NordPass Premium - 1 Year   - $1.69/mth
https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=507&aff_id=39632&url_id=26900


The Best Password Managers for 2025:  https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-password-managers#
"Best Premium Password Manager  - NordPass

FEATURED DEAL  -  Best Form-Filling Capabilities - RoboForm
Get 60% off Premium: just $0.99 per Month! at RoboForm

Best Free Password Manager  -  Proton Pass
$2.49 Per Month (50% Off 1 Year Pass Plus Plan) at Proton

Best for Frequent Travelers  -  1Password

Best Security Features  -  Dashlane"


Best Password Managers for the USA:  https://us.cybernews.com/lp/best-password-managers-us/

Open Source - Bitwarden - CNET  Best Password Manager in 2024
"Bitwarden is currently CNET's top pick for the best password manager... Bitwarden is a solid choice if you want a well-rounded premium password manager that's secure, transparent, budget friendly and easy to use -- or if you want a legitimately unlimited password management solution for free."

Also recommended for Ubuntu.

Best Cars for Road Trips in 2025 – Road & Track Expert Picks

There are some surprises here:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/rankings/g64772570/best-cars-for-road-trips/

Sunday, June 8, 2025

The Coolest Cars of All Time

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/g93/the-100-hottest-cars-of-all-time/

M.2 Slot Types & Sizes

What Is M.2 Slot | M.2 Slot Types & Sizes:  https://www.electronicshub.org/m-2-slot-types/
" The most common M.2 key types are M, B, and B+M, and they differ in the number and position of the notches on the connector."

"Nowadays, you can purchase SSDs in one of two form factors: 2.5" drives that are connected through the SATA interface or, alternatively, M.2 ones that are much smaller, require no cabling, and can achieve far greater read and write speeds."
" NVMe SSDs are the fastest you can buy these days and they almost always come in the M.2 format."

M.2 vs. NVMe: What is the difference when it comes to SSDs?  
"M.2 is a form factor that spells out the physical size and shape of the card that can be plugged into an M.2 slot."
"... if you see an SSD being described as NVMe, do not assume that it is automatically using the M.2 form factor. Also, if you see an SSD described as being M.2, don't assume that it is using NVMe."

Monday, June 2, 2025

Author Websites - Craig Martelle & Julia Huni

I had some trouble accessing Craig's page because it doesn't use the www prefix: 

I enjoy his collaborations with Julia Huni (https://juliahuni.com/), and he has some interesting topics / categories for his own books: