I need one hand free to… I need one hand free!

What if I’m a basket case?

I’ve always been quite techie (maybe not by trade, but by passion), and been decoupling from big tech solutions ever since the Snowden revelations dropped. Ditched a lot of non-free software and services first (MS Office -> LibreOffice being one of the biggest), then switched to Desktop Linux and degoogled Android. I suppose self-hosting my own services and taking control of my network was the next logical step on this journey. That, and immich. It’s so ridiculously good, it single-handedly made me want to run my first real server.

You’re not wrong. But as you said yourself, this only applies to your own hardware. Some of us do engage in this weird thing called “going outside”, with some taking it as far as not only going there to touch grass, but also meet other people (gross, I know).

In these situations, even I, an individual who has

• a private e-mail that is exactly that: private (through aliases and strict protocols as to who gets the root address)
• a physical mailbox mostly clean of ads because advertisers either do not get my address in the first place, or they get a friendly letter telling them where to shove their catalogues
• adblocker plugins in every browser
• hosts-based blocking on top of that and
• a network-wide DNS-based adblocker just for good measure,

even I, builder, king and prisoner of this privacy fortress, am exposed to ads when I occasionally leave it.

I see ads when my kid asks me to read out to him the contents of that colourful banner above the parking lot.

I see ads when I watch cable TV with my parents and they just let the ad break wash over them like a jovial stream of diarrhea.

I see ads when I go shopping and I cannot focus on my own thoughts because only a few metres away there’s an ad screen loudly announcing the technological marvels of Buddy’s Fully-automatic Butt Crack Scratcher to the world.

In these situations, I really feel the contents of that OP. I feel the brazen attempt to steal my attention when all I want is to be present. I feel the insult to my intelligence because some twat in marketing decided I’m unable to or unworthy of making my own decisions. And I feel the need to quell this frivolous invasion of my time and headspace.

And that’s why, in these situations, I take the liberty to turn off the shop’s TV while I’m there. I take my parent’s remote, mute the ad diarrhea and strike up a conversation. And I promise the kiddo to read him something proper once we get home, but not one of those stupid ads.

(We recently pulled up in front of another giant ad banner, and the little guy went: “Dad, that’s just another one of those stupid ads, right?” Imagine how proud dad was, seeing that another system-wide adblocker had been installed…)

Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

That, or governments (which have started to move to Matrix for their communications) start investing in Matrix and contribute code / PRs.

True that! I’m running plenty of those apps myself (though on a dumb display powered by a Linux machine), so I can appreciate the setup! Since you’re running Google TV: have you tried running Newpipe? Imho, it’s a no-brainer replacement for the YouTube app and blows it out of the water both with regard to the features it packs and the privacy advantages it brings.

Seeing that cable management, I know why you’d want to “cut the cord”. (Scnr! 😁)

TYSM for the link! I’ll probably switch to this.

Well, 🤬!

The handoff (if you can call it that) was extremely sketchy, including the “explanation” on the Syncthing forums. Made me switch to Nel0x’s fork of the app.

Well, there’s no license because there is no code on their Github. They claim their P2P framework is open source. Yet, that is just the part that allows clients to connect. But I also need to check that what is transferred through that connection is truly encrypted. And if there’s no code, there’s no basis to even develop trust.

This is the second time I stumble across Keet this week. It sounds interesting, and yet it appears not to be open source. All I could find is a Github page where they publish their APKs, but no source whatsoever. Is it really closed source? Because I don’t to “trust me, bruh” crypto.

This is the correct approach, OP. Bazzite is good, but its immutability is an aspect one needs to get used to and learn to work with. Since you’re not (and I’m not saying I am ;), rather stick to something you feel comfortable supporting, because you’ll be the one they’ll come running to if they have a problem.