💻 Developer | Privacy Advocate | Tech Enthusiast
🚀 #DeGoogle
🏡 #HomeAssistant & #SmartHome Tinkerer
🌍 Based in the EU
@balkonsolar
I use:
SVTplay - streaming
TV2play - streaming
SR radio - podcasts
Vivaldi - browser
I am swedish, living in Norway though. So not sure how good these services are for english speaking people.
But I have heard a lot of good stuff about:
https://jottacloud.com/en/
I've set up #Proton VPN on my home router, so all my devices are now connected through it. This means I'll rarely need to use the VPN functionality on individual devices. I will rarely need to use the functionality myself.
It’s true that having the VPN at the OS level is more secure. A browser extension only encrypts browser traffic.
However, I think this setup is a solid stepping stone for those who haven’t used a VPN before.
It might spark curiosity about Proton's services and encourage more users to migrate from Big Tech to Proton, enhancing their online privacy and security.
#Vivaldi has been gaining a significant number of new users lately. People are increasingly valuing European software alternatives and prioritizing privacy.
This trend presents a great opportunity to further assist new users in enhancing their privacy and supporting European tech.
@mischa Thanks for the tip! Will keep an eye out. Any tips for a good starter NAS?
I've started working on an interactive dashboard for #HomeAssistant ! 🏠✨
Lights turn on and off with a simple tap, and the dashboard view updates in real-time. It's amazing to see it all come together!
My plan is to mount an old tablet on the wall and use it as a control panel for my smart home. It took some time to learn how to use SweetHome3D for the renders, but I'm really happy with the results so far!
Next up, I'll be polishing the design to ensure it looks great on phones, tablets, and PCs.
Any tips or features you think I should add?
@kiiixx
Netflix / Disney => Arte TV
Search Engine => Ecosia / Qwant
Google maps => HereWeGo / Organic maps
Bonus:
Browser => Vivaldi
@wyri Indeed! My use case would probably be quite simple.
Toggling scenes, giving voice notification based on triggers and that kind of stuff.
Will have to read up a bit more on it before possibly placing my order. :)
@wyri Nice! I have been considering getting one of those as well.
Please share your thoughts about it once you have had the chance to try it out!
Just finished watching #TheClickTrap on #ArteTV—a fascinating documentary exposing the dark side of digital advertising.
I strongly believe user profiling should be banned. Instead, we should return to context-based ads that respect our privacy.
If you're curious, you can watch it on Arte.tv.
What steps do you think we can take to protect our online privacy better?
If you have any documentaries on Arte TV to recommend, please share!
#Privacy #Bigtech #PrivacyMatters #documentary #degoogle #facebook
Sometimes I crave a sweet soft drink.
As I try to buy more European alternatives, I've discovered that most major supermarkets in Norway primarily sell Coca-Cola or Pepsi. I'm happy to see that you can buy Norwegian Cola at Rema 1000!
Happy switch from *insert big tech browser name* to Vivaldi day! 🎉💪
@Randy Yes!
Currently running HomeAssistant on a #Raspberry Pi 4.
Works great, and installation is very straightforward.
My DeGoogle Journey is going great so far!🚀
Moving away from Google and big tech has been both fun and surprisingly easy. Here are some of the recent switches I’ve made:
📩 Gmail → Proton Mail
📂 Google Drive → Proton Drive
🌍 Chrome → Vivaldi
🔎 Google Search → Ecosia
🏠 Google Home → Home Assistant
💬 FB Messenger → Signal
🤖 ChatGPT → LeChat (Mistral AI)
For streaming, I’m exploring ArteTV alongside other free Scandinavian services.
I’m also looking into Plex as a long-term alternative. Seems like I’ll need a NAS for that—any recommendations?
Do you use Plex? Please share your tips and experiences.
#Degoogle #Privacy #GoEuropean #Vivaldi #Ecosia #LeChat #Signal #Proton #NAS #ArteTv #HomeAssistant #BigTech #Plex
I'm really happy with the Aqara FP2 presence sensor I got a while back.
Being able to set up multiple zones in its field of view opens up great possibilities for #HomeAutomation.
Each zone syncs as a separate entity in #HomeAssistant via HomeKit.
The FP2 works fully offline by blocking its internet access at the router.
It's amazing how much control and customization this little device offers.
Home Assistant is not only open-source and self-hosted but also incredibly fun to tinker with.
What smart home devices have you found to be game-changers in your setup?
The damage that Big Tech has done to news sites and media should not be underestimated.
It used to be that you would buy tech ads on tech media outlets. That was the best way to reach that audience. Now Big Tech makes a profile on you, which notes that you visit tech media sites. That information is then used when selling ads based on your profile.
The only real solution is to ban user profiling and go back to context sensitive ads. I think that kind of ads, as long as they are not using popups and the like, would be more acceptable to the public as well. People just do not like being tracked. Who would have thought?
#BigTech #Google #Microsoft #Regulation #surveillance #Technology
@davidbardos Always nice to discuss the topic! 🙂
I also like markdown. Currently I am trying out Obsidian for note taking. So far so good :)
I could not find any recent posts from @protonprivacy on here, so I'll have to share it #Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/proton.me/post/3lkuz3au2uk2e
This is wild!
@aromaajuha I have been testing around using Qwnat, Ecosia and Startpage recently.
Hopefully we will see their serach index live during 2025! 🤞
This index is a collaboration between #Qwant and #Ecosia if im not mistaken?
@rafa_font Thanks for sharing! Looking forward reading this later on this weekend.
Especially curious to read more about #Fairphone
@davidbardos Very nice progress!
I was looking for alterantives for Messenger recently as well.
I ended up using #Signal .
Theerma seems like a nice european alterantive, but it was easier to ask my friends to migrate to another free app, instead of a paid alterantive.
Other people are using #LibreOffice instead of the Office package, maybe that is something to try out?
