I'm a pretty regular YouTube watcher but if I accidentally glance down at the comments section, I know my night is going to be ruined.

I wondered if there is any kind of YouTube app or service that lets you watch and search for videos (even access my subscribed channels) but with less of the crap, ie. the comments and related videos, which just take you down a YouTube rabbit hole that you won't get out of for hours.

Cheers!

I'm interested in what applications people use, maybe I can discover some better alternatives.

Music: Spotify for streaming, Dopamine for local music.

Cloud: OneDrive. As a student, I get 1 TB of space for free.

Email: Mailspring, though I'm eyeing eM Client as an alternative right now.

Text Processors: Mostly VS Code with LaTeX, but I do sometimes use good old MS Office.

Code: VS Code again, and also IntelliJ IDEA and CLion for the respective languages. VS Code for anything that isn't C or Java related. I'm also watching the development of Oni Vim 2.

PDF: On my laptop with a touch display, I use Drawboard. On my PC at home I use Nitro PDF.

Browser: Firefox, ever since the quantum update it's nice and snappy. Though maybe I'd switch to Vivaldi when they add Sync at some point.

I have discovered hackmd.io a few months ago and started digitalizing my massive mess of handwritten nodes together with all the terrible notepad/word mixed notes into one big personal "wiki" of knowledge. But I ran into a problem. HackMd can only handle ~50k characters before starting to lag and 100k characters is the limit per note, this doesn't even fit my one summary/tips note on one programming language. Do you know any alternatives? I really like markdown, since all of the notes look clean and organized, I can insert pictures and link to websites easily, but also love to work with them online, since I have to switch between 3 computers between university, home and my laptop.

What are some apps that you use that aren't particularly well known? Let's help each other discover some interesting new tools!

lichess - best chess app out there IMO. Completely free and open source, has daily puzzles, and a pretty active pool of users to play against!
Syncthing - file syncing tool that works with just about any operating system (although I don't think it works with iOS). I use it to take notes and write lyrics/my journal and sync them back to my linux laptop.
Untappd - social media app for tracking craft beers that you drink. I've only just started using it, since I was on holiday and wanted to keep a note of the ales I was drinking. It's a free app, but supported by ads. I believe there's a paid tier, but the free version works well enough, and it's useful for encouraging me and my friends to try new beers when we're out and about.
WK - Japanese flashcard app, which is technically a front-end for the wanikani service. As you learn new radicals, characters, and vocabulary, it serves them back up to you after a certain length of time. If you remember it, it'll wait longer next time, and if you don't get it right, it brings it back to the top of the pile.

This thread might seem weird, but I am considering buying a new smartphone and I have my eyes on the Moto g7 power (for its awesome battery!). Sadly, it is 6.2"! My current phone is 4.7". I have small hands, 6.2" seems way too big.

If anyone has a 6.2" phone, how do you feel about it? Does it even fit in your pants?

My guess:

holograms: they look cool, but will never be more practical than a good screen (including flexible screens, mirrors, different types of glass, projections, etc...)

For the purposes of this post, “never” means “in about 200 years”.

Heya!

The question is rather straightforward. Even though I said smaller, size doesn't really matter for this - the focus is more on the community aspect rather than it being small. Here's my non-exhaustive list (in no particular order):

1. Tildes - This is unsurprising. It's definitely large for a "small" community, but it's managed to preserve it's culture very well, which is rather impressive. It's cozy and has high quality discussion.
2. Various Discord servers and IRC channels. This one is harder to pinpoint, to be honest. As far as IRC channels/Discord servers goes, some of the more niche gaming ones are probably some of the nicest environments. IRC-wise, I really haven't managed to find any particularly active ones, outside of the ones for the next list member...
3. tilde.town and probably the larger tildeverse. Not affiliated with Tildes, but generally just... a nice place to be. It's rather quiet a lot of the time, but their main IRC channel is, frankly, quite great. When it's active.
4. A lot of Mastodon instances, although of course not all. The fediverse is generally a nice place to be, although politics on there is kind of mushy and one sided. Genuine interactions on there, however, are extremely common and sorting by the global timeline is quite nice (most of the time.)
5. rateyourmusic is a nice community of those who are passionate about music. It's quite nice overall, though.

There's definitely a lot I've missed out, mainly because I probably don't know about them.

So, what are some of the smaller (or not) communities that you enjoy?

I think it's safe to say that, in our modern world, everyone has an individual and complex relationship with technology. We're all experiencing the growing pains of uncharted territory, as computers, phones, and the internet continually revolutionize experiences from the everyday to the extraordinary. Unfortunately, it can often feel like every step forward also brings regressions, and what's good for some is not always good for others.

I'm interested in hearing about the ways that technology works for you in your life, both the good and the bad. Some guiding questions:

• What's better in your life because of technology? What is worse?
• How does it impact your career, hobbies, and interpersonal relationships?
• Are there tradeoffs you have to make for incorporating or ignoring tech for certain tasks or aspects?
• Are there areas in which you hope for the increased presence of technology?
• Are there areas where you actively keep tech out?
• Do you think that the problems created for us by technology are design flaws in the tech itself, or are they merely a mirror for pre-existing issues at the human level?

I know "technology" as a term is very broad, but I've intentionally left it that way because I want people to self-select the things most important to them, whether that's their computer, the internet, a phone, an online platform, an assistive tech device, etc. Also, don't feel obligated to list out every piece of tech, as it's gotten so prevalent to be almost omnipresent. Instead, just focus on the things that have a significant impact on your day to day life.

Curious how you guys feel about this as users, uploaders etc? Its an interesting question because this was generally viewed as a good move by instagram, would it be the same with Youtube.

Also, from what I understand a lot of drama on Youtube has been elevated because of public seeing the subs go up/down, maybe this would change how we analyse drama. I dont say this in the sense of someone who enjoys drama, but some of these things reflect social trends/situations.

Edit: I just want to add for clarification; Instagram is currently beta testing a feature where only you the poster can view how many likes and comments you get, the public cannot. The Youtube version would be hiding views/likes/subs from the audience, but not the content creator.

I am currently decluttering, and I have boxes upon boxes of accumulated tech stuff (for lack of a better term). USB cables, dongles, flash drives, cameras, MP3 players, phones, installation discs, etc.

It's a giant mess that I want to be rid of, I just don't know the best way to go about it and thus have some questions:

1. What's my best course of action: Is "electronics recycling" the way to go? Should I sort it and donate the useful stuff to a thrift store? Would local mom-and-pop computer shops potentially be interested in some of it?

(Note: I have no interest in extracting money from the hoard and would be happy for the useful stuff in there to go to a "good home" that can take advantage of it.)

2. Is there anything that's simply not worth donating/recycling? Should I simply throw some older stuff (e.g. floppies, component cables, anything with a parallel port) out, or does recycling somehow reconstitute the metals/resources in them?

3. I have several dead hard drives and flash drives that have personal information on them that I was never able to wipe. Should I just hold onto these indefinitely since someone could use them maliciously, or is the likelihood of that happening close to nil?

So I kind of want to try the Nokia 8110, it's a feature phone with an app store that contains it's own version of Google Maps and Assistant. I use my phone an awful lot, and I'm thinking that a less capable phone would be helpful in using my phone less for browsing the internet, news, and discourse and using it more for what I would want to do with it, calls, texts, navigation, music and podcasts.

Unfortunately, the Nokia 8110 is only available on AT&T in the States, and they stink, so I was wondering if anyone had any picks for devices that would scratch that itch, specialized apps, or other tools that could be used. I like the idea of another device that I could use as a daily driver so I can put some physical distance between myself and my current phone, but if you have an app or a system that you swear by, I'm down for it.

Also kind of interested in maybe combining the ZeroPhone Raspberry Pi with support for Alexa or Google Assistant, but that seems like a time waster and a half.

I thought I've been looking for a good password manager, but I'm not sure that's what I really need.

Here's my use case:

• I currently have a Google Sheet in my Google Drive that contains all my ID/passwords for everything
• In addition I have personal info in there like SSNs and Credit Cards #s
• I want to be able to have instant access to all of the info from my ancient iPhone and my laptop

Things I've tried:

• I messed around with Last Pass a bit and found it couldn't actually fill in the passwords in the apps I was using so I'd have to manually type them, which is a deal breaker for me.
• I've been using FireFox's LockBox and it's a bit better on that front but doesn't actually remember what the password goes to the app so I have to look it up each time, but it does populate them in the appropriate fields.
• Password-protecting a Google Sheet is apparently impossible but was a solution I was after for some time (Excel and Libre can do this..so +1 for software)

Other info:

• I am currently using an iPhone 5 but I plan to "upgrade" to a Samsung Galaxy S7 sometime in the near future. Perhaps that's why the functionality of these password managers seem so inconvenient for me? Would they work better on a modern phone?

What I'm after is perhaps two solutions:

• A password manager that crosses the bridge from desktop FireFox to the apps on my phone, and fills in the password for me automatically. That would allow me to feel like I could move to more random passwords for things.

• Some encrypted, password-protected site/app that could store plain text notes for sensitive things like SSNs and Credit Card #s that would stay in sync between a laptop and a smartphone.

Go ahead and mock me for my terrible security and ancient phone. I deserve it! But when you're done, I'd appreciate some guidance.

EDIT: Sounds like first priority should be to update my phone. Then there appear to be plenty of options to try. Thanks everyone so much!

I'm gonna have to buy a new smartphone soon, but I want to be able to keep that as long as possible. From my viewpoint, there are mainly three aspects to that: performance, software and battery lifespan/replaceability.
Do you have any recommendations (what I was originally hoping for - but didn't find - is a mid to high range phone with a maintained lineageos build and a replaceable battery)? And what are your ways to handle the problem of the user experience on smartphones degrading so quickly?

For me, I have a huge collection of bookmarks in Firefox that are super unorganized. I have some semblance of folder system but...it's quite messy. I'm sure many people have a similar problem. Share your ideas on how you keep your bookmarks organized, what's your system?

It’s no secret that data science is a good career path. The jobs are in demand, the salaries are compelling, and the work is interesting. So how does someone break in?

In particular, I’m interested in how an experienced IT professional can move into data science. What advice would you give to someone with, say, five years of computing experience, who wants to break into the field? Tell me about the skills required, where you’d tell your friend to go to acquire them, and how to get a job without a specialized degree. What would make you say, “I want to hire this person, even if the individual lacks the relevant schooling”?

Someone pings you in slack or github (or discord or on a forum post or wherever) asking for something. Perhaps some advice or a code review. After you help them out, they say "Thanks!". In normal conversation, I would respond with a "You're welcome" or "no problem" or something.

The problem I have is that while I want to be polite and acknowledge their thank you message, I don't want to generate notifications or otherwise distract people. Responding with a github comment will notify and probably email any involved persons. Slack and discord it depends on the channel, but many channels have low enough traffic that I will check every time theres a new message in that channel (and I'm sure I'm not the only one monitoring those channels).

Its not really a big deal and no one is going to get angry about it - but it can distract people or ruin their flow while working and I want to avoid that. In my mind, a reaction emoji is perfect for this. It acknowledges the comment or message if someone looks, but doesn't send notifications or light up the channel name.

...but which reaction should I use? I've never seen a "you're welcome" emoji. I've been typically using a thumbs up (:+1:), but that can look as if someone is seconding the thanks rather than me trying to acknowledge it.

Is there a better way to say "you're welcome" or "no problem" in this situation? Is there a better reaction emoji on github/slack/discord/your communication platform of choice? Should I stop worrying about possibly savings other people an email or small distraction and just say "np" or something?

Traditionally I've used dark themes for everything I could on all of my devices, as I found it easier on the eyes when I'd usually use my computer (evening - night). Recently, I made the switch back to light stuff as I've been using my computer more for notes and assignments I'd normally hand-write, and I find I get drowsy less and have an easier time using the computer in a bright room than before - I just switched my theme on a whim one morning, so I wasn't expecting that at all!

So now I'm rethinking all my previous bias about dark themes being 'better' regardless of the situation, and I'm curious if anyone here had any thoughts and/or could point me to some reading on the subject (the subject being the effects of light/dark colours in work or concentration). It's something I realize now might be fairly important, as I'm looking at my screen for most of the day, but never really gave much thought before outside of tracking down the 'Dark' theme switch.

For the past five or so years I've been using prepaid mvno carriers (in the us btw) and buying my own phone. It's somewhat of a frustrating experience trying to figure out which phones will actually work with which carrier. There's a lot of very attractivly priced phones from Chinese companies that unfortunately just don't support the u.s. LTE bands that i need. Im not really the kind of person who wants to buy a $600+ flagship and carrier offerings are generally abysmal and overpriced.
I also don't feel like I have very many options for carriers as I Live in a fairly rural area where t-mobile gets fairly spotty coverage. I have seen compelling options for Verizon if I wanted 4+ lines (it's only me and the wife right now, so that doesn't help us much) .
I'm definitely jealous of people in Europe and parts of Asia when it comes to cellphone and internet options.

It's obviously bad when "real" data like full names and credit card info leaks, but most data companies collect is probably email address and some anonymous things like which buttons and when the user clicked.

Nevertheless, such data collection, tracking and telemetry is considered quite bad among power users. I don't support those practices either. But I'm struggling to consolidate my arguments agaist data collection. The one I'm confident about is effects on performance and battery life on mobile devices, but why else it's bad I'm not sure.

What are your arguments? Why is it bad when a company X knows what anonymous user Y did and made money on that info? What's the good response to anyone who asks why I'm doing the "privacy things"?

I'd like your input for an article I'm writing.

Let’s say you’re starting a new IT project. It could be custom software; perhaps it’s a migration to cloud services; maybe it’s a shiny new IoT project.

The point is that you're here to build something great. You’re in charge of the design (or an important part of it), and making sure that the resulting system makes everybody happy.

How do you make sure that you are interviewing the right people to find out what “make them happy” looks like? What do you do to get input from the people who matter for the project’s success… without inviting so many suggestions that it’s impossible to deliver everything?

Case in point: Ten years ago I was in charge of an online tech community. The company I worked for hired custom developers to build the software platform, but the developers never talked to me. They interviewed the boss, two levels above me (who just so happened to be the person who signed the checks) even though she had never used this online community or any other. Needless to say, the community software they delivered was horrible, missing basic-to-me features.

Formally this process would be called “identifying the project stakeholders” or “master the requirements-gathering process” but that seems too corporate-speak. I’m looking for real-world examples of what works and what doesn’t, so I can write a genuinely useful article with practical guidelines.

Note that this is NOT about the questions to ask those stakeholders; that’s another discussion. Here I am writing merely (merely!) about making sure you are speaking to the people whose input you need.

My questions:
• How do you decide which people to ask for input? In what way do you find those people? How do you know when you have everyone you should?
• How do you decide whom NOT to invite? Where do you draw the line?
• Tell me about the manner in which you learned that lesson. (The hard way. Anecdotes are good.)
• If you want to be quoted (it's good for business!) tell me (via PM) how to refer to you in the article: Name, title, company name, short company description, URL.

Win10's issues and walled-in options are driving me nuts lately. I have a variety of software like Illustrator, Photoshop, Blender, Tidal the Office Suite and Solidworks that I use very frequently. I really can't not use those. I'd also like to play Steam games.

However, I'd like to use a non-bloated and stupid end user-only OS since win10's shenanigans are driving me mad, but I'm not super tech-savy either(though I'm learning).

Is it feasible to switch over to another OS that offers more freedom in the things I want, but still can run the above programs? If so, which? If not, how should I cope with win10?

I have an undergrad degree in polisci. I was planning on going to law school, but got rejected everywhere I applied. I am really reconsidering going to law school. Last couple years, I realized that I have a genuine interest in coding, and I could pursue it as a career. I learned C++ with online tutorials, and I think I am proficient at it, or at least have the potential to be much better.

Anyway, money is tight, so I would really appreciate any input you have about a career change. Thank you!

(If this belongs on another sub, please let me know)

EDIT: I am in the U.S. I can move states if necessary.

edit: Problem solved, davidb informed me about the vulnerability in version 3.0.4, and that it is fixed in the new version 3.0.6. Somehow Spyhunter thinks i still use 3.0.4, which in turn is the actual problem i had with Spyhunter, not VLC.

Spyhunter 5 has been bothering me about potential data leaks from vlc media player. The vulnerability is generally based on publicly available information.
It would be a shame if i have to switch, been using vlc for as long as i remember. It is probably the best media player out there, but i hate sharing my personal data in any way or form.

Spyhunter msg:

• Severity: Medium, VLC media player (Version 3.0.4)
  • The CAF demuxer in modules/demux/cad.c in VideoLan media player 3.0.4 may read memory from an uninitialized pointer when processing magic cookies in Caf files, because a ReadKukiChunk() cast converts a return value to an unsigned int, even if that value is negative. This could result in a denial of service and/or potential infoleak.

Is this even anything to care about? I have updated VLC including removing cashe and still get the alert. Is a rollback another option perhaps?

SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct, Signal, Wire, Wickr, Telegram, GroupMe, Viber, Threema, etc.

There are dozens of competing messenger services out there, each of which is either supported by or suffers from the network effect. Futhermore, each seems to come with its own pros and cons. I'm curious about not only people's current use, but where everyone thinks we are headed. As such, I have a few questions:

1. Which messengers do you currently use at the moment? What are their advantages and disadvantages?

2. If you could magically switch all of your contacts to be on one messaging service, which would it be and why?

3. Do you think we'll ever see a realistic convergence of messaging, or are people destined to use different platforms for different contacts?

Youtube has a giant lead in the online video streaming market and in spite of many controversies (demonetization, click bait being promoted to peoples' front pages, etc.) there doesn't seem to be any indication that this is going to change. What do you think about the future of this industry? Which (if any) providers have a chance to become viable competitors to YouTube?

So:

• I keep all my passwords in my password manager (Bitwarden)
• All my 2FA codes are generated by AndOTP on my phone.
• My 2FA backup codes are also in Bitwarden, which I think is a bad idea, because that defeats the purpose of 2FA. So where should I put those?
• I have my Bitwarden 2FA backup code in my wallet and in a safe at my house. Is that a good idea for the other backup codes?
• Is there anything I'm forgetting here?

I was browsing r/privacy today and I came across this guy going on about how Mozilla was just pretending to be privacy focused. Here's his comment. Now I don't really know what to think of this, and frankly, I'm getting really exhausted of hearing about how all the things I'm using aren't actually trustworthy. So can so someone put my mind to rest? Does this guy's claims have any truth to them? Thanks.

I have an amazon server that I use to host my email and my simple website. I'm considering setting a vpn up on it, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. Would my data be as secure as with 3rd party vpns? Would Amazon see my traffic? It seems like if I go this route, anything that I do could be traced back to me, because the see the ip of my server and than ask amazon who owns it.

What are your thoughts on the Fediverse style model of social media/websites in general? If you are unfamiliar with it, https://peertube.social/videos/watch/9c9de5e8-0a1e-484a-b099-e80766180a6d and https://peertube.social/videos/watch/d9bd2ee9-b7a4-44e3-8d65-61badd15c6e6

EDIT: Punctuation

My friend was rambling about making his own Stackoverflow/quora clone, but with some random specific features.

Note that this project would probably compete directly with Quora, but have multiple subcomminties like Stackoverflow/Reddit. We think taking programming FAQs from SO is too uphill of a battle to focus on.

What are some great ideas?

The active development of Tildes and the feedback/discussions about features and mechanisms had me thinking. Is the conscious design and moderation of forums for public discourse a manner of social engineering?

I know the connotation of social engineering is usually negative, as in manipulating people for politics. But it's a double edged sword.

Most recently I was reading this feedback on removing usernames from link topics and while reading the comments I was thinking of how meta this all is. It's meta-meta-cognition in that we (well, by far the actual developers) are designing the space within which we execute our discourse and thinking. To paraphrase the above example: user identification can bias one's own impulse reaction to content, either to a beneficial or detrimental end, so how do we want this?

The moderation-influenced scenario is a bit more tricky because it can become too top-heavy, as in one prominent example many of us came from recently... But I think with a balance of direction from the overlords (jk, there is also public input as mentioned) and the chaos of natural public discourse, you could obtain an efficient environment for the exchange of ideas.

I'm not sure what my stimulating question would be for you all, so just tell me what you think.

Thanks to all of you who gave me guidance in the thread about password managers. It got me thinking I should expand the question to overall best practices regarding security, just in case I have any other important blind spots.

What are the essential do's and don'ts of digital security for the average person?

This is going to sound like a total rant, but I just don't know what to do anymore. I've been completely screwed by OnePlus and they really just don't care. I bought a OnePlus 6T back at the end of November and received it in early December. It has barely worked for about two weeks since then. The ticket I have open with them is ridiculously long. And then they just went dead silent on me. I assumed I was being ignored. I even got the perma-hold ignore on the phone too. But today OnePlus finally replied after 27 days!! During all this time I just went out and bought a Pixel 3XL and I am tickled pink with it.

If anyone wants a good laugh at my expense you are welcome to read my story on my site read my story on my site.

From the bottom of my heart - be careful spending your money with OnePlus.

*edit - formatting

I feel like it's impossible to remember passwords that are long, random, and unique for every service. I have too many accounts.

On the other hand, I don't like the idea of giving up control of my passwords to a password manager and using the ones it generates and stores. It feels weird that I wouldn't "know" my passwords.

Is this a hangup I should just get past? What do I do if I need to login somewhere but cannot access my password manager?

My friend and I are considering finishing a prototype of a Reddit app. We've already agreed to the following features on first release (if we keep going).

• Similar urls to current Reddit website (so you can change the URL to reddit.com and see the same page)
• voting, commenting, posting selftexts and links
• Directly uploading image posts may come later if it looks complicated
• Masstagger integrated.
• Dark theme (other options in later releases)
• Primary use case: desktop and mobile web.
• Performance first. Reddit's 1 minute load time on default mobile, missing/broken features on i.reddit.com/.compact, and a few tiny complaints on the desktop site are the primary reasons we are considering writing this app. Native is not in our collective skillsets or radar, so we're going to go the extra mile to make sure the app respects both your time and your battery where possible. We did do some research and found that Reddit has actually been negligent in this regard on mobile web, meanwhile we have years of experience in the subject.
• Mailbox (send/receive messages, orange icon on new message/comment reply/thread reply).
• No infinite scroll
• View source JSON of comments/posts.

What are some features/ideas that members of this community would really like in a Reddit app?

Is anyone here taking online courses e.g. Udacity, Coursera, Udemy, etc.? I just finished the Udacity AI Programming in Python course not long ago, and it was with a bit of gnashing of teeth towards the end. :[ The funny thing is, it wasn't (just) because it was technically challenging, but mostly learning-related anxiety and procrastination.

I'm curious about what others in the Tildes community are learning via massive open online courses (MOOCs), and what you think about them.

• How have online courses helped your career/personal goals (or did not meet expectations)?
• What do you think can be done better by these course providers or other entities?

In a meta-sort of way, I'm building a platform called MindsMatch help other learners finish their online courses faster. We are looking for users to alpha-test if you are interested!

I assume most of the people that post in Tildes came from Reddit (or they used Reddit primarily). Does anyone else primarily post on something other than Reddit? As an example, I primarily post on Something Awful. I think what attracted me to Tildes is what initially repulsed me from Reddit. I absolutely hate the idea of my opinion being drowned out simply because it was downvoted. Tildes has a bit in common with Something Awful in that sense. Something Awful is a more 'traditional' format. Each post follows the other and there isn't any mechanic for a community to hide or collapse a post.

Additionally, it seems like the few punishments that occur here are a bit more open and transparent than Reddit. That is similar to SA, where they have something called a 'Lepers Colony' to see punishment reasons. Tildes appeals to me because even though it has a hint of Reddit, the discussions are a bit more focused just like SA.

If you do post on older message board, which ones do you post on, and why do you like it?

Like I mentioned I primarily post on Something Awful (Games and C-Spam subforums). I also used to post on GameFAQs and the resulting spinoff called LUElinks. I enjoyed each of these because they were a little bit more rough than other message boards, but they weren't a wild west like some of the anonymous options that existed.

Hello!

I’m a musician that’s looking into recording video of myself as I’m playing at my home and then uploading it to YouTube. I was wondering if there were any users out there that do something similar and what type of setup you have/would suggest if there are. I play acoustic, no electronic pickup.

I appreciate any suggestions and hope everyone has a great day!

I can install Linux or Windows or even BSD on my laptop without much hassle, and get the updates directly from the OS vendors.

This isn't the case for smartphones. You don't have choice over your OS. You don't even get android updates directly from Google, and have to wait for device manufacturers to release the updates. Why is it so?

A few years ago I got into improving my knowledgebase of personal security - theory and tools - but it didn't go much farther than reinforcing everything with 2FA and setting up a password manager, plus setting up a VPN and full disk encryption.

It seems like we're amidst a rising tide of data breaches due to, IMHO, laziness and cheapness on the part of many companies storing personal data.

So, recently I've embarked on my second journey to improve my own security via habits and software and teaching myself. Privacytools has been a super helpful resource. My main lesson this time is to take ownership/responsibility for my own data. To that end, I have switched to KeyPass with yubikey 2FA (still trying to figure out how to get 2FA with yubi on my android without NFC), moved over to Joplin for my note taking (away from Google and Evernote) and also switched to NextCloud for all of my data storage and synchronization. I'm also de-Googling myself, current due-date is end of March when Inbox is shut down.

So my question / discussion topic here, is, what are everyone's thoughts on the future of practical personal security and privacy? More decentralization and self-hosting? That's what it looks like to me. Blockchain tech would be cool for public objects like news articles, images etc. but from what I understand that has zero implication for anything personal. The other newish tech is PGP signatures, which I'm still having trouble implementing/finding use for, but surely that will change.

There is this topic but that ended up just being about encryption which I think is a no-brainer at this point. I'm more so looking for the leading edge trends.

I'm downsizing my digital life. I deleted my account on reddit, on another phpbb forum and i don't have instagram/facebook apps anymore.

This subject got me thinking about my music.

I grab/buy albums in mp3 and i have so many that it's impossible to listen to everything. I don't pay for any service like spotify because i don't like. I prefer to download and/or buy in places like bandcamp where i can download the album.

I started reading about other codecs like flac and opus. The availability of albums in flac are way less than mp3 and it's a lossless format. If i focus on it i will be forced to downsize my music library.

The problem is disk space in my smartphone. I'm not an audiophile so i'm not able to hear the difference between flac and 320kpbs mp3. This is where opus enters. This codec gives half the size with better quality than mp3. Soundcloud uses it. A 96kbps opus is the same quality as 320kbps mp3.

Now that Android can play opus i don't see a reason to keep using mp3. The downside is converting flac files every time i want to put on my phone.

I could just convert flac to opus and just live with opus everywhere, freeing a lot of space. But i think keeping flac files is better for archiving because it's lossless. If opus for some reason disappears, i'll have a lossy format and would have convert to another one losing more quality.

How do you deal with music?

hey all!

i think this is my first ~talk post, 👀 nice place ye got here!

so, i got to thinking about social media sites a few days ago (whilst trying to brainstorm a sideproject that isn't a social media site) and i got to thinking about Voat.

it seemed like an interesting idea at first, a nearly literal copy-paste of old reddit meant a system that i was already used to, but i'd also be early enough to get whatever username i want, and they even have a cute little goat!

and then uhh

reddit got rid of a lot of hate-communities

and they all went to voat.

now - i guess that's fine. if they want to all exile themselves into their own corner of the internet, i can't stop em

but my question is like - what about the people behind Voat? obviously there's people running the site, there's investment money involved, and they have to know that their site is the front-yard above-ground pool with green water of the internet, right?

i tried looking for some interviews of the founder - but i couldn't find anything.

any of you lot know what's goin' on with voat? what are your thoughts on the site itself? its longevity?

So I have all my passwords, TOTP backup codes, and account recovery codes in my password manager (Bitwarden.) In turn, Bitwarden is secured with a master password and TOTP 2FA. I have a recovery code for the 2FA in the event that I can't get to andOTP anymore (2FA app.) The thing is, where do I put that code? I can't put it in a note app or anything, because if I'm locked out of Bitwarden, I don't have my passwords. Do you see my problem? I was thinking about physically writing it down, but that makes me nervous because I might lose it. Are there any good solutions to this problem?

Hi there,

I'm considering purchasing a used Galaxy S7 and moving to LineageOS and would like to hear about similiar experiences. I currently own a iPhone 5S (only my second smartphone). I plan to continue using Ting as my provider.

I am attracted to LineageOS because it's open source and allows greater control than the standard Android-build I'd get from an ISP. I'm not afraid of installing ROMs or tinkering - I know I'll be doing a lot more of that by moving to an open-source OS.

I was looking at Galaxy S7 because it's well-known and has wide support/information available on forums, etc and of course because it's relatively cheap to get a used one ($200-ish).

I'm in the US and use Ting as my provider.

So some questions I have are:

• Should I expect to use the standard Google Play store? I'm still a little unclear on this after looking at the LineageOS website and wiki. The best I could find for an answer is this article talking about installing default google apps. I think my question is so basic it's not addressed on their site lol.
• Can I drag and drop MP3s from my computer to the phone? In other words, can I get my music on there without having to install something dreadful like iTunes or use Spotify/Amazon Music?
• The LineageOS project looks healthy to my untrained eye...any rumors that it'll vanish overnight?
• I found these instructions for a Galaxy S7 Anything else I should know or look out for?
• Any general thoughts/advice about moving from the Apple to the Google ecosystem? I'm entrenched in Google everywhere BUT my iPhone where I mostly use Google apps.
• What else should I look out for? See any gaps in my understanding?