Zak

Privacy Analyst formerly at 1Password and Jolicloud. I live at Disney World. Opinions are mine, you can’t have them.

LinkStack: https://linksta.cc/@zak

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npub1cxshdy5d8awhm7y7wgrlwthhh3e764hz9jfa03ve6n8rrwvm2xgs59yv3r

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvrgtkj2xn7htalz08yplh9mmmculd2m3zey7hckvafn33hxd4rygpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds8ps8rx

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1cxshdy5d8awhm7y7wgrlwthhh3e764hz9jfa03ve6n8rrwvm2xgs59yv3r

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Last Notes

2026-10-23 04:20:27 GMT

I just got out of a showing of You Can See Everything and I have never had more questions about a movie.

2026-10-09 21:53:07 GMT

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Technically I have a PS2 and a PS4 but I'm planning on selling both. I haven't used either in years. Because emulators.

2026-10-09 21:46:20 GMT

At this point, ever single device that I own (that has a display or can use one at all) runs Linux. It's genuinely nuts:
My laptops and desktop: plain old desktop Linux
My mobile devices: GrapheneOS, Linux at its core
My game consoles: Android on the Thor, Bazzite on the Steam Deck
My ereader: Kobo uses Linux at the core of its firmware
My camera: apparently runs Poky, which is Linux-based
My router: OpenWRT, straight up wireless router Linux
My NAS: Synology DSM is Linux!
My TVs: every HTPC in my house is running desktop Linux
#Linux

2026-09-17 02:58:27 GMT

What are we doing here
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/117/284/136/696/515/068/original/c303c0abb2b3d90c.jpg

2026-09-16 15:30:13 GMT

Every time I open Mastodon, I have the thought that I can't imagine what mainstream social media is like right now.

2026-09-09 19:08:51 GMT

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Yeah that's fair. I returned my Pixel Watch 5 after about a week. And I'd love to buy a Pebble Round, but they don't make them in gold and I'm an internet menswear idiot now. So that's a deal breaker for the time being.

2026-09-09 18:19:38 GMT

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I'm still on my Pixel 9 Pro. What are you using two phones for? What's the setup?

2026-09-09 18:14:46 GMT

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Maybe it'll be time for me to try one soon. It'll depend on what GrapheneOS ends up doing with Motorola, I think. I tried to go back to stock Android last month and it just bugged me a bit too much.

2026-09-09 17:59:32 GMT

Folding phones are cool but they all started at like $1800 and are only getting more expensive. I don't know anyone that has one.

2026-09-01 23:33:28 GMT

Anthropic's Fable model requiring usage credits with a Pro plan is the "YouTube Premium with ads" of the AI world. Pay for the thing, then pay for it again. And people are actually doing it.

2026-08-29 22:58:07 GMT

It turns out that when you bypass the restrictions set by Android Auto, you can do some pretty cool stuff. Like use a Banjo-Kazooie speedrun as your background audio while you drive home.
Taken while parked outside of my house. Yes I need to clean the screen.
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/117/181/263/434/997/260/original/ade18ee0c9992705.mp4

2026-08-28 22:25:41 GMT

RE: https://mastodon.social/@BasicAppleGuy/117173684802377248
This is one of the (several) reasons why I quit Apple products two years ago. I was deep in the ecosystem, and it was painful to leave. But as a result, with some effort, I don't see ads anymore. Ever.
#note1hpg…0wch

2026-08-27 19:49:46 GMT

The fact that @npub1kwa…e0nj exists at all remains absolutely incredible. Using a phone would drive me absolutely nuts if it weren't for this one, totally free and open source project.

2026-07-04 19:31:11 GMT

50% of my brain: "I need to start thinking about the next steps that I can take to evolve my career in privacy and security."
50% of my brain: "I want to work in a museum or a book store and never touch a computer again for the rest of my life."

2026-06-27 22:21:41 GMT

No service is safe from the political leanings of their executives, it seems.

2026-06-04 14:01:44 GMT

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Hurricanes in central FL haven't been nearly as bad as when I lived on the coast. But still, I wouldn't miss them.

2026-06-04 13:56:07 GMT

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I've been considering that area for a while now and that's exactly what's stopping me. 😆

2026-06-04 13:46:29 GMT

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I've been in Celebration for the last 6 years. I guess it's not technically "on property" anymore. But Disney built it, and I don't need to deal with the roommate problem, so I count it. But I've heard similar stories from friends of mine.

2026-06-04 13:39:10 GMT

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Also ADD here! I never got the upgrade, so I just sort of assume.

2026-05-25 16:41:37 GMT

I usually get to GitHub by typing "gith..." into my browser's omnibar and letting it complete the URL using my web history. But today I accidentally typed "goth..." and now I can't stop thinking about GothHub.

2026-05-03 18:33:22 GMT

Looking forward to PasteFail.

2026-03-24 01:58:48 GMT

The 90s: You provide your A/S/L freely to strangers on the internet leading to some of the best friends that you've ever had.
Now: The US government demands your A/S/L to use any digital device. Your details are leaked and misused constantly. You haven't made any new friends.

2026-03-22 20:59:55 GMT

When was the last time you checked for a firmware update for your networking hardware? Is your router running up to date software?
#Security

2026-03-20 00:22:00 GMT

This is so cool. A Jellyfin client designed to be used with controllers. Looks like the Nintendo Switch interface. This'll be awesome on a Steam Deck.
https://flathub.org/en/apps/fun.dragonfly.switchfin
#Linux #Jellyfin #FOSS

2026-02-12 20:07:52 GMT

How many times will you hit the up arrow before you give up and type a command?
#Linux

2026-02-08 02:49:10 GMT

RE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/116031042438478972
I wish articles like this would stop saying "Linux" and start saying "Ubuntu" or whatever else. If it's going to be a distro review, just own that.
#note1c0z…ce0r

2026-01-11 19:09:15 GMT

Fun fact: if you tell Gemini a bit about your software setup and ask it for advice on de-Googling, it will happily (and pretty accurately) assist you.
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/878/036/226/605/534/original/3ff2802a66035015.jpg

2025-12-27 18:44:12 GMT

Eyelashes: stop things from falling into your eyes.
Also eyelashes: fall directly into your eyes.
What horseshit.

2025-12-16 22:50:53 GMT

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/115731017851876667
Question: how's the robot vacuum industry right now?
Answer: it sucks.
#note1zpg…ytsp

2025-12-07 04:49:24 GMT

LGBTQ is great and all, but I'm proposing a new standard with LGBTQS. With proper client-side encryption.

2025-11-22 01:19:18 GMT

Pro tip: on Black Friday, all of your favorite Linux distributions will be FREE to download.

2025-11-20 18:26:38 GMT

Based on what we've seen as far as the enshittification of other platforms, we can expect to see at least three things from AI in the very near future:<li>Ads. Lots of ads. Sponsored answers. Suggestions based on corporate payment instead of truth and knowledge. We saw this happen with search.</li><li>Vendor lock-in. Expect Google to know some things, ChatGPT to know some things, Claude to know some things, etc, with minimal overlap. Gotta pay for them all to get the full picture! We saw this happen with streaming.</li><li>Huge price increases. AI is currently free for most people to use, and usually around $20 USD or so for casual "pro" use. Not for long. We see this happen everywhere.</li>

2025-11-16 22:55:30 GMT

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I'm into it.

2025-11-15 06:16:29 GMT

Something that I hope to see in the future (but don't actually expect) is a Steam Deck mini. Everyone wants more power out of their gaming devices and I get that. But a more efficient Steam Deck that's the size of a Nintendo Switch Lite or something would just blow my mind. It'd make it a lot easier to justify actually carrying it around.

2025-11-02 03:18:37 GMT

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Antishittification

2025-10-25 20:39:24 GMT

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Private Space is technically even better. My understanding is that it's an entire container for apps rather than just a simple lock. But maybe I'm off about that.

2025-10-25 20:27:00 GMT

Just discovered: App Lock, which lets you lock any app on your Android device behind either a PIN or biometrics. This should absolutely be standard, but it's nice to have it regardless.
Admittedly, locking is a bit slow and happens about a full second after an app is already open. But it looks like the 2.0 release just dropped, and so I'm hoping that'll improve with future updates.
https://github.com/PranavPurwar/AppLock
#Android #FOSS #Security

2025-10-25 19:24:47 GMT

Hot take? Warm take maybe? I actually think that Canonical's idea of Ubuntu being constructed entirely of snaps and managing things like the kernel and drivers like LEGO pieces is sort of incredible, especially for business and enterprise systems. I'd be terrified of using a traditional Linux desktop operating system for work because one misconfigured package could take down my workstation, which I, like, use for work. But something like Ubuntu Core Desktop would keep things running smoothly, and I have to imagine that Ubuntu Core itself works the same way on the server end.
As much as I'd love to say the same of Fedora Silverblue and the like, the lack of room for enterprise-grade software is just not acceptable right now. Things like Zoom and Slack work mostly fine nowadays, but anything that requires a bit more punch just isn't possible with a flatpak right now. So it requires layering, which may defeat the purpose of using it at all over Fedora Workstation or any other traditional distro.
#Linux #Enterprise #Work

2025-10-22 02:21:48 GMT

It seems like Brennan is going to end every episode of campaign 4 with a massive cliffhanger and a set of question marks and I am absolutely here for it.
#CriticalRole

2025-10-09 20:22:17 GMT

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I keep wanting to try these releases, but I've been waiting for Ubuntu Core Desktop to do so for what feels like years now.

2025-10-02 19:44:27 GMT

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Maybe you could try just rolling back to the older version? I've never done this before myself, but if it's really an issue with the new version, this might work in the short term.
https://docs.flathub.org/docs/for-users/downgrading

2025-09-24 19:10:09 GMT

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Dang, that's a bit disappointing. I was hoping to use it as my personal Synology follow up.

2025-09-24 18:52:11 GMT

[@hen](https://social.lol/@hen ) On the most recent [@sr](https://social.lol/@sr ) today, you brought up being a self-hosting normie and using Synology (like I do) instead of Nextcloud. Just wanted to bring up that I plan on looking into swapping to @npub129e…3cyx next chance I get because it seems fairly similar in the "install a thing and use it" instead of messing with Docker sort of way. Mostly just waiting on a new release because it's based on Debian and my hardware is too new for their current kernel 6.1.

2025-09-11 15:24:26 GMT

RCS messaging has been broken for many people using @npub1kwa…e0nj since their September 8th update. That update only included some firmware backports, and so according to the GrapheneOS developers, it's not really possible that the update itself is causing the issue. It could be some form of firmware incompatibility. But much more likely in my mind, despite a lack of visible evidence, is that it seems like Google has changed the way that devices authenticate to their RCS servers, effectively locking GrapheneOS users out of the service and forcing them back to SMS for text messaging.
This is why a single company should never be in charge of what should be an open standard.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/1353-using-rcs-with-google-messages-on-grapheneos/769

2025-09-03 06:07:57 GMT

@npub1kwa…e0nj A question for the team: the FAQ states that...
"We provide extended support releases as a stopgap for users to transition to the far more secure current generation devices."
This makes sense when it comes to phones. But what will happen when the Pixel Tablet officially goes EOL? Will it receive extended support for longer than the average Pixel phone? Or will GrapheneOS on tablets cease to be an option without the release of a new Pixel Tablet?

2025-07-19 01:00:14 GMT

Joke's on all of you for following me. All I want to do is talk to you about your car's extended warranty.

2025-06-19 16:37:19 GMT

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I'm not sure how well this would do with photos rather than documents. I'd have to give it a try.

2025-06-19 16:28:50 GMT

I'm looking for an app for Android that'll allow me to scan old paper photos and place them in my digital library. I know that Google used to have a photo scan app, but as far as I know, it's been abandoned for about two years now. I figure there may be a better alternative somewhere.
#FOSS #Android

2025-06-18 16:48:40 GMT

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I think this might be the best one on the album. It's a tough choice, but this would be my pick.

2025-06-13 23:03:23 GMT

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Right, true. I consider Play Integrity to be a totally separate issue, but you're right in saying that it's a huge issue nonetheless. I'm personally more concerned with future hardware/firmware support and how it will be able to support, as you say, AOSP-based operating systems. This is what I'm scared of. I know that GrapheneOS-compliant hardware is possible. I just don't know if or when it'll happen.

2025-06-13 21:35:07 GMT

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The @npub1kwa…e0nj account has been commenting on this, but the tl;dr is that Google is no longer providing device tree data that used to make supporting Pixel hardware much easier than other phones.
https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/114661957699559672

2025-06-13 20:42:06 GMT

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I'm currently running GrapheneOS and its been great. But Google appears to be making moves that'll make custom ROMs a bit more difficult, and I'd expect that to continue in the future. And so I always want to be up to date on alternatives.

2025-06-13 20:33:03 GMT

In order to switch to a #Linux phone running something like [@postmarketOS](https://social.treehouse.systems/@postmarketOS ), I'd really only need a few things:<li>Reasonably good battery life. Probably the biggest one.</li><li>Consistently working calls and text messages.</li><li>A good working web browser.</li><li>Maybe some basic local tools like a calendar, notes, and maps.</li>
I think that's basically it. Everything else I think I could reasonably compromise on. Most things can be done from the web browser. Android app compatibility would be nice, but I personally don't feel the need to run things like my banking app on my Linux phone. Obviously I'd like more, but this is the baseline experience that I'd need.
I know that hardware compatibility and battery life are extremely difficult without manufacturer support, and I figure until we have that, these won't be reasonable requests.

2025-06-11 20:33:52 GMT

If Google pulls the Pixel program out of AOSP and GrapheneOS ends up dead, I may legitimately just buy a dumb phone.

2025-06-11 01:41:42 GMT

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I'd love to see @npub15f7…m7wr step up and be the ones to handle this. A Framework phone would be popular, and considering the enthusiasm from the Linux community around their laptops, I have to imagine that GrapheneOS would be a great choice for a repairable Framework phone.

2025-06-05 02:34:18 GMT

Do you like using clean, fresh, up to date social network? Do you hate ads and tracking? Reminder to donate to your Mastodon instance of choice on a regular basis. It's how this stuff stays alive.

2025-05-15 19:49:00 GMT

Neurodivergence implies the existence of neuroconvergence.

2025-05-11 18:00:27 GMT

Apparently the public sharing of Signal usernames isn't generally recommended. If you wanted to create a public profile with which people could send you a message, what would you be using?

2025-05-06 19:09:08 GMT

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I'd love to see a way to get new builds directly through Obtainium. 😁

2025-05-03 00:14:33 GMT

Many of you Linux users out there are using libraries without a library card.

2025-04-29 20:38:12 GMT

What's everyone using as their RSS service and client(s) of choice?

2025-04-29 13:19:29 GMT

If the #fosstodon thing has made me realize anything, it's how fragile all of this is. It doesn't take very much for me to start losing accounts that I follow, or accounts that follow me, because there may suddenly be people deleting those accounts, migrating to other instances, or in the worst case scenario, defederation. Each of those things leads to a loss of community which is why we're all here in the first place.

2025-04-26 17:09:38 GMT

I'm hoping to see @npub1kwa…e0nj move to a better backup solution soon. I'm sure that Seedvault works just fine for some people, but it's pretty limited.

2025-04-23 18:13:59 GMT

Given how quickly Discord has been going downhill, I wonder if the #FOSS community has opinions on Revolt as a replacement? I know that Matrix is the ideal, but it's just not ready for real use yet.

2025-04-22 17:20:51 GMT

Here's your semi-regular reminder that if you work in open source, you and your team can get a 1Password Teams account for free.
https://github.com/1Password/for-open-source
#FOSS #Security #Passwords

2025-04-15 23:07:09 GMT

My biggest issue with #OpenWRT so far is the upgrade process. As in, keeping the OS up to date. The package manager's upgrade functionality, which is fully baked into the OS and its GUI web interface, prominently displays a warning at the top that tells you not to use it. Don't upgrade packages, it can and will break your system: https://openwrt.org/meta/infobox/upgrade_packages_warning
Okay, then why is that feature baked into the OS at all?
Meanwhile, the sysupgrade feature, which is the recommended way to keep the OS up to date, is also baked into the OS, but only at the cli level. If you want to use the GUI web interface, you need to manually install the attended-sysupgrade package, after which point you can manually re-flash the OS whenever you want to using up to date packages, provided that you also (somehow) keep up to date about their releases without the use of a real tool to check for updates using the GUI. Why isn't that baked into the OS instead?
The whole thing is just very confusing.
#FOSS #Linux

2025-04-07 03:00:17 GMT

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As a former Jolicloud team member, I have a huge soft spot for netbooks. I still have mine from 2009.

2025-04-07 02:49:21 GMT

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And sometimes the hardware can be genuinely nicer than the usual alternatives. Linux on a Chromebook Pixel (2015) remains my best Linux experience to date.

2025-03-24 01:06:22 GMT

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While true, I feel like A Bug's Life was the least weird out of all of them. It just so happened to kick start additional strange movies about bugs.

2025-03-24 00:51:19 GMT

What was our weird bug movie of the 2010s? In 1998 we had Antz. In 2007 we had Bee Movie. Has it been that long since our last weird bug movie?

2025-03-24 00:36:48 GMT

Animated movies and shows will continue to be mostly mediocre until we bring back proper 2D animation.

2025-03-17 02:00:24 GMT

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Fedora. The usual.

2025-03-13 16:52:10 GMT

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Those are two big ones! Pretty tough to avoid.

2025-03-13 16:45:31 GMT

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Anonymity when it comes to money is very hard. @npub1d8e…x6ug is a pretty decent option.

2025-03-13 16:21:38 GMT

I'm paying for, have donated to, or have purchased merchandise from:
- Proton
- Home Assistant
- elementary OS
- infosec.exchange
- Ente Photos
- EteSync
- Standard Notes
- Signal
Among others. Remember to pay developers for good open source software.
#FOSS #opensource

2025-02-28 15:03:58 GMT

For a time, "Skype" was a verb synonymous with video calling. My grandparents knew how to Skype. That it had to be acquired, neglected, and killed in favor of a Slack clone is a damn shame.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/on-may-5-microsofts-skype-will-shut-down-for-good/

2025-02-27 20:45:23 GMT

With everything going on with Mozilla and #Firefox, it's once again time for me to post about our need for a real, flagship #Linux web browser. Firefox has been it for some time, and while I can absolutely understand why, I think it's becoming more and more apparent that Mozilla's goals don't really align with those of the Linux community. And to be clear, that's okay! Mozilla needs to make money. But Linux distributions and users shouldn't be impacted by that need, now or in the future.
I recognize that projects like GNOME Web are awesome, but I don't see a future in which GNOME Web replaces Firefox and is shipped among distributions regardless of their desktop environment of choice.

2025-02-27 02:43:32 GMT

Every so often I think about how cool it'd be if iOS and Android were still competing with BlackBerry as a platform.

2025-02-22 22:38:33 GMT

What are you currently using for search?

2025-02-21 22:03:16 GMT

As seen on Reddit, X / Twitter appears to be partnering in some way with Brave for search results in their stupid AI thing:
"We share parts of Input Data with Brave Software, Inc., so we can include Brave’s search results in the Service."
https://x.ai/legal/europe-privacy-policy-addendum

2025-02-17 21:11:25 GMT

Me, after years of time and effort: Finally, everything in my house is running Linux. It all works beautifully. My setup is so much better now than it was before. It was all worth it.
My brain: I should look into BSD.

2025-02-17 19:03:43 GMT

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This looks like Gapless, I think?

2025-02-13 01:55:00 GMT

Which is less bad?

2025-02-12 03:53:33 GMT

In 2016 or so I had a (small, civil) Twitter argument with @npub1tx8…x0yc about VPNs being useful. Now I've entirely reversed my attitude on them and agree with every word.

2025-02-09 17:22:58 GMT

Here's a hypothetical question on backups: if you were to keep device backups on a small, portable SSD that you carry with you, would you consider that to be an on-prem backup, or an off-prem backup?

2025-02-07 21:31:21 GMT

On the web, I've been using elk.zone for Mastodon and phtn.app for Lemmy. Are there any good web applications for Pixelfed?
#fediverse

2025-02-02 19:19:05 GMT

Babe wake up, #fediverse Facebook Marketplace just dropped. https://codeberg.org/flohmarkt/flohmarkt

2025-02-02 04:42:50 GMT

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I've got three pairs of wired headphones and I love them! I don't miss AirPods a bit.

2025-02-02 04:36:30 GMT

You know what doesn't collect data about you? A pair of wired headphones that don't require an app to function. https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/01/your-headphones-may-be-spying-on-you/

2025-02-01 22:53:43 GMT

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On the security end, @npub1kwa…e0nj goes into some great detail here: https://grapheneos.org/usage#web-browsing

2025-02-01 22:42:51 GMT

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I actually see significantly better performance on the Chromium side of things. Using Firefox eats through my laptop's battery much more quickly, even with all of the manual hardware acceleration tweaks in place (which really shouldn't be necessary at this point). Nothing flat out fails on the compatibility end, but I do notice small things like some video players stuttering or doubling up frames which sucks, especially on an HTPC. Not to mention the fact that Firefox is pretty far behind Chromium in terms of security.

2025-02-01 22:31:14 GMT

I wish Mozilla would take Firefox development a bit more seriously. It's a great web browser, but it does still fall short of Chromium in a number of ways. And it'd be really awesome to have a true competitor out there, run by a more ethical nonprofit.
Props to those who use it right now. It's just not for me at the moment.

2025-01-31 04:26:34 GMT

If you're a @npub1ak3…t4td user, or you're just getting started with password managers in general, I'd strongly recommend a look at this blog post from @npub1s23…ah67. A secondary encryption secret is why I chose 1Password as my password manager, well before I started working for the company. It's a massive stand out feature that others don't have. But to most, it's very difficult to explain.
https://blog.1password.com/what-the-secret-key-does/
#security #passwords

2025-01-31 04:14:40 GMT

Use Signal.

2025-01-29 23:59:41 GMT

I've started using @npub1zje…acky for location sharing as an alternative to Find My Friends. It uses @npub1m9z…whzq to communicate and seems to be exactly my thing. With that said, it's very early days. The roadmap looks good, but the app itself seems a bit buggy and inefficient on some platforms. But it'll get there.
https://mygrid.app/
#privacy #FOSS

2025-01-24 03:12:36 GMT

Reminder that @npub1ak3…t4td currently has 6 positions open on the Security team, with more likely on the way. If you want to work with me (or, even better, be on my Privacy team), check out the listings here and see if one might be a good fit for you.
https://jobs.lever.co/1password?department=Technology&team=Security
#jobs #hiring #fedihire #security #privacy #passwords

2025-01-24 03:02:39 GMT

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I've made a bit of a trade off here in the form of prioritizing NextDNS blocklists over blending in using a shared IP address. Mostly because the sites and services that I use tend to require signing in with an account anyway, so I wouldn't be anonymous either way. If I need it, I'd likely temporarily disable Private DNS and use Tor or something. But it's very rare that I use a VPN for anything except getting around regional blocks.

2025-01-24 02:55:16 GMT

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Ah I see, it's an accuracy issue. Got it. Well, I'll look forward to whatever they are actually doing, in that case.

2025-01-24 02:48:13 GMT

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I'm not sure that I understand the realistic difference between this and what's described by @npub1dm2…7754. It seems that the end result is an implementation of DoH that can only be used with Google or Cloudflare servers. If that's not the case, then I've been misinformed and I just don't know how to properly configure the private DNS feature to use DoH.
(Context: I am a NextDNS user)

2025-01-24 02:43:25 GMT

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This might be worse.