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johnbrodie

404 karma · joined January 6, 2013

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johnbrodie··on Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States
The DOT standard isn't good, but the US doesn't disallow helmets that meet other standards. You can buy Bell and Alpinestars MIPS helmets in the US today, no gray market needed: https://www.revzilla.com/mips-motorcycle-helmets
johnbrodie··on Fly To Podman: a script that will help you to migrate from Docker
Hasn't become more friendly from what I've seen. The project seems largely centered around K8s, and isn't really investing in fixing anything on the "compose" side. I did the same thing as you when Docker first started going down the more commercial path, and after dealing with random breakages for a number of years, fully switched back to Docker (for local dev work on osx).

Podman machine is fine, but occasionally you have to fix things _in the vm_ to get your setup working. Those bugs, along with other breakages during many upgrades, plus slower performance compared to Docker, made me switch back. This is just for local dev with a web app or two and some supporting services in their own containers via compose, nothing special. Totally not worth it IMO.

johnbrodie··on Allstate used GasBuddy and other apps to track driving behavior: lawsuit
This seems to run completely contrary to Mazda's own Connected Services Privacy Policy, which states that by default (ie if you aren't paying the subscription for connected services, or never enrolled in it), they don't share info outside of Mazda, other than aggregate data for research purposes. Even the section discussing if you are an active subscriber indicates that your written consent is needed before it's shared with unrelated third parties.

https://www.mazdausa.com/site/privacy-connectedservices

johnbrodie··on Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
I can't recall the exact settings to push via ADB, but the Internet Connectivity Check is "easy" to fix. Create a server that's always up that responds with a 301 (or whatever the check expects), and push the address to the phone. Done.

It's a shame that Google's servers are the default, and I wish it were at least called out by Lineage. That said, I doubt they want to cover hosting costs of such a service (although I'd think they'd be fairly minimal).

johnbrodie··on CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative
LineageOS + microG here, on a motoX4. It's been the phone I use every day for about a year. My wife has the exact same setup, and generally gets along fine with it. FDroid has _most_ of the stuff we want. Some apps just aren't available there, so we end up using the Aurora store for those, with Warden used to scan those apps and stub out as much tracking code as it can. It's all about compromises, especially for others.

Self-hosted NextCloud replaced Drive/Dropbox, and with some plugins it also does phone/location tracking, secure messaging and video calls, TODO lists, and some more. Self-hosted PhotoPrism replaces Google Photos.

The phone experience hasn't been bad. One thing that came up initially is that most of the open source apps aren't as "pretty", and the UX just isn't as good. I don't care about it too much, and I'm fine with overall using the phone less anyway. The issue that comes up on a regular basis is the Google Maps replacement. OSMand is a great app, but like someone else mentioned it's more of a "look up the address and type it in" experience than a "show me all Thai restaurants in the area" experience. IMO small price to pay, I've been using GPS much less, and I've gotten much better at navigating with my "mental map".

johnbrodie··on Google have declared Droidscript is malware
More and more functionality is being shoved into Google Play Services. I have a deGoogled phone running Lineage, but even with that, no Google Play Services, and some custom settings (like changing the captive portal URLs), there's still network traffic to Google. Add in relative unknowns like AGPS and the situation gets even worse. I also have no push notifications for most apps, have to keep a static notification so Android doesn't kill apps like my email client, AND still run micro-G for basic functionality to work. Oh, and thanks to SafetyNet there are still apps that refuse to run, even with systemless "undetectable" root.

Android itself might be really good, but it's pretty obvious that deGoogled phones have a strong chance of being functionally useless in the future.

johnbrodie··on Google have declared Droidscript is malware
I got my Pinephone last week, and have been fairly surprised that it's reasonably usable. I viewed the purchase more as a donation and a signal that there is a market, but I've been using it more and my Android phone less as the days go by.

I'd encourage more people here to purchase one, even if just to tinker with. There's so many "I'll buy one when it's ready" replies, but that may never happen if there's no money to fund the companies trying to make an alternative to Android/iOS.

johnbrodie··on 2021 Williams F1 Computational Fluid Dynamics
Not entirely correct, here's an interesting YouTube channel by an ex-F1 aero engineer: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kyleengineers

You're correct insomuch as he's not sharing CFD settings, and is bound by what I assume is a pretty strict NDA, but he still has a ton of useful content. Of course, if you want his true opinion/skills on something specific, he'll do so for a price.

johnbrodie··on Screw it, I’ll host it myself
eh, I ran the command, alt-tabbed to something more interesting, and checked later in the day to see that it was done. Never had an issue running it, and only ever needed to when I was doing the initial data migration.
johnbrodie··on Screw it, I’ll host it myself
Ah, during our migration we did try to move thousands of files from a "Dropbox" folder to a "NextCloud" folder, and indeed the Windows client was not happy. Since it was a one-time thing, the solution was to move the files "manually" over SSH and just run the NextCloud "scan" utility to pick up the changes on disk.

I'm running NextCloud via the official Docker image, reverse proxied through nginx.

johnbrodie··on Screw it, I’ll host it myself
I had the same thought as the title of the article go through my head, but we ended up with a simpler setup as I wanted something I don't have to constantly mess with:

* Put together an overbuilt NAS box running ZFS On Linux

* Simple docker-compose file for all services

* Backups through borgmatic (via ZFS snapshots)

* Auto-updates through watchtower

* Punted on email and use FastMail, switched to our own domain from gmail

Services we run include:

* PhotoPrism for semi-Google Photos functionality

* Nextcloud and Collabora for file sync, sharing

* Kodi for home media

* Tiddlywiki

* DDNS through Gandi since we're on a dynamic IP

* PiHole for some ad/privacy protection

* Robocert for SSL

* Nginx to reverse proxy everything

It wasn't _easy_ to set up, but in a year, any given week I typically spend 0 hours dealing with it. No problem that _has_ cropped up has taken more than a few minutes to fix, mostly around docker networking and auto-restarting containers after Watchtower auto-updates them, a problem I've since fixed.

This setup seems way easier than k3s or some other recommendations, doesn't require much new knowledge, and is as portable as I need it to be. If needed I could plop the docker-compose on a new machine, change some mount points, and largely be up and running again quickly. It's let us switch to "deGoogled" phones and unplug from almost every hosted service we used to use.

johnbrodie··on Screw it, I’ll host it myself
We've been using Nextcloud in my home for the better part of a year now, almost completely problem free. I even have auto-updates via watchtower. We have 136 GB of data on it (just checked now). Not sure where that lies compared to your data. It is running on a fairly beefy box though, not a rPi. Only issues so far have been needing to set up cron, which took about 5 minutes doing it the "easy" way (host runs a docker command in it's crontab). Collabora was super annoying to set up, but that was a one-time cost.
johnbrodie··on This Blog is now hosted on a GPS/LTE modem
You can buy an American-made Purism phone, which may or may not fit your definition. It's not cheap, though.
johnbrodie··on Whistleblower: Ubiquiti Breach “Catastrophic”
Ended up with some used Cisco equipment aimed at the small business segment. Similar-ish price to new Ubiquiti gear, and I've spent essentially 0 time maintaining the stuff beyond initial setup. Still don't have APs set up though, I've just been making do with what I had laying around.
johnbrodie··on Whistleblower: Ubiquiti Breach “Catastrophic”
I almost did the same thing, but it was clear a year ago that they were moving towards "cloud based" services, something I didn't want to participate in. Looks like it was a good decision, in retrospect.
johnbrodie··on eOS DeGoogled Privacy Smartphone in the US Review
Doing something is better than doing nothing, you're leaking less data overall even if you install all the same apps. In general though, yes, with a deGoogled phone you have to watch out for what apps you're installing and try to stick to FDroid for the most part.

There's also Warden [0], which does a decent job of stubbing out built-in trackers for your "must have" apps that are otherwise privacy-invading.

[0] https://www.xda-developers.com/warden-open-source-app-aurora...

johnbrodie··on Google-Free Android Smartphones Are Now Available in the U.S.
I recently de-Googled both my phone and my wife's. Although we try to use FOSS apps as much as possible, there's still a handful of apps we've downloaded via Aurora, all have worked fine. Obviously YMMV but I don't think "most apps won't work" is true.
johnbrodie··on Shopify says remove Stripe billing or get booted from their app store
This has been _specifically_ called out in Shopify's recent emails to partners. If the private apps are essentially all the same, it's considered abusing private apps and they may come down on you at some point. Private apps, in Shopify's eyes, are for something like a consultant whom is building one-off apps for clients, not as a way to avoid the store.
johnbrodie··on Airbnb will build a new tech hub in Atlanta
I live in Phoenix and had the same worry when moving here. I'm in the suburbs, and have a fairly long commute with my current job (well, we're still WFH, but it _was_ fairly long). Maybe I can shed some light on one way of living in such an area.

One key, in my suburb area there's reasonably sized community parks all over. Shortly I'll take a 30 minute after-lunch walk, at the park that's a few houses down and big enough for a 30-minute walking loop.

Commute times CAN be long, but don't have to be. I have no idea why motorcycles aren't more used, especially in areas where there's no real winter. In CA you can lane split and _really_ cut down commute times. Here in AZ motorcyclists can't yet split lanes, but we can use the HOV lane. Cuts my commute time in half.

Further, Phoenix doesn't have a great downtown area anyway. There's plenty of interesting restaurants and shops spread throughout the valley. I just don't have to go "across town" very often, so the sprawl isn't that big of a deal.

Lastly, I can be in downtown Scottsdale in 30 minutes if I want, but I can also be in alone in nature, with likely no one around me for miles, in about 45.

johnbrodie··on Pine64 Februrary Update: Show and Tell
For what it's worth, location services work fine in MicroG, at least for any app I've tried. MicroG presents the same API as the "real" Google version, and lets the user choose which backends to use for things like network-based location.
johnbrodie··on Farmers are having to hack their own tractors to make repairs
Tesla is pushing the same anti-right-to-repair angle and also seems to get (mostly) admiration by the "tech community" at large. As seems to always be the case, it's a lot easier to be critical when the company/group/individual isn't "on your side".
johnbrodie··on Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Robinhood in the State of New York
Posted this in another thread, but TDA and other blocked buying on margin, not buying with your own money. Completely different IMO. Source: Their own statements and buying GME this morning on TDA without issue.
johnbrodie··on We Are Preparing a Class Action Lawsuit Against Robinhood
Schwab, TDA, and others restricted trading on margin. A company saying "we won't loan you money to speculate on this volatile stock" is way different than saying "we won't let you trade this stock with your money", IMO.
johnbrodie··on Taboola to go public at $2.6B valuation
Most pumps around here will mute the sound by pressing the right button, second from the top, beside the screen. Some pumps require a different button to mute so I just spam all the buttons around the screen if at a new station. They are incredibly loud and obnoxious sometimes.
johnbrodie··on How to leave Google and why
I've made the same switch and had the same thought. In response I just unsubscribed aggressively from most everything. Much cleaner mailbox now, and I really never took any action on almost any promotional/update style email anyway, so less noise overall than Gmail now. It's actually been a good switch.
johnbrodie··on Degoogling My Life
My wife and I just did this. I've been using a custom domain for years, so it was just a matter of changing MX records to Fastmail. My wife only used her @gmail address, so it was a bit more involved. Essentially:

- Set up new email at your service of choice

- Import whatever old email from gmail that you want to keep

- Go through whatever list you have (password manager, your brain, etc) and update email addresses (as a bonus rotate passwords while you're at it)

- For a few weeks, regularly look at both your new and old email. As something comes into gmail, either unsubscribe or update your email for that sender, and delete it.

- A few weeks later, nothing remains to switch over (at least nothing of importance).

johnbrodie··on Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce
I did the same thing over the past few weeks, along with some other self-hosted apps to get rid of as many SaaS dependencies as possible, DropBox being one of them. Fairly easy to install, but someone would need to write the "glue" to piece everything together for it to really take off.
johnbrodie··on People expect technology to suck because it sucks
A car has tons of parts that, sure are "governed by physics", but in effect just randomly fail. I can theoretically understand that my there's a clunk in the frontend of my car because I've exceeded the MTTF of a suspension bushing. To almost everyone though, it's essentially just a random event based on nothing they've perceived.
johnbrodie··on Jamstack Handbook – All things Jamstack with 3 step-by-step tutorials
I have yet to encounter a link/email about "JAM Stack", including meetup invites, that isn't trying to sell me something. That there seems to be so many people hopping on this train confuses me.
johnbrodie··on Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup
I recently installed a mini-split in my garage, Mr. Cool DIY 24k. The lines come precharged, as long as you don't need to alter the length, you can completely DIY it. Most people just coil up the extra line behind the unit if needed, the length of my run meant I had no extra.

It's clearly not the same quality as the non-DIY Mitsubishi and other units, but US installers barely know what mini-splits are anyway. Installing mine cost under 2k total IIRC, and the nearest quote from a pro was 5k+. Highly recommended.

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