They use xmpp as their messaging system I think. Xmpp is open source, but I am not sure about the licence used.

This is not bad for a start (common commands):

https://linuxblog.io/90-linux-commands-frequently-used-by-linux-sysadmins/

I use Syncthing-fork (fdroid). It lets you set you granular per folder settings like only sync on home WiFi.

I’d say it’s best to only buy routing devices supporting openwrt. Some Ubiquity devices seem compatible, so maybe you are in luck. In my opinion it’s just best to stay away from preinstalled commercial software and just install Linux. You get away from the whole process of enshitification, gain long term support and an incredible set of features commercial software will never provide (at a reasonable price) imho.

I’ve been using droidcamx to utilise any android phone as a webcam for a couple of years and it’s working great. Phones tend to have way better cameras compared to webcams so the video quality will be top notch in must most cases.

It’s cool they included this into android 14, though.

Could you explain why you wouldn’t use it?

I’ve been using it for a couple of years and am happy with it, it grants an extra layer of security I think, if you can wipe the device when lost/stolen. Also very handy if you misplaced the phone and its set to not ring, as with this it will ring at full volume. You don’t need to use their server for the app to function, if that is your concern. I use a secondary device from my household. You can send a text message to your phone to let it ring even when its set to silent mode/get its location/or even wipe it remotely.

Ok, yeah, you’ve got a point I think. But one could argue if microg is enabled by default, at least some info might leak to google as their push servers are contacted and a device id is created (even if the data is anonymized to some extend.). (Depending on if these settings are enabled by default in microg which I am not sure of).

Here’s some info from the divestOS faq (cmp.: https://divestos.org/pages/faq):

"Anything important I should know about microG?¶

The 'Google device registration' and 'Google SafetyNet' options WILL make microG connect to Google servers.
The 'Cloud Messaging' option WILL make microG maintain a persistent connection to Google servers.
The 'Cloud Messaging' option does NOT require a Google account.
The 'Google SafetyNet' option WILL download and execute proprietary obfuscated code from Google and is strongly NOT recommended.
While microG itself is open source, any apps talking to it will do so using the proprietary Google Play Services library."

It goes on to provide some guidelines if you want to use microg:

How should I configure microG?¶

"Depending on the apps you want to use there are a few different ways you can use microG.

Some apps don't need microG but check that they were installed via Play, in this case you only need microG Companion/FakeStore and to install the app via `Aurora Store` (via session installer) or `Obtainium`. This mechanism only works on 18.1+ currently, adb workaround still necessary on older versions.
Some apps will work with microG simply installed without any Google connections, in this case it is strongly recommended to revoke Network permission from the microG app.
Some apps need push notifications via Google, for them you must let microG maintain a persistent identifiable connection to Google. Enable 'Google device registration' and 'Cloud Messaging' in microG.
Some apps require a captcha to be performed by the user, for them you can enable the 'Google SafetyNet' option.
Some apps require SafetyNet to work, while the option to enable it currently exists it will not work in the unprivileged mode that DivestOS uses and will be removed in a future update."

So depending on your thread model, you still would want to disable some of the options in microg to have absolutely no leakage of data to google. For example I am not comfortable any more with using push notifications since it was revealed that state actors use this info to tail users communications.

Here is a thorough analysis of /os’s security and privacy.

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/

Tldnr: it’s alright but but grapheme, divestos or calyxos should be preferred if those are available on your device.

Problematic seems the unique device id /e os generates and sends on every update and also security updates for the integrated webview browser have been severely out of date in the past.

Dreams have symbolic meanings. They often represent things that happened in your waking life that have not been resolved. If the dream is recurring it could mean something important to you remains unresolved. If you can identify the reason for your dream and understand why are having it, it can stop recurring. For example I often dreamed about falling down a a stair at my grandparents house well into my teens. When I told my dad about it, he said I had actually fallen down a stair at home when I was two years old. The dreams stopped after that. Here the dream symbol is really close to the real thing, but it could be different in your case.

“Dialing 911 in a dream is a “cry for help” and reflects feelings of concern about a period of emotional crisis. If you are dialing 911 in a dream or someone else is, identify the emergency or urgent situation you or that person wants help with in your/their waking life.  Getting a busy signal, no answer, the phone doesn’t work, or you can’t dial properly, reflect feelings of frustration, difficulty or failure to communicate your need for help with an “emergency” in your waking life.” (Cmp.: https://www.dreamdoctor.com/index.php?option=com_dreams&controller=dictionary&task=details&id=1&Itemid=24)

So try to find out what your personal emergency could be, talk to someone about it and chances are the dreams are going to stop.

The Lawrence Arms are an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999.

That’s from Wikipedia, I don’t know, I would have called it punk rock as well…

Gaslight Anthem

Satanic Surfers

Millencolin

Lawrence Arms

Luther

You don’t really need the sever at all if you have another phone in your family that can send a text message. Now that I think of it it might not be a bad idea to set up a sever as backup. But the public sever from the developer should be fairly safe to use as well…

I’ve been using xmpp for several years now. Even running my own server for family and friends. It’s a great feeling to be fully independent imho.

I’ve used a Bluetooth heart monitor worn around the chest (was around 20 $ ten years ago) to measure the heart rate before. It works well with open tracks and should be more reliable compared to a device worn around the wrist. I am not sure the gps tracker on a watch works be better than the one on your phone anyways. It might be a problem with your phone killing background apps like opentracks. Check https://dontkillmyapp.com before pulling the plug on a new device.

How about we set a no tracking flag in our browsers for example and companies actually respect the choice? One can only dream…

Another option would be to install an im server that is low on resources and not eating your sdcard. I think xmpp would work a lot better on a pi. Prosody, ejabberd or snikket should work nicely.

We managed to kill off a third of the entire bug population during the last 25 years or so.

Are you implying the tabs backups are not written into the profile folder? Because think 10 - 20 GB a day is still something to be convened about. https://www.servethehome.com/firefox-is-eating-your-ssd-here-is-how-to-fix-it/

I have used Firefox in ram for a couple of months now without problems and am pretty happy with it.

Conversions on android keeps a websocket connection open to receive messages. It’s supposed to generate very little overhead in battery consumption. The unified push app on android uses the same technique to provide other apps with pushes. So you could set conversations to be the push provider on your phone and would not need the unified push app any more. This way you would be using the same amount of battery as before.

The conversations xmpp support channel is very helpful if you have further questions: someone there will also very likely know if any apps with unified push support exist.

xmpp:conversations@conference.siacs.eu?join

https://www.messenger-matrix.de/messenger-matrix-en.html

^^ Good comparison with other IMs.