David Enzel Profile Photo

David Enzel

Technology

    ∞

    A complete guide to Bluesky 🦋 – mackuba.eu

    A complete guide to Bluesky 🦋 – mackuba.eu

    I want to thank Kuba Suder of Poland for this well written and detailed guide to Bluesky, which he periodically updates. I have a much better understanding of what Bluesky is all about because of it. I learned about it by reading Michael Tsai’s excellent tech blog.

    ∞

    The Value of Having Your Own Domain

    IntelTechniques:

    I have always preached using your own domains for all vital email. Sure, we all have burners with various providers for all of the junk, but I would never use a Proton Mail, Tuta, or Fastmail domain for anything which is important to me, such as a financial institution or work communications. ANY service could shut down or kick you out tomorrow. When you use your own domain, you can easily forward it to another service within an hour.

    The post also stresses that redundancy is also important:

    I maintain a paid package through Proton Mail, Tuta, and Fastmail at all times. I can store all of my domains at any of them whenever needed. While I doubt any of them are going away any time soon, I have redundancy.

    I have paid email accounts at both Protonmail and Fastmail. I’m glad I do.

    ∞

    Are Internet Prices in the US Too High?

    Om:

    [M] y parents [in India] pay $10 for a 500 Mbps connection, as long as they buy their “cable bundle” and phone service from the same provider. For about $35-a-month gets you a 1Gbps fiber connection. Wow, that is half of what I pay to Google Fiber in San Francisco for the same speed. It is clear we are paying way too much for broadband in the US.

    ∞

    Text-only Websites

    Sijmen J. Mulder has a wonderful directory of websites composed simple, marked up, hyperlinked text. These sites load quickly, scroll smoothly, spare your battery.

    There are some interesting light sites on Mulder’s list including a text version of NPR. Try them. They load lickety-split.

    ∞

    Even Smart People Get Scammed

    Cory Doctorow:

    I was tricked by a phone-phisher pretending to be from my bank, and he convinced me to hand over my credit-card number, then did $8,000+ worth of fraud with it before I figured out what happened. And then he tried to do it again, a week later!

    You can’t be too careful. I think it’s great that at least some folks share what happened to them. It serves as a warning to us all.

    See also:

    ∞

    French Language Resources for Francophone Francophiles

    I have found these resources helpful for keeping up and improving my French. This list is a work in progress. I welcome suggestions of other resources.

    TV Series

    Film

    News

    Music

    YouTube

    Last updated: February 15, 2024

    ∞

    BlueSky Now Open to the Public

    Nick Heer:

    Bluesky does not need to become more popular than behemoths like Twitter or Threads to be successful. Twitter itself proved that: it was big, sure, but despite operating nowhere near the scale of Facebook or Instagram, it was disproportionately influential.

    Bluesky’s interpretation of a text-based social network is compelling. It is familiar, fast, and feature-rich, without being overwhelming.

    See also: The Washington Post and the BlueSky Blog.

    I am on BlueSky in case you’d like to follow me there. The iPhone app is fast and beautiful. For me, this is an experiment. I hope it turns out better than Twitter.

    ∞

    Comparing Weather Forecast Accuracy

    ForecastAdvisor shows you the accuracy of the major weather forecasters, including Accuweather, AerisWeather, Foreca, the National Weather Service, Open Weathermap.

    For my area, ForecastAdvisor said Foreca, which is new to me1, is the most accurate. I’m trying it out.

    1. Foreca collects weather data and creates its own weather forecasts by combining meteorological expertise with data science. ↩︎

    ∞

    Om on Instagram

    Om explains why he no longer posts on Instagram:

    And then there is Instagram, which I have given up for Lent. I must say, it is quite a relief to not be looking at all those other photos and perfect lives. It is great to not think about where I could be, and instead be grateful for where I am. I have been walking around town looking for images and then sharing them on my own blog or with friends over iMessage. There have been discussions on the relative merits and demerits of certain photos. It is incredibly refreshing to actually get a conversation instead of a “heart.”

    But the best part of not being on IG is the absence of influencers and ads selling me substandard shit. I’ll admit that I have fallen prey to ads promising gold (actually, no-show socks and joggers) that turned out to be utter crap. I have ended up ordering USB cables that are just horrible. But I’ve learned my lesson: I don’t trust anything being advertised on Instagram and peddled by influencers. And I’m glad to be rid of them.

    Om still has an Instagram account but explained on June 1, 2020 that he is “out” of Instagram.

    ∞

    Jaron Lanier: Why to Delete Your Social Media Accounts

    One of the main reasons to delete your social media accounts is that there isn’t a real choice to move to different social media accounts. Quitting entirely is the only option for change. If you don’t quit, you are not creating the space in which Silicon Valley can act to improve itself.

    Lanier, Jaron. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now (Kindle Locations 308–310). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

    Lanier is a pioneer in virtual reality, a term he coined. He now works for Microsoft. Lanier knows from the inside how manipulative social media can be.

    You can hear Lanier on this Microsoft podcast entitled “Jaron Lanier: Father of Virtual Reality, Renaissance man.”