Which is better: A centralized social network like Twitter, or a federated one like ActivityPub as implemented in Mastodon or Pleroma?

Does federation solve all the problems of centralized services?

I recently got a chance to try out a couple of new programming things in a test app I built: PouchDB/CouchDB and Progressive Web Applications. In this video, I share some of my thoughts on those things.

The MNT Reform has a serious issue with its battery system: no low voltage cutoff. That means it likes to kill battery cells.

I installed Manjaro with Plasma Mobile on my PinePhone. In this video I take a look at that setup.

The Snowden leaks demonstrated that major internet companies share user data with law enforcement. What about smaller companies? Let’s look back and remember what happened to Lavabit.

Back in 2013, Edward Snowden revealed the existence and workings of a global apparatus for mass surveillance. What did he reveal? What does that mean for us today?

The PinePhone from Pine64 runs mainline Linux and costs only $150. In this video, I unbox a PinePhone and talk a bit about what it is and how it compares to other phone options.

Many pieces of modern software, including commonly used mobile phone operating systems, include a mechanism that allows the software provider to remotely access and control the device running the software. This “universal backdoor” cannot be disabled without disrupting important functionality of the software.

What am I talking about? I explain below.

I got a new Pinebook Pro. Here’s a video where I do a quick unboxing and talk a bit about why this kind of device is interesting.

We just finished moving, and I’m planning to set up a space in our new garage as an office. Unfortunately, there’s no internet in the garage. Solving this required 100 meters of fiber optic cable and drilling through 10 inches of shotcrete.