Tech on Justin Vollmer

App Defaults 2026

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 11:30:00 -0600

All the cool kids, or at least Robb, Matt, and Jan-Lukas are updating their app defaults, something that started in the blogosphere back in 2023. And I can’t resist jumping on a fun bandwagon when I see one, and so… here’s mine! (honestly not much has changed since 2023 and 2024)

✉️ Mail Service: iCloud, Fastmail, Zoho, all with custom domains
📬 Mail Client: Apple Mail
☑️ Tasks: Todoist
📓 Notes: Obsidian
📰 RSS Service: Feedbin
🗞️ RSS Client: Fiery Feeds
⌨️ Launcher: Alfred
☁️ Cloud Storage: iCloud, Nextcloud
🖼️ Photo Library: iCloud, with Immich backup
📷 Photo Editing: Pixelmator Pro, Affinity Photo, Adobe Photoshop, darktable
📹 Video Editing: Final Cut Pro
💻 Screenshots: CleanShot X
🌐 Web Browser: Firefox
💬 Chat: iMessage, Matrix, WhatsApp
📆 Calendar: Fantastical
🌤️ Weather: Mercury Weather, Radarscope
🎙️ Podcasts: Overcast
📚 Audiobooks: Prologue with self-hosted library
🎵 Music: Plexamp with self-hosted library
📜 Word Processing: Pages
📈 Spreadsheets: Numbers
📊 Presentations: Keynote
🔑 Password Management: 1Password
💁‍♂️ Social Media: Mastodon
🐘 Mastodon: Ivory
🧮 Code Editor: Sublime Text
👨‍💻 Git Client: Sublime Merge
🔎 Search: Kagi
✈️ Flight Tracking: Flighty
✨ AI Chatbot: Multiple via Kagi Assistant (mostly Claude)

My Photo Backup Strategy

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 10:15:00 -0500

Yesterday afternoon in the office, one of my coworkers asked me (paraphrasing) how I back up my photos so that everything isn’t only in iCloud, and what I would recommend that she do. And, because I’m a geek (and a bit extra at times), instead of just sending her my recommendations, I decided to turn this into a full blog post that I can point others to in the future. 😁

My Photo Workflow + Backup Strategy

So first off: how do I manage my photos? The answer has changed some over the years, but my current system is designed around the Apple Photos/iCloud system, both on my Mac and my iPhone. As you’ll see, I’m not entirely comfortable putting all of my eggs in one basket, and so I have backups outside of the Apple ecosystem, but that’s where my day-to-day photo library lives. All photos that I take on my iPhone are automatically synced, and any photo that I take with my big camera, or that I scan in via one of my photo scanners (for old family photos) goes into iCloud first.

Once the photos are into iCloud, then the rest of my strategy kicks in. I back up photos three separate ways currently:

Full backup of my Photos library via Backblaze on my Mac (where I have Photos set to download originals)
Backup via the Google Photos app on my iPhone to Google Photos, with settings set to “maintain original quality”
Backup via Immich on my iPhone to Immich running on my TrueNAS server, which is in turn backed up to Backblaze B2

Let’s break those down a bit.

First up - Photos on my Mac, backed up to Backblaze. When I made the decision to center my photo workflow around Apple Photos, I knew that I wanted to also back up my Apple Photos library, as that’s where the bulk of my efforts take place. The simplest way to have an offsite backup of both my Mac and my Photos library was to use Backblaze, and so I added a full Mac backup to my strategy ($9.99/month). Because I have Photos set to download originals to my Mac, every photo in my library is stored on my Mac at full original quality, and that (along with my library metadata) gets backed up to the Backblaze servers on a set schedule.

Next, Google Photos. I used to use Google Photos more heavily in the past, especially when I was running an Android phone, but when I moved back to iPhone, I also moved my photo library away from Google. At this point, it’s my “backup of last resort,” effectively. I have my settings set to backup from my iPhone to Google Photos at full quality, though I maintain a healthy skepticism about Google’s app settings, as spot checks have revealed to me that some files are not the same size as the originals. However, it’s another low-cost location to back my photos up to.

And third, I have an Immich instance set up on my home TrueNAS server, which I have my full library (via my iPhone and the Immich iOS app) syncing to. From all of my testing, this does in fact capture photos at original quality and file type, and is probably what I would choose to switch to if for some reason Apple Photos ever goes away (whether because I left, or because Apple killed the service). I then have my Immich library backing up to Backblaze B2 nightly, so I have another offsite copy of all of my original files.

My Family’s Photo Workflow + Backup Strategy

Years ago, my family used Google Photos much the same way I did, but in the early 2020s, when I switched back to iPhone, I brought my family along with me, which meant that their photos were split between some old folders on local desktops, their Google Photos library, and an iCloud Photos library. Instead of paying for multiple solutions, my dad and I made the decision to set up a NAS at my parents’ house, which would become their primary photo backup target. For that purpose, we selected a 4-bay Synology NAS, and I have each of their iPhones (their primary picture-taking devices) set up with the Synology Photos app, which periodically syncs to their NAS. The NAS is in turn backed up to Backblaze B2, which provides an offsite backup in the event of a hardware failure.

Recommendations to Others

First up: if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, by far the best first thing you can do is pay for enough iCloud storage to sync your photos between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Since iCloud is a sync service rather than a backup solution (meaning deletions sync across all devices), the best way to preserve everything you’ve done with your library is to have a Mac with a large enough SSD (internal or external) to download all originals, and then pay to back your Mac up to Backblaze.

For the slightly more intensive route, my next recommendation would be to set up a Synology NAS for yourself (preferably 4-bay), and use the Synology Photos app to back your photos up to your own NAS. It’s entirely up to you if you want to manage your photos in Synology, or just use it as a backup target, but it’s a still semi-inexpensive way to have a local copy under your control. For bonus points, set that to back up offsite to something like Backblaze or AWS S3 as well.

If, like me, you’re willing to do some extra work to host your own server, my “advanced” recommendation is to set up Immich the way I have, either on a Linux server or TrueNAS, and then back that library up offsite to Backblaze (or an equivalent). That strategy has the least vendor lock-in, and gives you arguably the best long-term strategy if you don’t want to use Apple or Google’s photo management tools for your libraries.

Conclusion

And so, those are my recommendations as of December 2025! Will my opinions change in the future? Of course - my recommendations a year ago wouldn’t look exactly as they do today, and I’d be fooling myself if I thought they wouldn’t change again. Hopefully that is helpful though, and if my workflow or my recommendations change heavily in the future, I’ll either update this post, or add another blog entry that supersedes this one.

App Defaults 2024

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 18:40:00 -0600

It’s been just shy of a year since I posted my default apps of 2023, and after seeing a few other bloggers post updates to theirs, I decided to do the same!

Overall, not much has changed, it turns out. I’ve sampled multiple alternates in the past 12 months to almost all of the apps and services I use, but I’ve only actually migrated two:

📰 RSS Service: Newsblur
- I got tired of maintaining my self-hosted FreshRSS instance, and settled on Newsblur as a viable (paid) alternative. I’m mostly happy with it so far after multiple months, though I’m keeping an eye on self-hosted options still.
🔑 Password Management: 1Password
- I switched off of Bitwarden early in 2024, due to an interest in trying out some of the developer-focused options built into 1Password. So far, I’m a happy customer, and have recommended it to multiple friends and colleagues.

Bluesky and Enshittification

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:00:00 -0600

Two days ago, Cory Doctorow’s daily Pluralistic post showed up in my RSS reader, and the title caught my attention: Bluesky and enshittification. I’ve read a number of his previous posts regarding “enshittification”, a term he coined to refer to a pattern in which online products and services decline in quality, and so I started skimming this article to see what Bluesky had done to catch his attention.

The details are probably not ultimately important for this blog post, but the short version is that Bluesky raised $15M in a series A funding round, led by venture capital fund Blockchain Capital. Many in the fediverse are concerned by the effects venture capital can have on platforms, and are especially skeptical of anyone involved with blockchains (see this article on The Fediverse Report for more details).

A few hours later, Molly White’s thoughts on the topic crossed my Mastodon feed, and I decided that I wanted to add to the conversation in my own little way, though it took me a couple of days to get around to it.

While I tend to not be quite as dogmatic as many in the fediverse when it comes to these topics, I too have begun to think more critically about where I post content, and how to have more control over the platforms on which I share my thoughts. That is one of the underlying reasons I started this website a decade ago, and is also one of the driving forces behind recent changes to eventually allow me to become a POSSE-er, joining individuals like Cory Doctorow, Molly White, and others on the IndieWeb whose voices I respect.

I like the idea of this website being my home on the internet, my little corner of the web, and being able to syndicate from here to the world. I like being able to point friends, family, coworkers, and anyone who is curious to a single location, from which they can read my thoughts, and learn about who I am, and what I value.

I’ll close with this quote from Doctorow. It’s a little more direct that my current views, but I more or less agree with the underlying sentiment:

“I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will.”

Site Redesign

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 13:46:02 -0600

After weeks (or maybe even months) of considerations and playing around with various themes, I’ve decided to migrate from the venerable Hugo-Coder theme to a custom fork of the Bilberry Hugo Theme.

Why? For a couple of reasons.

First off all, every time I work on my website, I’ve felt that the design was getting a bit long in the tooth, and that it was time for either a platform change (migrating to a different static site generator), or at least a theme change. I’ve yet to find a different SSG that I’m ready to dive into yet, and so investigating alternate themes has been my primary focus.

I ran across the Bilberry theme about two weeks ago, but at the time, I wasn’t quite ready to take the plunge. There were a handful of design choices I wasn’t happy with, and so I kept looking for other options. However, none came, and so I began looking at the theme more closely, and considering a fork with the changes made that I care about.

Saturday, Nov 2nd, I finally decided to strike out and begin migrating my site.

The content was by and large trivial to migrate. Most of my work was replicating the features I liked out of Coder in Bilberry, and customizing its behavior. While I’m at it, I’m also beginning to make my website IndieWeb-compliant. I really like the POSSE (Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere) design theory, and so I’m beginning to take steps to make my website capable of that.

As of today, Sunday, Nov 3rd, I’m happy enough with the overall design and behavior locally that I’m going to merge the branch I’ve been working on into my main branch, and this change will go live.

A few notes:

There is a high probability that a bunch of old posts will show up in the RSS feed - my apologies. This is because I removed my old “archived” post section and am only keeping a single set of blog posts now.
If you want to see my long-form posts and my short statuses, etc, I recommend you follow my main RSS feed.

Removing giscus Comments

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 10:30:00 -0500

Back in January, I added giscus comments to my blog, as a potential way for readers to comment and react to my posts. At the time, I didn’t necessarily have expectations that anyone would, and that has borne out over the past few months.

And so, I’ve decided to bring the giscus experiment to an end. It’s one extra thing my website doesn’t need, and as I continue to reconsider how I use my website, removing cruft and visual clutter is high on the list of potential improvements.

That being said, comments and reactions are still welcome! I may add an email address or other additional contact mechanism in the future to encourage such interactions, but in the meantime, the easiest means of reaching me will be via my Mastodon account.

My Software Stack is (Mostly) Old Too

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 05:45:00 -0500

After reading My software stack is old by Manu (Manuel Moreale), I became curious about the age of the software I use day in and day out as well. So, I spent a few minutes making a note of what tools I use daily, and found that I have an interesting mix of tools from basically two distinct time periods.

I’m writing this post presently in Obsidian (2020), which replaced Evernote (2000) a few years ago, and is the newest software I use daily. I’ll then be publishing to my website via Hugo (2013).

For work, I use Sublime Text (2008) and Sublime Merge (2018) on the software development side, and Altium (2005) for hardware development.

On the less technical side, I’m split between Apple Mail (2003) and Outlook (1997) for email (personal vs work), manage my tasks in Todoist (2007), communicate with coworkers via Slack (2013), and browse the web with Firefox (2004).

I think my summary after pondering that usage a little bit is that while I’m quite easily distracted by new tools, and enjoy investigating them, I rarely find a reason to move on from the older tools I already know and can rely on.

Sorry for the Spam in the RSS Feed This Morning

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 08:39:02 -0600

This morning I made some changes to the permalink structure of my blog posts, which inadvertently caused a number of my older posts to reappear in the RSS feeds. Sorry for the spam!

Enable Mastodon Discovery by Domain

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 15:15:00 -0600

While doing some reading on integrating Mastodon and Hugo this afternoon, I ran across a handy little project by Francesco Maida.

In the past, I’ve considered running my own Mastodon server, but that’s not yet an endeavor I’m ready to take on. However, being discoverable by anyone looking for me on Mastodon using my own domain? Thanks to this python script, that’s easy! Sweet!

For more information on how this all works, see either the README in the GitHub link above, or this blog post by Maarten Balliauw.

Adding giscus Comments

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0600

One day after the tenth anniversary of this blog, and I’m already making changes?!?

Yes, you read that right.

In both of the original incarnations of this website, via Squarespace and WordPress, I had a commenting system available and enabled, although I never received much feedback from it. If I’m honest, it was mostly spam, actually. And so, when I migrated to Hugo, I didn’t make finding a comment solution a high priority.

However, that’s not to say that I didn’t keep considering the options though. I glanced at some of the standard solutions (such as Discus & Commento), but as this site does not generate any income and only has a small number of monthly page views, I wasn’t ready to spend money just for comments.

Then, about a year ago, I got the idea to try out giscus, after reading Alan Pope’s blog post on the topic. Giscus looked interesting, but at the time I was unsure of exactly how involved I wanted to be in my blog, and so I simply filed the idea in in my Someday/Maybe list as a future possibility.

That all brings us to the past 24 hours, when, after writing my 10-year anniversary post, I began wondering what I could do to expand on my existing site. The idea of a way for readers to interact with me outside of Mastodon came to mind, and I once again began researching comment solutions. And, after reading many blog posts, Reddit threads, and examining features and pricing structures, I settled on giscus as a simple method for adding comments and reactions to my posts.

So what now? For my part, I’ll continue to post, and attempt to increase the frequency of my writing, as it’s good for me to push myself some creatively. And for you, dear reader: comments and reactions are now welcome!

10 Years of JustinVollmer.com

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 12:30:00 -0600

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of this website. It’s really, really hard to believe that I’ve been posting to and updating the site for a full decade already, and even crazier when I look back at how things have changed over the years, both in terms of the website, and in terms of me as a human as well.

Reflections on JustinVollmer.com

January 6, 2014, was supposed to be a work day for me. However, where I was living at the time was under a Level 3 snow emergency that day, and so instead of driving to the office, I stayed home. Back then, I was much less equipped to work remotely than I am now, and so I didn’t have anything pressing to work on, and decided to set up a website. I had heard of Squarespace, and after taking a quick look at its features, decided it was probably the easiest way to start out. And so, with that, JustinVollmer.com was born! 🎉 If you want to get an idea of my thought process at the time, check out my Welcome blog post, left up for posterity.

Now, granted, at the time it was fairly humble, and looked quite different than today. My intent at the time was to use my website as a combination blog, social media hub, and place to feature videos I was shooting for the church I attended at the time. Over the next few years I would tweak various pieces of the site, but I kept the same general theme, and always hosted some creative work, some blog posts, links to my social media, and even my resume for a while when I was changing jobs.

Over my holiday break in 2017, I decided to move away from Squarespace, and instead migrated my content to a WordPress site, hosted on Amazon Lightsail. I also took the opportunity to prune some of the content that I was no longer actively working on (specifically videos), and went with a more simple design. Unfortunately, I don’t have any screenshots from this period, but if you are familiar with any of the default WordPress themes from that time, it probably had a similar look and feel. I dabbled with blogging for the next few years, mostly posting about my tech decisions and thoughts, and also introduced my Year in Review posts, which I have continued to this day.

Nothing much else changed however until mid-Spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when I decided to participate in the 100 Days to Offload challenge. I decided to focus my website even heavier on my blog during those 100 days, and actually managed to post something for 100 days straight, even though I would struggle to call some of the content a blog post in retrospect.

Unfortunately, the 100 days experience left me burned out to such an extent that I really didn’t touch my website until right before Thanksgiving, 2020, when I made the decision to both migrate my website from WordPress to Hugo, and also to switch my analytics platform. I spent a lot of time manually migrating all of my posts, ensuring that as many previous links worked as possible, and tweaking the config until I was happy with the end result.

And, really, my website hasn’t changed since the end of 2020. Of course, I’ve added a few pages here and there, and I’ve continued to post to my blog, somewhat sporadically. But I’ve left the overall design alone, and haven’t even replaced the theme. That’s not to say that I haven’t considered other options - I have. I just haven’t found a specific feature set that blends the easy support of Hugo with other features that are appealing enough to make me devote the time and energy required to migrate.

What will the future hold? I have no idea, honestly. I will continue to look at other options, I suspect, especially some of the CMS solutions that other bloggers use. Or perhaps I’ll look further into something like Eleventy (11ty), another static site generator, which has been on my radar for a while. I’m sure if and when I make a change, I’ll announce it with a post!

Reflections on Justin Vollmer

Ten years has also led to many changes for me, as a person. As I begin writing this section, I expect it will be less wordy than the writing about my blog, but we’ll see.

In 2014, I was working at my first full-time job after college. I was still living near where I grew up, and was not really sure what I wanted to do with my life. I enjoyed the engineering work I was doing, which was in my field, but I was also dabbling enough with video work for the church I was attending (a non-denominational church associated loosely with the Word of Faith movement) that I was considering what full-time ministry would look like.

That changed in 2015, when I accepted my current position at Precision Planting, and moved to Illinois. I also began attending a non-denominational church with a different theology, with a much more Reformed bent (though I didn’t understand that at the time). I began to volunteer at church in other ways, not necessarily as creative, and spent a majority of my time focused on my work, while also making time for friends and small group.

2020 was really a shock to me, although in retrospect it was very good in a lot of ways. Prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns, I was becoming extremely burned out, and was about to take a step back from volunteering. The pandemic caused me to have to stay home, and gave me time to begin re-evaluating how I was spending my time, and to just decompress a bit. I have told people in my life, in all honesty, the 2020 to 2022 timeframe was one of the best for me personally, as it gave me time to work on myself as a person, to create some habits that have held to this day, and to just put my head down and do work in the comfort of my home, which helped me to feel extremely productive.

Mid-2022 saw a number of shifts though, in fairly rapid succession. First off, in the Spring, some theological study and re-evaluation that had been brewing for the past 9-12 months came to a head, and I made the decision to leave the church I had been at since moving to Illinois, and attend a church that matched what I now believe. Second, in the Summer, my career path at work took a turn, leading to my work now that is much less heads-down coding, and more project management focused, which includes what would have previously seemed to me an extreme amount of communication, but which I am now settling into with some degree of comfort.

And now, it’s 2024! What will the future hold for me? I also, of course, don’t know that. Or, rather, the parts I do know, I am not comfortable putting into writing yet. I have a few habits that I am working to rebuild this year, mostly from a health (physical and mental) perspective. I also have a few tech-related ideas that have been nagging at the back of my mind for a while that I may act on, mostly centered around how I accomplish certain tasks.

Conclusion

Okay, yeah, this probably didn’t need a header. But I’m going to create one anyways!

Like I said at the start, in many ways, it’s hard for me to believe that it’s already been 10 years since I began this website, and even harder to fathom everything that’s changed since then. But also, I appreciate this opportunity to reflect, and to be thankful for the blessings I’ve been given, and the way I’ve grown, and the things I’ve learned, in that timespan.

Here’s to another ten years! 🥂

2023 Year in Review

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 13:50:00 -0600

Wow, this year has seemingly flown by! Somehow, it’s already December 31st, which means, it’s time for me to publish my year in review! I’ve decided once again this year to focus on major changes (or how things have stayed the same) in the last 12 months, instead of writing a sequential highlight reel.

Not a lot has changed in my personal life over the past 12 months, which is largely fine with me (I’m sure that will come as a shock to those who know me well… sarcasm). I am still attending the same LCMS church that I referenced in last year’s review, and continuing my study of theology, though at a slower rate than in 2022.

I’m also still working in the office 4-5 days a week, and therefore make much less use of my home workstation than I did in 2020-2022. And, as I alluded to last year, my workload has continued to shift from largely siloed work as a programmer, to more day to day interaction with engineers across our R&D department. This even led to me presenting to our dealer network on an impending new product offering by the beginning of December, a large change for someone who is an avowed introvert! I am very much enjoying my work though, and am happy to be continually challenged with a variety of projects and task that push me to grow my skillset.

2023 has seen me continuing to move to a more Mac-centric tech life. I still run Linux on a number of systems at work and at home (and in the cloud), but my daily driver is my MacBook Pro at this point, as MacOS on Apple Silicon has proven to be an extremely reliable platform when at my desk, in meetings, and on the go. I still tend to choose cross-platform tooling where I can, but am less afraid of choosing a Mac-only tool if it fits my needs.

In last year’s review, I mentioned that I had returned to using Evernote, and to the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. Unfortunately, both of those changed some in 2023. I stuck with GTD through mid-Spring, one of the longest stints I have ever been able to keep the practice up. Around that time, however, I began to fall off the wagon, which also coincided with my continued concern with changes that Evernote’s new owner, Bending Spoons, was making to the tool.

Over the summer I made the decision to migrate away from Evernote, to two separate tools: DEVONthink 3 for document management, and Obsidian for note taking. I am not sure if I will continue with them both long term, but so far they seem to be sticking (or have for the past 6 months, give or take). DEVONthink is where I drop all of the PDFs I may need to access later (largely scans of physical documents so that I don’t have to rely on a filing cabinet), and Obsidian handles my day to day note taking, meeting notes, etc. I also happen to be writing this blog post in Obsidian. 🙂 I am still keeping my eye on Bear, and I may give it another try in 2024, as it is still one of the most beautiful note taking apps I’ve ever found, and I find it very pleasing to use. However, Obsidian’s cross-platform and open nature (a simple folder of files, ultimately), combined with some improvements to the UI, have kept me using it on a daily/weekly basis so far though.

I have continued to use Todoist for most of 2023 as well, although I have looked at a few alternatives throughout the year. The most appealing option I have considered is OmniFocus, especially with their latest major update (OmniFocus 4). It is much more full-featured than Todoist, and has a few options, such as defer dates, that Todoist doesn’t really handle yet. However, Todoist has literally a decade of momentum already in my life, and so any migration to another tool is a large ordeal, and one I won’t make unless I’m positive it will provide some improvement. We’ll see what happens in 2024…

Unfortunately, my reading took a bit of a hit this year, although I still read more in 2023 than in many years in recent memory. I knew going into this year that I finished an abnormally high number of books in 2022, and that this year was likely to be slightly lower. I’m finishing out the year with an average of two books per month, or a total of 25 books completed. I ended up starting multiple series this year, and intend to continue reading a few of them, especially Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, and Naomi Novik’s The Scholomance trilogy. And, continuing on from last year, I once again used Prologue for all of my audiobook listening, with Plex as the backend library provider.

Speaking of Plex, I have continued to use Plexamp for virtually all of my music listening this year. I have continued to build my personal library of music, both by acquiring CDs (largely via eBay), as well as purchasing digital files when that is the more expedient (or only available) option. I have become accustomed enough to this style that of music consumption that I have a hard time even considering using a streaming service anymore.

In very brief JustinVollmer.com news, I have continued to use Hugo as my website framework, with GoatCounter as the only analytics on the site. I have continued to keep my blogroll and /uses page up to date, and recently added a /now page, inspired by Robb Knight’s recent The Web is Fantastic post.

And that concludes my 2023 year in review! I’m continually thankful for all the blessings of the past year, and I look forward to finding out what is in store for 2024!

Happy New Year!

Update 1 (2024-04-20): I decided that keeping my /now page updated is not something I currently enjoy, and so as of today it has been removed.

My Default Apps at the End of 2023

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 14:20:40 -0600

I first saw this trend a little over a month ago from Kev Quirk, and soon after, most of my favorite bloggers had joined in. Robb Knight has even been compiling a list, and I really wanted to jump on the bandwagon. But, unfortunately, I was busy enough that I didn’t have the time to write up my own post. That is, until now…

And so, without further ado, here’s a list of my default apps at the end of 2023:

✉️ Mail Service: Zoho, Fastmail
📬 Mail Client: Apple Mail, Thunderbird
☑️ Tasks: Todoist
📓 Notes: Obsidian
📰 RSS Service: FreshRSS
🗞️ RSS Client: Fiery Feeds
⌨️ Launcher: Alfred
☁️ Cloud Storage: iCloud, Nextcloud
🖼️ Photo Library: iCloud
📷 Photo Editing: Pixelmator Pro
📹 Video Editing: Final Cut Pro
💻 Screenshots: CleanShot X
🌐 Web Browser: Safari, Firefox
💬 Chat: iMessage, Matrix, Telegram
📆 Calendar: Fantastical
🌧️ Weather: Mercury Weather, Radarscope
🎙️ Podcasts: Overcast
📚 Audiobooks: Prologue
🎵 Music: Plexamp
📜 Word Processing: Pages
📈 Spreadsheets: Numbers
📊 Presentations: Keynote
🔑 Password Management: Bitwarden
💁‍♂️ Social Media: Mastodon
🐘 Mastodon: Ivory
🧮 Code Editor: Sublime Text
👨‍💻 Git Client: Sublime Merge

Linux Kernel Security Demystified

Sun, 01 Oct 2023 18:30:00 -0500

Almost all bugs can be a “security” issue.

As both a Linux user and a software developer, I’ve followed the Linux Kernel development process and talks over the years. Recently, Greg Kroah-Hartman gave a talk on security at Kernel Recipes 2023 which I think is worth checking out. Most of the information is not new to me, but their approach to handling “security” bugs is somewhat novel in the industry, and I would argue is a good model to consider using across the board.

If you would prefer to browse the slides instead of (or in addition to) the video, check out Greg’s security-stuff slide deck.

Experimenting with Immich

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 16:00:27 -0500

Something that’s been on my tech to-do list for a number of years is to set up a self-hosted photo/video storage solution for myself that utilizes my home server, and can be easily backed up to an external storage solution if/as needed. My plans have been for this to initially not be a replacement for something like iCloud Photos, but rather a complimentary solution, archiving photos in case something ever happens to my iCloud Photo library. This weekend, I took the first step in implementing such a solution.

Background

First, I should probably back up a little bit. Why do I want something external to iCloud Photos? Don’t I trust Apple? Of course I do, at least to some extent, or I wouldn’t be using their ecosystem! However, I long ago learned that keeping all of my (tech) eggs in one basket is dangerous. There are reasons that can cause an account to be shut down, and numerous news stories over the past few years have chronicled issues with relying on any one tech company as the repository of all of your data.

“But then, Justin, why not move to a self-hosted solution entirely?” That thought has crossed my mind too, but there are two reasons why I don’t think that’s the right option for me at this time. A) I am a very happy user of the Apple ecosystem, and having experimented with keeping all media outside of their system, I don’t really like it. And B) see the paragraph above about all of my eggs in one basket. Something could happen to my server as well, and so parallel pathing seems like the best option currently.

Almost two years ago I set my parents up with a self-hosted backup solution, Synology Photos, and was planning to eventually implement the same for myself. It has worked relatively well for them, but there were a few pain points when outside of their network that I wasn’t fond of, and I also don’t yet have a Synology of my own to install it on. However, I do have a Linux-based home server with plenty of storage on it, and so I started looking through other options. There are a number of great web-based solutions, but not many that include a mobile app, which I strongly preferred. And then I remembered Immich…

Enter Immich

I first heard about Immich a few months ago on the Ask Noah Show. At the time, I glanced through the webpage, thought it looked interesting, but didn’t make plans to use it since I don’t have Docker installed on my home server. Or, well… I didn’t have Docker installed. After looking Immich over again, I decided that I would set up Docker and give it a try.

My home server is running Ubuntu 22.04, and so installing Docker was pretty straight forward. I also set up Docker Compose at the same time, and then followed Immich’s documentation to get a local install up and running. A few minutes later, I was ready to try it out.

For the time being, I set Immich up to only be accessible inside my network. Especially since I’m not planning to use it yet as my only photo solution, it didn’t seem necessary to set up external means of access. After install, I logged into the web interface, created the admin account, and glanced through the settings, before moving on to the real test… the mobile experience.

First Impressions

I installed the app on my phone, pointed it at my server’s IP address, and held my breath… would it be that easy? The answer was yes, with a caveat. I had to adjust the backup settings, which were trivial, to tell it which of my photo albums to back up. I selected “Recent”, which ends up backing up my entire iCloud Photo library to Immich. Perfect! Or… not. Apparently there are some issues with RW2 images currently, which are the raw files M4/3 camera outputs. Also, it takes a long time to upload 100s of gigabytes of photos (shocker, I know). But, slowly, data began showing up in the web interface, and the face detection included went to work identifying faces for me to label.

My first impressions are that the app could use some UI improvements, but overall it’s slightly easier to make sense of than Synology Photos. The web interface is even better… the overall design is very clean and simple to understand, with most of the complexity hidden behind the Administration panel. The only thing I’m really missing currently is a way to do light photo editing (mostly rotation) on the images.

Conclusion

As of the writing of this post, I don’t yet have all of my library backed up, but I do have a large enough sample set to get a feel for how Immich works. Overall, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s not flawless, but that’s the first thing you see when you go to Immich’s website…

The project is under very active development. Expect bugs and changes. Do not use it as the only way to store your photos and videos!

The face identification works well enough, and the experience is at least as good as, if not better than, Synology Photos in my mind, though definitely slightly more complicated to set up for the layperson. For the time being, I expect that I will continue to use it as my means of off-iCloud backup, and will make further decisions if/when when I upgrade my home server.

Mercury Weather

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 21:26:49 -0500

There is something special about using an app that the developer has clearly put a lot of time and effort into, and it shows in the small details, the little finishing touches that make the app a delight to use.

A few weeks ago I ran across a post on Mastodon by the developers of Mercury Weather showing off screenshots of their upcoming (now available) macOS version. I liked what I saw, and went and downloaded the iOS app to play with.

Mercury Weather is a pretty simple app on the surface. It shows the current weather conditions, an hourly forecast graph for the next 10 hours, and a daily forecast for the next 10 days. In general, it’s the same data that is available in many other apps, but with a very nice, distinctly iOS-like UI.

That same afternoon I went ahead and purchased the premium subscription, mostly just because I like to support developers whose work I appreciate, added a widget to my home screen, and didn’t think much more of the app…

… Until this evening, that is. I was listening to an episode of Mac Power Users yesterday while working around the house, where the hosts happened to be talking to one of the developers, Malin Sundberg, and I looked up the episode notes this evening to find a link to something they were discussing. While doing so, I remembered that the macOS app was out, downloaded it, and began playing around with it a little.

The first thing that slightly surprised me was that my iOS subscription not only includes the macOS app as well, but that there was nothing to do on my end to set the subscription up in the macOS app. It just worked. You’d be surprised how often there is some extra step to get such a thing to sync, though it tends to work seamlessly more often in the Apple ecosystem than any other I’ve encountered.

Second, the UI was just as beautiful on my Mac as on my iPhone. Again, I shouldn’t be surprised, given that the developers specialize in Apple platforms, but it was somewhat unexpected.

And then the real surprise came. I started looking at the “trip” feature, which I’d read about, but never tried personally. This feature, which is (I believe) part of the premium subscription, allows you to add an upcoming trip (with destination and dates) to the app, and it will auto-adjust the upcoming forecast to include the trip in it, so that your 10-day forecast matches where you’ll be, and syncs it with your other devices!

So, are any of these features groundbreaking? Maybe not. But the finesse and attention to detail that is obvious in the design of Mercury Weather makes it a delight to use, and going forward it is going to be one of my go-to apps, especially when I have upcoming trips!

Use a Custom Domain Name

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 19:38:50 -0500

From a blog post by Manuel Moreale:

Please, for the love of all things web-related, if you decide to do anything online, get yourself a domain name. Don’t rely on the 3rd party domain provided by services like Blogger, Substack, Tumblr, whatever. Yes, it’s an extra cost but owning your URLs is important. If Substack dies tomorrow, all your fancy-cool-name.substack.com URLs are gone. And all the links scattered across the web that were pointing to them are now broken.

I wholeheartedly agree with Manu’s thoughts on the matter - for anything you do online, especially something that you want to both last and be semi-easily found by you and others later, please use your own custom domain name!

This is something I put into practice years ago, and while I’m not the most prolific blogger, nor the best web designer, having a domain of my own on the web to point people to for both information about me (and ways to get in contact), as well as blog posts going back almost a decade, has been one of the better time investments I think I’ve made online.

As I quoted Monique Judge in a post at the beginning of this year:

We should all be in control of our own platforms. Owning your content and controlling your platform is essential, and having a personal blog is a great way to do that.

(So) buy that domain name. Carve your space out on the web. Tell your stories, build your community, and talk to your people. It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t need to duplicate any space that already exists on the web — in fact, it shouldn’t. This is your creation. It’s your expression. It should reflect you.

Asus ZenBook 14: One Year Later

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 19:04:44 -0500

A little over a year ago, I wrote a blog post on a new laptop I had recently acquired to use for embedded development. At the time I was preparing to travel for work, and wanted a machine that would be able to handle my normal workload, even if it was a bit slower than my desktop(s). I’ve used it on and off since then, and decided to write up a quick follow-up post to detail some of my thoughts.

First off, if I were making the decision again, is this the machine I would buy? Yes and no. I would probably pick up a similar model from Asus, but I would definitely not go with 16GB of RAM. There was a 32GB option that in retrospect I should have gone with, but by the time I came to that realization I was already weeks into using this laptop.

Overall, the ZenBook 14 is a form factor that I really like, with a great screen size that works well for traveling, on a desk, and as a literal “laptop”, and I’ve quite enjoyed owning it. The trackpad is decent, though not as great as my MacBook (but that’s hard to beat). The keyboard is an entirely different story though. I really like the keyboard… it’s perhaps the most comfortable keyboard I’ve ever used on a laptop, and I love almost everything about it. My only real complaint with the overall design is the slightly cheap/plastic feeling of the overall laptop chassis. All of my other/recent laptops have been primarily metal bodies, and so having a laptop that flexes is a bit off-putting, though it’s not yet caused me an issue.

Now when it comes to the battery life, as someone who uses an M1 MacBook as a primary driver, I’m a little spoiled. However, I still recall what “normal” laptops were/are like, and the ZenBook holds it’s own relatively well. I’ve reliably gotten 4-5 hours per charge when doing light work, or around 3-4 with some heavier workloads (though normally I’m near a charger for those as well). It’s not amazing, but I can’t complain too much.

As far as the software goes, Arch Linux with the KDE desktop environment has been nearly flawless. I think I’ve had one or two noticeable glitches, mostly when shutting down the computer if at all, and the user experience as been fantastic (as expected). I’ve slowly installed a few of the tools I use on a daily basis to the install so that even when traveling, I don’t need two machines on at a given time to access important information, respond to emails, or update my task list(s). Normally the night before I know I’ll be using the ZenBook, I start it up, run updates to make sure I’m caught up, and then I’m good to go.

The primary place where this laptop has failed me has mostly been due to a lack of planning on my part. A few of the codebases I compile for work are relatively large C++ and/or Qt-based projects, and the 16GB of RAM really hampers the compile times. I can still compile the projects, but it’s more of a case of starting a build and taking a coffee break, whereas on my desktops or MacBook I normally just have time to respond to some Slack messages (ie, on the order of single-digit minutes, normally sub-5). On this laptop… I don’t recall the last build time, but it was nowhere nearly that fast. It has worked great for embedded projects and/or smaller codebases though, which are a majority of the things I build.

Oddly enough, I realized as I’m typing this up that I’ve ended up using the laptop more just for personal projects and fun than I’ve used it for work. Since last August, my workload has changed semi-drastically, and I do much less software authoring than I once did (largely by choice). I end up working a lot more in schematic-capture tools and in email, both of which I tend to do on my Mac or at one of my desktops. I also am in substantially more meetings than I was a year ago, which I normally take my MacBook to as well, due to its all-day battery life and ability to sleep/wake effectively instantaneously, as well as the ability to run whatever meeting software is needed at the time. Arguably I could get that all done on the ZenBook as well, but as I only want to carry one machine with me to and from work, I tend to grab my Mac.

And, that’s a wrap! At this point, I have no immediate plans to upgrade the ZenBook to something with better specs. It has more or less worked for all of the reasons I initially chose it, and I expect I’ll keep it (and keep using it) for the next year or two at a least.

My Search for the Perfect Note-Taking Solution

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 20:30:00 -0500

Warning: I have no conclusions in this blog post. These are just my somewhat-rambling thoughts on a topic that I spend way too much time thinking about.

Introduction

I have a love/hate relationship with note-taking apps. I’ve been trying out different solutions for over a decade at this point, but have yet to ever feel perfectly at home with any system I’ve tried, which leaves me constantly looking for improvements instead of just settling in and using my system.

I feel like I don’t have particularly complex requirements, at least conceptually. However, unless I’ve completely missed a solution somewhere (in which case, PLEASE let me know!), no single solution is capable of everything I want.

My (Ideal) Requirements

Cross-platform support (can be native apps or Electron, I don’t care, as long as they are responsive), for desktop and mobile
Website access, for cases where I don’t want to sync my entire notes database to the machine
Reasonable backup options, preferably in a format that is readable by other tools if needed (such as Markdown)
Good export/share options (at least Markdown and PDF)
Inline image support
File attachment support, preferably with inline previews
OCR of images/files (for search ability)
Markdown support
Code block support with syntax highlighting
Offline access
Web clipper option
End to end encrypted

Options I’ve Tried

Evernote

There is really only one app that comes close to meeting most of those requirements: Evernote. But, it’s an app that I don’t enjoy using, has a whole host of privacy concerns, and as of late has some reliability issues. And I’ve used it off and on for nearly a decade (being somewhat pragmatic), but I really want a better solution. I’ve spent the last few weeks doing in depth testing, and still haven’t found anything that checks all of the boxes.

Bear

Bear is by far my favorite note taking app in recent years. In fact, I’m using it to author this blog post, because it supports Markdown natively, and is legitimately an overall great experience. It’s free to use on a single device, or it can sync seamlessly across Apple devices using iCloud (with a Pro subscription, but that’s $15/year, which is totally worth it for good software).

But therein lies the problem: I don’t use only Apple devices. I’ve very seriously considered sacrificing using notes on every other platform because I enjoy using Bear so much, especially since the creators are working on a web version, along with improved search/OCR. With those two features, it would be almost a no-brainer for my purposes, lacking only in E2E encryption.

Joplin

Joplin is a pretty close competitor to Bear in my rankings, and actually has some features already that Bear does not. However, it has two fatal flaws for me presently: no web app (and no plans to add one), and I don’t like it. I find the app clunky to use. I strongly prefer Markdown editors that include a live preview mode, which Bear and other apps have. Split-pane editing annoys me.

Obsidian

Obsidian is also a semi-close competitor to Bear and Joplin, and has some things I like over Joplin, namely the editor options. It also has a better mobile client than Joplin, but falls flat when it comes to how enjoyable it is to use, and it also lacks a web client. Obsidian is really, really popular right now in the linked-notes community, and I understand most of the reasons, but to me it feels too much like an IDE. I don’t want to keep notes inside of a developer tool.

Standard Notes

Standard Notes is actually the only option on this list that has both E2E encryption and a web app. Perfect, right?

Unfortunately, no. I highly dislike the app itself, it’s glitchy, lacks inline image support, exports Markdown files that are weirdly formatted, and in general feels like a tool that isn’t quite ready for production yet. Of all of the solutions I’ve looked at, outside of Bear, I think Standard Notes is most likely reach a stage where it would be a good option for me.

Notion

I tried to love Notion. Really I did. Notion is very popular in the productivity community, but I just don’t get the database concepts its built upon. I end up spending all of my time trying to figure out how to store and arrange my data. Additionally, it lacks offline support, end to end encryption, and has very weird image/attachment support. It does actually have good Markdown support, as well as good export and backup options, but I can’t get past my issues with it.

NextCloud Notes

NextCloud has support for Markdown notes, and on the desktop I could use QOwnNotes for a client. If I could get a good mobile app, this might be reasonable, but I very much dislike the entire user experience presently (outside of the cross-device syncing - that’s stellar). I spent very little time investigating this option.

TiddlyWiki

I actually thought for a few moments that TiddlyWiki might do what I needed. I could sync my notes in a single file, work online or offline, and be reasonably sure my notes would be accessible for years to come. And in my time testing TiddlyWiki, I very quickly began to enjoy the design ideas the creator has. Unfortunately, inline images and attachments are virtually impossible in the single-file approach, so I somewhat quickly gave up on it as well.

Craft

Craft is gorgeous. And I hate it. The UI is just not something I enjoy using - not when dealing with 100s of notes. I quit testing Craft within an hour.

Notesnook

Notesnook looked interesting, but again, I couldn’t work with the UI. Note filing was unintuitive to me, and I very quickly gave up. Since it’s fairly young, it is on my list to check back in on though.

Nota

Nota is the last option I ran across in my recent testing. It shows a lot of promise, as it borrows the Obsidian “just a collection of files” concept, but has a better UI, and is much more pleasing to use. However, it’s still in beta, has some weird behavior when adding attachments, and is Mac only, with no great mobile app recommendations. Because it can sync to any cloud storage, Nota would actually have a web view available (either through iCloud or NextCloud for me, I think).

Others

And there are a whole host of other apps that I have looked at, but never actually tried: OneNote (I don’t want a Microsoft app, sorry, and I hate their UI too), Google Keep (doesn’t work for the number of notes I want, don’t like the UI), Apple Notes (pretty good, but again, not great for the number of notes I want), etc.

(Lack of) Conclusion

And so right now, I’m writing this blog post in Bear. Earlier this week, I just finished exporting my notes for the umpteenth time from Evernote and importing them into Bear, but did not delete anything, because I’m afraid I’ll be back.

Is there a solution you know of that meets all of my requirements? If so, please let me know! I can be reached most easily on Mastodon.

A New Linux Laptop...

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 19:07:11 -0500

I told myself this day would never come. There was no reason for me to own a Linux laptop. My M1 MacBook Pro was the perfect mobile computing option: fast, nearly-infinite battery life, and extremely capable. Linux laptops always need babied, and never seem to work when you need them to. My MacBook was always functional whenever I needed it…

…And I’m writing this post from a laptop running Linux that I’ve now owned for a little over 24 hours. Why?

First of all, this wasn’t an impulse buy. I didn’t want to own another laptop, but it was the simplest option I could come up with. I realized that, as much as I absolutely adore my MacBook in many ways, there is one substantial area it falls flat in: embedded software development, which is kind of what I do for a living. A majority of my day for work is spent on a Linux desktop (either my personal machine when working remotely, or a machine my company supplied when in the office). Whether I am simply writing code, or debugging hardware or software (using tools like Wireshark, CAN analyzers, or logic analyzers), Linux has proven to be both the most reliable OS in the last 7+ years for me, and also the simplest most of the time to get working. Additionally, because some of the non-embedded software that I develop or use for work tends to require the latest compilers, being on a bleeding edge distro (in my case Arch Linux) is by far the easiest way to avoid frequent manual tool installation. And, simultaneously, Linux is able to support the very old embedded compilers required for a few of the projects I work on.

Secondly, now that I’m messing around with Linux on a laptop again, I’m finding that I am enjoying it. It’s not nearly as polished as macOS, of course. But Arch Linux + KDE is so far working much better than I expected, and the whole user experience has been very good so far. It took me about an hour to go from pulling the laptop out of the box to having a fully functional desktop environment up and running, and most of my tools installed. Since then, virtually everything has worked the way I expected. (For reference, I normally run XFCE, but in the past it has not been as pleasant on a laptop, hence my choice to try out KDE). And to top it all off, I’m actually doing this under Wayland instead of X11, which is something I thought would never happen.

So why couldn’t I make this all work on my Mac?

Some of the compilers I need to use are not M1 native. They work under Rosetta2, but feel (and are) incredibly slow. And because I’m stuck on an older version of the toolchain, there is no chance that this will improve in the near future.
CAN analysis, at least using the adapters we use at work, is not currently functional on the Mac. I could attempt to do some sort of passthru, but SocketCAN on Linux just works. It’s tools that I already know, and the barrier to entry is low.
I find network debugging on my Mac to be highly annoying (and I work with ethernet stacks as part of my job). Wireshark is available on a Mac, sure, but there have been times when I have been unable to get something that I know works fine on Linux (with virtually no effort) functional on a Mac. That may be because of a lack of knowledge on my part, but I’d rather be solving problems and developing new products, not troubleshooting/learning new things about my system.

And why did I buy myself a new laptop, vs requesting one through work? Mostly because, by acquiring it myself, I have more freedom to tweak the operating system and test things (for instance, gaming performance) that I would not feel comfortable doing with a company owned asset.

So what did I buy? I chose to pick up an Asus ZenBook 14, with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU with built-in Radeon Vega 7 Graphics, and 16G of RAM. I strongly considered upgrading the RAM, but most options with 32G of RAM cost distinctly more than I was interested in spending, and I don’t want this machine to function as a desktop replacement. Rather, I primarily want to use it when I’m working remotely (and not at home), and as an additional system that will probably normally sit on my benchtop at home, running various analyzers.

For additional details on this laptop and other hardware & software I use, see my Uses page.

Thoughts on Hugo after 21 Months

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 11:09:54 -0500

A little over 21 months ago, I finally scratched the itch that I’d had off and on for years to migrate my website to a static site generator (SSG). I wrote about migrating from Wordpress to Hugo when I made the change, and overall, I’ve been pretty happy with the results. My website and blog feel more responsive than they have in years, everything has been very reliable, and I know that all of my content is safely stored in a version control system I trust (Git), and in a format that is relatively portable (Markdown).

However, I have noticed a few small side-effects to using an SSG over something like WordPress:

I don’t write posts nearly as often. I’ve never been one to post a lot on my website, but the small extra hurdle of writing in Markdown and pushing changes, triggering the rebuild, has caused me to resort to primarily updating my reading list and uses pages. Additionally, I basically only write posts when on my primary computer now (as opposed to whenever I have a web browser and an idea), as I prefer to work on posts locally before pushing them to my live site.
I don’t spend much time looking at, or improving, the design of my site. I used to, once a year or so, change up the theme I was using (when on SquareSpace/Wordpress), and in between I was often testing others in the background. Now I virtually never even get to the testing phase. That’s good in some respects, because it means I’m in general happy with the look of my site, but simultaneously it makes me a little sad that I don’t enjoy changing up themes in Hugo, and maybe finding something I like even better.

I haven’t reached the point where the side-effects are bothering me enough to cause me to begin evaluating other options, but I do see that day coming somewhere down the road. Ideally, I would like to find a platform that maintains what I like about Hugo (Markdown content, backed up to/stored in a Git repo, and very responsive), while also providing a web front end for management/content creation. I’ve looked into Grav a few times, among other options, but have yet to actually spin up an instance for testing.

If you’re reading this and have a recommendation I should consider, feel free to reach out to me on Mastodon!

The Apple Store Time Machine

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 16:00:56 -0500

Michael Steeber:

The Apple Store Time Machine is a celebration of the places and products that have shaped our lives for more than twenty years. This interactive experience recreates memorable moments in Apple history with painstaking detail and historical accuracy.

I spent some time exploring the Time Machine Michael created this afternoon, and the level of detail is absolutely astonishing. I highly recommend downloading this and reliving some of Apple’s history.

🔗

iOS 14.5 with App Tracking Transparency + Apple Watch Unlock

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 20:18:59 -0500

iOS 14.5 was released yesterday (2021/04/26), bringing a whole host of changes that have been heavily covered on all of the major tech news outlets. Two of the changes, App Tracking Transparency and Apple Watch unlock for iPhone, caught my eye.

I’ve read the details on App Tracking Transparency, and I like what Apple is doing, though I’ve not actually experienced any of the changes myself yet. The TL;DR version is that companies are now blocked from tracking you across other apps by default, and you have to explicitly give them permission to do so, whereas before it was enabled by default, and you had to manually disable tracking. I don’t use many apps that this would apply to personally (from what I’ve seen at least), but I think this is a win for privacy-conscious individuals everywhere. For more details of the changes, see Why Apple’s new privacy feature is such a big deal by The Verge.

The feature that I have actively been using for the last 24 hours is the unlocking of your iPhone with Apple Watch while wearing a face mask. Basically, if you have an unlocked Apple Watch on your arm and near your iPhone when you attempt to unlock via Face ID, your iPhone will… unlock! No more having to remove your mask briefly, or use your passcode! While using my passcode has not been a huge deal for me, it can be an annoyance when trying to check my shopping list, reply to a message quickly, etc.. And, as with most things Apple, the new unlocking process is simple and flawless so far, and while it reduces security slightly.

A few notes: Apple Watch unlock is not enabled by default, so the user has to manually enable it in settings. Also, when this unlock method is used, a button comes up instantly on your Apple Watch, allowing to you re-lock your iPhone, and then requiring your full PIN/password to unlock.

While this option does reduce the security of your iPhone slightly, the convenience is worth it in my opinion, and Apple has taken some concerns into account when designing the feature.

For more technical details on Apple Watch unlock, see the Apple’s support page on the topic: Unlock your iPhone with Apple Watch when you’re wearing a face mask.

Experimenting with Fitness Tracking

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 18:00:00 -0600

Over the last few years, the general population has become increasingly more interested in fitness tracking, health metrics, and other associated smart wearables. Whereas heart rate monitors were once the realm only of fitness enthusiasts and professional athletes, it is now common to see the average individual tracking their heart rate, blood oxygen, and daily steps.

My Early Experience with Fitness Metrics

I first started counting my steps back when it was added to the iPhone 5s, around 2013, mostly as a curiosity. I didn’t pay attention on a day to day basis, but would occasionally look to see how many steps it estimated I had taken on particularly busy days. I continued to track steps through my switch to Android in 2015 (mostly in the background), and I would occasionally check my heart rate and blood pressure using a wrist cuff at home, but never really paid much attention to the results. I also picked up a smartwatch (Android Wear) in the 2017-2018 timeframe, but again, I never really paid attention to the information it could collect other than to note it when I was bored and looking at health information on my phone.

That would probably be the end of the story, had I not taken up cycling in the summer of 2018. Cyclists frequently track their heart rate, VO2 Max, and cadence (in RPMs), and so I began to track the same metrics using a Garmin bike computer and chest strap. However, I still rarely used the information beyond the initial logging step, and to compare to friends who I was cycling with. I did do some studying to understand what I was looking at, but it really didn’t change how I rode.

Enter the Apple Watch

In September of 2019, I once again switched phone OSes, and returned to Apple’s ecosystem with the iPhone 11 Pro Max (see this blog post for more information). At the same time I picked up the latest Apple Watch, partially out of curiosity (to see how it performed compared to the WearOS/Android watches I had used before), and partially because I like the ability to check messages, notifications, time and date, and other bits of info without pulling out my phone. I was moderately blown away by how well the Apple Watch performed when compared (it was nearly flawless), and as I continued to experiment with what the watch could do, I began to pay more attention to the health and fitness metrics it could collect in conjunction with Apple Health. While the heart rate monitor was perhaps not quite as accurate as a chest strap or the medical devices found in doctor’s offices, it was pretty good, and much more convenient (I mean, have you ever worn a chest strap?). I began to notice when I was nervous that my heart rate would spike (obvious, but I had never paid attention before), and I could easily keep an eye on how hard I was pushing myself during the occasional workout. However, I never really got into the gamification that Apple has built in (comparing yourself to your friends, and trying to “close all your rings”).

And then came 2020, and SARS-CoV-2. As is my usual, I occasionally did my own research (beyond what was found in the media) on early symptoms, along with related complications, and came to the conclusion that monitoring my average heart rate was perhaps slightly more important now than it once was. I also wanted to keep an eye on my blood oxygen, and so in the Fall I upgraded from my Apple Watch Series 5 to a Series 6. I still didn’t really watch the metrics on a day to day basis, but I did begin to look at my weekly averages in Apple Health, just to get a baseline for what is normal for my body with the amount of exercise I normally get.

Around the same time that I picked up the Series 6, I began to try out the Apple Fitness sharing options with a few friends. I didn’t compete very much, but it did push me to do more exercise than I normally would. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. There’s a reason that many companies have tried to gamify things, from fitness to productivity, and everything in between.

And that takes me to this year: 2021! I set out at the beginning of the year to try to get in 30 minutes of exercise daily. Using my Apple Watch to track the workouts is a good way to push myself to not shorten the workout arbitrarily because I got tired or bored, and the friendly competition with friends helps too. I am paying closer attention to metrics during my workout too, and increasing or decreasing the intensity of the workout based on what I’m seeing. And I haven’t stopped there.

Along Came Whoop

Earlier this week I ordered a wrist strap from Whoop, which arrived Thursday. Why Whoop? The Apple Watch tracks many metrics, but it doesn’t necessarily give me feedback on if I should increase or decrease the intensity, or what state my body is really in. Whoop, on the other hand, is more aimed at athletes, and so it is designed to estimate your daily strain, recovery, and sleep (based on heart rate). I’ve heard many athletes rave about how much they like their Whoop straps, and so I decided to give it a try. I’m nowhere near begin even an amateur athlete, but I was curious to see what information it could provide, and if I could use it to improve my workouts and my health in general.

And so, for at least the next month, I’m wearing two wristbands: my Apple Watch, and my Whoop strap, one on either arm. I plan to report back on my experience, and potentially compare the information, to see what I think. So far I’m very impressed with the data it provides, though it’s still early enough in my trial that I can’t utilize all of the information yet (it needs time to learn my normal routines).

But What About Privacy?

I’m sure this question will have arisen in some readers’ minds (it would have mine): what about privacy? Isn’t that a lot of data to give to share with a company? In a word, yes, it is. However, I have not found a good alternative that still allows me to collect the information I currently want, without adding a lot of extra work on my end. Also, Apple’s privacy statement at least claims that they back up the data in such a way that even they cannot read it. Whoop’s privacy principles are a bit more concerning, and I still haven’t decided for sure if I’m comfortable with them (hence why I’m currently only on a one month trial, and have not invested heavily in the system yet).

Also, while my Apple Watch has access to location data, that is not data that I haven’t already decided to share with Apple (I do use their phone + their Maps app). Whoop, on the other hand, can only track location data if I intentionally open their app and share it while recording an activity, which is optional. From my understanding there is nothing to be gained by doing that, and the strap itself cannot track location.

But What About FOSS?

I am, in general, a Free and Open Source Software advocate. So why not use a FOSS solution? First of all I’ve yet to even find a good FOSS solution for fitness metric tracking, especially if I don’t want to either build it myself, or do a lot of set up and maintenance. In an ideal world I would rather host my own server to collect and store my data on, but at this time that doesn’t seem like a realistic option. On top of that, I do kind of like the sharing and competition abilities with friends, and it is highly unlikely that I could convince them to move to a homebrew or self-hosted solution that they would have to do some amount of upkeep on.

Is Fitness Tracking Worth It?

Is tracking a bunch of health and fitness metrics ultimately worthwhile? I don’t have a good answer for that. For me personally, currently, yes. Tracking metrics provides me with some peace of mind (I know if things are out of the ordinary), and it encourages me to pursue fitness more, where my normal inclinations are to be sedentary. Will my mind change in the future? If the past is any indicator, probably. But for now, I’ll keep going with this experiment, and see what I can learn from both the Apple Watch and the Whoop strap. If it helps me to continue to improve my life, then I think it has been worthwhile.

Removing Google Analytics

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 13:04:19 -0600

Now that I’ve migrated from WordPress to Hugo, it’s time for Stage 2 of my website redesign. I’ve been wanting to move away from Google Analytics for a while due to the invasive nature of the data they collect, but I’ve never taken the time to set up an alternative. I’ve looked into Matomo in the past, and while it looks promising, at this stage I’d rather not set up a server to host it myself, nor am I prepared to pay for their hosted option. So, after checking that off the list, what other alternatives are left?

While setting up my Hugo website, I noticed that the theme I’m currently using, Hugo-Coder, includes support for Google Analytics, Fathom Analytics, Plausible Analytics, and GoatCounter. Both Fathom Analytics and Plausible Analytics look amazing, and both are privacy-protecting, but neither have a free tier, only a free trial (unless I choose to self-host, which is again, not a priority for me at this time). At some point I may move to a paid service, but for now, I just want some generic stats about my website: which pages are visited the most, and some generics visitor numbers and stats (browser, etc). And so, hoping to find a simpler and less costly option, I moved on to GoatCounter.

Now let me be the first to say, GoatCounter’s website is not flashy when compared to the other two options, nor do they have especially beautiful graphs to display the collected data (see the preceding image). However, there are a couple of things in their favor: 1) they are very privacy respecting (see their FAQ page), and 2) they have a free tier for non-commercial uses, with up to 100k pageviews per month. At this point, I meet both of those qualifications. I guess it’s time to regiser for the service and try it out!

Signing up for GoatCounter is very simple, and only requires a few pieces of information (email, password, and the domain you intend to use it with). You are asked to verify your email address, and then you’re presented with a code, which needs added to your Hugo config. Once those changes are complete, all that’s left is to commit and push the config changes, and everything is set up.

So, what’s next? At this point, I just sit back and wait. I’ve done some simple testing, and it appears that the analytics are working as expected. Only time will tell how happy I am with this new solution, but for now it provides me general information without being overly heavy-handed, and without being too invasive to my visitor’s privacy.

Migrating from WordPress to Hugo

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 19:52:41 -0600

A little under 3 years ago I wrote a post entitled Site Redesign and Migration, where I unveiled a full redesign of my website after having moved it off of the Squarespace. Three years before that I started my website on Squarespace, after considering a host of other alternatives. And now, after many months of consideration, and after reading many blogs about why one should or shouldn’t use a Static Site Generator (ex: “Why I Don’t Use a Static Site Generator” by Kev Quirk), I’ve opted to migrate my website from WordPress to Hugo.

So, why am I making the change?

In some ways, Hugo is actually more complex than Wordpress. I can spin up a WordPress website on almost any hosting platform out there. I’ve been using Amazon LightSail, but I could have just as easily used DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, or WordPress.com.

Hugo is a Static Site Generator (SSG), which means that I design the website in Markdown, and then Hugo generates a static HTML website from that. It’s not as simple as WordPress, where I could simply go into the web interface, type up a post, hit “Publish”, and it appeared on my website. I have to open a Markdown editor on my computer, write the post, render it locally to ensure I’m happy with the content and design, then commit it to a Git repository. Once committed, my website has to be rebuilt and redeployed to the server.

But that last paragraph actually hit on one of the largest reasons for switching to Hugo: my website is a Git repository. Even if I choose to migrate from Hugo to some other SSG in the future, my posts are all already in Markdown format. As long as whatever I choose uses Markdown (which many SSGs do), I just have to rearrange the directory structure, and then publish. And even if I choose to return to a full CMS, there are some that support Markdown, so in many ways I’m future-proofing my content.

Another reason for leaving Wordpress is actually the requirements for running a full-blow Content Management System (CMS). I find as I grow older, I no longer am interested in keeping servers up to date to protect them from the latest vulnerabilities. And so, the fewer requirements my website has to operate, the better.

And finally, I simply don’t use most of the features of WordPress, nor do I care to at this time. I don’t currently enable comments on my posts. I’ve used analytics in the past, but that is possible on Hugo as well.

What all did this migration entail?

First of all, I actually manually went through every page and post on my existing website, and copied them into Markdown format on my computer, verifying that links worked correctly, pictures and videos inlined in a post looked right, and selecting where they would reside on my website. Most pages on my WordPress website were directly copied to top-level pages on my Hugo website, as were some of my blog posts. However, I chose to move a majority of the posts that I wrote for my 100 Days to Offload experiment into an Archives section, unless I felt that they would be useful to others in the future.

Next, I selected a theme that I liked the look of, and then tested the settings on my local computer. I also initialized a Git repository for all of the files I had created, and pushed the changes to GitHub. (I looked at using GitLab or another alternative, but for now the easiest way to deploy seemed to be with GitHub)

Finally, I spun up a new app on the DigitalOcean App Platform, tied both my Git repository and my domain name to the app, and published my website.

And so, thus begins the latest stage of the story of my website. Hopefully, I will continue using Hugo for many years to come. Although, if history is any indicator, in approximately three years I will be considering something else…

Edit 1: Due to the design of Hugo, my RSS feed now is located at https://www.justinvollmer.com/posts/index.xml. I will try to get a redirect working, but I am not confident that will occur.

For more information on deploying a Hugo website to the DigitalOcean App Platform, see this guide.

Things That Work: Firefox

Sun, 21 Jun 2020 16:55:19 -0600

I’ve used a number of different browsers over the years. In fact, I’ve used more browsers than I realized, once I started compiling idea for this post.

When I first started using computers, my primary browser was Internet Explorer. I don’t recall exactly what year this was, but it was prior to the advent of Firefox and Chrome. And for years, that’s what I used. I vaguely recall using Netscape Navigator, actually, at one point, but I don’t think it ever stuck.

In the early to mid-2000s, I found out about Firefox, and switched to it as my primary browser. My reasoning, as I recall, was better support of web standards. At the time I was playing around with designing websites, and it just worked better.

Around 2005, I got my first Mac, which introduced me to Safari. I used it some, but I’ve always had weird issues with Safari, even to this day, and so it’s always a backup option, not my primary. I stuck with Firefox during that time (I think). Until…

The year I graduated from college was the year that Google Chrome came out, and I pretty quickly switched to using that full time. In fact, I would go on to use Chrome, or a Chrome-based browser, until about 3 years ago. I was heavy into the Google ecosystem, and overall I liked the performance.

Sometime during 2017 I gave Firefox another chance. I don’t recall exactly what made me try it, honestly. It may have been a podcast I was listening to. Or perhaps I was looking at ways to move away from the Google suite of products. In any case, slightly before Firefox 57 (Quantum), I switched back to Firefox, and haven’t really looked back since.

So why am I on Firefox? Is it the amazing performance? Not really. Firefox is good, but Chrome is often still faster. Is it the most beautiful browser? By no means. It’s good, but still not as good as Chrome, or one of the Chrome derivatives. My main reasons for using Firefox are two-fold: it’s a FOSS product (that actually works), and the extension ecosystem is amazing.

A few months ago I created a page on this site that listed all of the extensions I use, and why I use them. Of all of those, my absolute favorite is Multi-Account Containers. The ability to be logged into the same website with different accounts, and to keep history/tracking separate, has proven useful time and time again.

Anyhow. There’s a short trip down memory lane for me, and a very brief explanation of why I use Firefox.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload (Day 58/100). You can join in yourself by visiting https://100DaysToOffload.com.

Things That Work: Soundiiz

Sun, 14 Jun 2020 17:29:51 -0600

A few months ago, around the time that the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the Untied States, I began playing a weekly round of Name That Tune with my family. The premise is simple: I create a playlist with a variety of songs, and then the rest of the family attempts to guess, within the first 90 seconds of the song, the song’s title and artist.

Prior to the start of these games, I was primarily using Apple Music for all of my music-streaming needs. It wasn’t perfect, but in general everything I was looking for was present in that ecosystem. However, as I began to put playlists together for the NTT games, I quickly decided that I was going to need an alternative to improve the workflow. Apple Music doesn’t have a good web or Linux client, and I didn’t feel like using my old MacBook Pro for all of the work. Plus, I was getting fed up with Apple Music’s playlist system. I briefly looked at YouTube Music/Google Music, but quickly decided that was also not going to work, and so I switched to Spotify.

Now that I was relatively happy with the app and workflow, I began creating 1-2 playlists a week. However, I quickly found that keeping track of all of the songs that I had already used was painful. I had to either rely solely on memory, or switch between all of the previous playlists to check if a song had been used previously. There had to be a better solution. Ideally, I wanted a way to export CSV files from Spotify, compile them into a single LibreOffice spreadsheet, and then have an easy lookup table on my side monitor while I worked on playlists. Of course, that couldn’t have just been built into the Spotify UI. That would have been too easy. So, I began searching for a solution, assuming that I was not the first person to want to do this. And I was right…

Enter Soundiiz. Weird name, I know. I had actually ran across the service a few months prior, but completely forgot about it. Soundiiz advertises that they have the ability to sync playlists and favorites between platforms, and at the time, I didn’t need that functionality (I’ve since tested it out briefly, and I was underwhelmed by the performance). However, they also offer playlist export in, you guessed it… CSV! Which is exactly what I needed. And so, I signed up for an account, synced my Spotify playlists, and the rest is history.

Now, my procedure for creating NTT playlists is pretty simple. I first visit Soundiiz, and export the previous game’s playlist, which I then import into a master spreadsheet that contains all of the songs that I’ve previously used, along with the date used, artist, album, etc. It’s still a little time-intensive, but now I only ever have a single list to compare against, instead of switching between all of the previous playlists (currently at 12 and counting).

There are a host of other features that Soundiiz claims, though I’ve never actually tried any of the others out (other than what I discussed above). If you listen to a lot of music, or switch between multiple platforms, it’s worth quickly browsing through their feature list. I personally could see the playlist sync being useful in the future, especially if it becomes more robust.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload (Day 51/100). You can join in yourself by visiting https://100DaysToOffload.com.

Things That Work: Zowie FK1

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 17:16:25 -0600

Inspired by Things that work! by Cliff Brake.

As someone who spends a very large amount of time in front of a computer, over the years I have built up a list of a number of preferences. Today’s post is about the Zowie FK1+, which is my default mouse choice.

I first learned of the FK1+ (and other similar models from Zowie) in 2015 when I took my current position at work. I was looking for a mouse that was comfortable, worked with all operating systems, and gave me the option of different DPI settings in the mouse itself, instead of having to use software. Somehow, during the research, I ran across the FK1+, and I haven’t looked back. It is now in use both at work and at home.

So, why use the FK1+ (or, again, a similar model)? It’s ambidextrous. It’s comfortable, in my opinion at least, for extended use. The DPI settings are amazing. And the mouse holds up well. Also, it is available in different sizes for different hands, so you can choose whatever size is appropriate.

Bonus: Along with the FK1+, I always use a SteelSeries QcK Gaming Mousepad. I’ve tried using desks without a mousepad, and the experience just isn’t the same. Lack of a good mousepad makes the entire computer experience lousy. Again, years ago I found the SteelSeries line of mousepads, and ever since I’ve used them in one form or another. I vary the size or design based on use case, but you can find one of these under every mouse I use.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload (Day 41/100). You can join in yourself by visiting https://100DaysToOffload.com.

Windows 10 Updates

Fri, 22 May 2020 17:02:28 -0600

Every once in a while I fire up an older Windows 10 PC, mostly to play games. Unfortunately, because it doesn’t get used much, it normally needs to run updates. And I officially hate running updates on Windows machines.

At this point in my life, most of my work is done on Linux. I understand the operating system relatively well, and I generally understand what an update will do to my computer.

Windows updates are too opaque. I can read what Microsoft tells me about them. But I can only delay installation. I can’t choose to never update (and expect things to work right).

I’m currently attempting to get my system functional again, so that I can play a game with a friend. And at this point I’m a whole freaking 75 minutes into troubleshooting and updating…

Anyhow. Rant complete. For now.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload (Day 28/100). You can join in yourself by visiting https://100DaysToOffload.com.

Moving a Git Submodule

Thu, 14 May 2020 16:49:25 -0600

A coworker asked me a question this evening about how to move a Git submodule to a sub-directory, and as it’s something I’ve had to look up multiple times in the past, I decided it would be good to post it here for easy lookup in the future.

How to move a Git submodule to a sub-directory

Delete the submodule reference from .gitmodules (normally 3 lines)
Check .git/config for references to the submodule and remove them, if they exist
Run git rm --cached <submodule name> to remove the submodule reference from the repository
Remove the old submodule folder
Recreate your submodule reference with git submodule add <git repo url> <local path>

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload (Day 20/100). You can join in yourself by visiting https://100DaysToOffload.com.

Initial Thoughts on a Personal Wiki

Sun, 10 May 2020 16:39:35 -0600

Approximately two weeks ago, I wrote a blog post where I mentioned that I was interested in setting up a personal wiki, or something similar, as a way to keep an online commonplace book. I’ve been taking notes on the idea ever since, and today, I finally decided to give it a try.

Requirements

I had a few different requirements.

Easy to maintain & use
Markdown support
Accessible and editable on all devices
Web-based, so that I’m not handling syncing between devices
FOSS

Enter Wiki.js

After a decent amount of research, where I looked at pretty much every FOSS solution for a personal wiki, I settled on Wiki.js. There were a couple of features that lured me in.

First off, Wiki.js can be installed and maintained easily. While I’m technically capable of doing complex installs and maintenance of software, I very much prefer options that don’t require a lot of extra time to set up and maintain.. Wiki.js has install guides for pretty much every platform, including Docker.

Second, Wiki.js is designed to be both public facing, while still have private pages. I wanted a solution that I could post notes on and point others to, instead of having to copy files around (I historically have kept my own notes in Markdown, but they are not publicly accessible). Wiki.js allows me to do that, and store notes of my own behind a login (if I choose).

Third, Wiki.js has a number of page format options, one of which is Markdown. As mentioned above, I already use Markdown, and I prefer it for the portability and future-proofing it offers. So, I can simply copy my existing files to my wiki, and really the only extra work I need to do is choose the page hierarchy.

Fourth, Wiki.js, while being a web app, can sync all changes to a Git repository. In my mind, this is one of the killer features of the software. I can write notes on my wiki site, and they will be automatically synced with a private Git repo. So even if I choose to use another tool in the future, my notes are all in a Git repo that I can simply clone, and then import into whatever that tool is.

My Setup

I started setting up my wiki this morning around 11:30a.

My first step was to choose hosting. I use DigitalOcean fairly heavily, and Wiki.js has a one-click app in the Marketplace, so that’s what I went with. I chose a 5 dollar per month droplet (the smallest), and within a few minutes, the site was up.

Next up, initial login and setup. There’s seriously not much to talk about here. Everything was very straight-forward, and within another few minutes, I had my own wiki started!

The final step of setup was linking a domain name and setting up HTTPS. As I mentioned above, I started this journey a few weeks ago, and so I already had a domain purchased via porkbun.com. I once again followed the setup instructions on the Wiki.js website, and had no trouble completing the setup!

Total time from start to finish, including adding some pages, setting up a Git sync, HTTPS, and exploring the Admin area: ~ 60 minutes.

Current State

I’ve spent another hour or so creating and playing with pages since then. I’m very happy with how everything looks so far, and can’t wait to continue expanding the site. At some point, I will probably link to it here on my blog so that others can explore (it is primarily public-facing).

I’m also considering moving a few things that are hosted on Gitlab, or here on my personal website, to my wiki, especially the lists of the books I’ve read, and the books that I want to read.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload (Day 16/100). You can join in yourself by visiting https://100DaysToOffload.com.

Micro-Update: KDE Konsole and tmux

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 12:33:28 -0600

I ran into an interesting issue this morning after running system updates on my main desktop computer (running Arch Linux with the KDE Plasma desktop). For some reason, although I don’t think any behavior was intentionally changed by the developers (and I’m not blaming anyone), Konsole (a KDE terminal app) started intercepting the CTRL+B key combo that is used by tmux. It turns out that this is a standard “Add Bookmark” shortcut in the Plasma desktop environment.

My solution was a bit of a hack, but works for now: I went to System Settings – Shortcuts – Standard Shortcuts, and disabled the “Add Bookmark” shortcut entirely, as I don’t really use it. Problem solved! Now, back to software development…

Micro-Update: Recommended Firefox Extensions

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 12:35:54 -0600

I realized this morning that I frequently give recommendations to friends and family on apps and tools to use, books and blogs to read, podcasts to listen to, etc. And so, instead of constantly pulling up my notes and then sending a list individually to each person, I decided to begin creating pages here on my website briefly listing my recommendations, and why I recommend them.

The first (and only) page so far is my recommendations for Firefox Extensions. However, I expect to add more in short order, at which time I’ll add a blog post announcing them as well. My goal is to keep these pages updated and current, as I personally hate it when I come across recommendations that I think sound useful, and then find out that they are years out of date.

Enjoy!

Asocial? A Life Without Social Media

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 12:27:34 -0600

In November of 2018, I logged out of Facebook and Instagram for the last time, deleted my Snapchat account, and removed the Twitter app from my phone. A few months later, I also shuttered my Twitter account. After debating it for many years, and attempting (and failing) multiple times, I was finally done with social media.

It’s been almost a year since that time, and so I decided to do a quick retrospective to answer the following question, something I wish I would have had to read before making my choice: what’s it like to be 30, in the tech sector, and not on any traditional social media platforms? In short, it’s both amazing, and also sometimes slightly annoying.

Background

Before I go into the pros and cons of not being on any of the major social media platforms, allow me to give a little bit of background on my decision, and the steps I took before and after deleting my accounts. I had considered deleting my social media accounts for a long time, for a few different reasons. First off, I knew that I was spending too much time scrolling through my various news feeds. Also, I was not particularly comfortable with any of the companies that ran the platforms knowing as much about me as they did. Facebook in particular had a much more detailed profile on me than I cared for them to have, and I had already begun to only use their website from inside a container on Firefox so that they could not track me around the web.

I made my final decision to begin removing myself from social media in early November, a few weeks before Thanksgiving. I deleted Instagram and Snapchat almost immediately. I had never used Snapchat heavily, and so removing it was a simple choice. When it came to Instagram, most of those I followed were also on Facebook, and while I enjoyed seeing the pictures that friends and family posted, I knew that I still had other means of communicating with everyone.

Then came Stage 2: Facebook. I had been on Facebook for many years (since high school), and it was how I kept in touch with most family, friends, high school and college classmates, and various people from other stages of my life. In fact, I had convinced myself on numerous occasions that I could not leave Facebook because of the sheer number of people I would no longer have an easy connection to. However, I decided that I was spending too much time on the platform, and so I began sending messages to a handful of people, requesting contact information to use once I closed my account. I also alerted family and close friends, but to make my decision easier and not feel pressure to stay, I did not broadcast to many people that I was leaving. A week before Thanksgiving, I closed and deleted my Facebook account.

That left Twitter. I kept Twitter initially because I was not spending as much time using the app/website, and I was occasionally using it for professional reasons (to follow Precision Planting dealers, other Ag companies, etc). However, in early Spring 2019 I decided that the few uses I had for it were not worth keeping a presence on the platform. And so, like Facebook and Instagram before it, I went into my Twitter account options, and shut it down.

And now, I’m a pariah, right? I’m still (somewhat) young, living life in 2019, and not existing on any of the traditional social media platforms. In some ways… yes, I am. There are both pros and cons to my decision. And I would do the same thing again if I had to choose, although I would probably go about it in a slightly different fashion.

I have distinctly more time on my hands. I was spending easily an hour or more a day idly scrolling through my various feeds, liking posts, keeping up with what my family and friends were up to, and keeping myself distracted from the real world. That’s not to say that social media isn’t real, but it’s often an idealized reality.

I also no longer try to create the perfect post for social media, in an attempt to see how many likes I can get, and to get that extra bit of validation from others. Don’t get me wrong: I still have those desires at times. But by limiting my ability to get easy social validation, I am forcing myself to learn to look to God, not those around me, for my self-worth.

I’ve also found that I am less distracted when I am spending time with people I care about. There are fewer things on my phone to send me notifications, and at this point most are work-related. The lack of constant interruptions makes it easier for me to spend time completely focused on who I’m with and what I’m doing.

There are often events that I don’t get invited to, because I’m not on social media. This is less of an issue now than it used to be, as people have slowly internalized that they need to contact me directly to invite me to things, but it still happens. And I’ve had to learn to be okay with it, which is hard for someone who deals with the fear of missing out (FOMO) frequently. It does mean, however, that the events I’m invited to are generally because the host is actually interested in me being there, and not because they invited a large portion of their friend list.

I also miss out on social gossip (which is probably both a positive and a negative). I have missed many people’s birthdays, because I forgot to find out when they were ahead of time, and I no longer get a notification. I also am not the first to know when relationship statuses change (single -> dating, dating -> engaged, dating -> single, etc). And I don’t always hear about major life changes either (pregnancy, moving to a new job, new state, etc). These are often small prices to pay, but they do affect me nonetheless.

What would I have done differently?

Plan my exit slightly better. There are a few people I wish I would have requested contact info from, which I no longer have the opportunity to do.
Write down birthdays and anniversaries. I would have added these as reminders to my calendar. It’s something small, but I enjoy receiving birthday wishes from others, and I would like the opportunity to do the same.

Final Thoughts

As stated earlier, if I could make the choice again, I would still get rid of social media. I have still continued to maintain my LinkedIn profile, for professional reasons, although I am becoming less and less convinced that it is necessary. Also, since getting rid of Twitter, I have created a Mastodon account (on the Fosstodon instance), which I occasionally use for keeping up with the FOSS community. It has proven to be much less distracting than traditional social media, and it’s also operated by a small community, not a large company, so I trust that they are not attempting to sell my data.

Leaving Android Behind

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 12:29:43 -0600

If someone were to have told me that I’d be leaving Android at the start of 2019, I’d have told them they were crazy. After all, when I switched to Android from iOS in 2015, I decided that I would be staying with the platform for the foreseeable future. And the further I got into that future, the more entrenched I became in the Android ecosystem, to the point that switching would be painful on both my pocketbook, and on my daily life. But here we are: it’s September, and I’m officially leaving Android behind, and switching to an iPhone. So… why an iPhone? After all, I’m a Linux user, right? Wouldn’t it make more sense to move to another Android-based system, or a Linux phone?

First up, a bit of background: I used iPhones for a number of years, from sometime in the 2010-2011 timeframe (I don’t recall exactly when I switched from my trusty BlackBerry to an iPhone), until July of 2015. They worked fine, but I was never particularly happy with Apple’s iCloud services, and found myself using Google and its services (Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, etc) much more frequently. And when Project Fi was announced, I was one of the first to sign up on the waiting list. As soon as I got my invite to join the beta (it was still Project Fi at that point), I ordered my Nexus 6, and plunged headlong into the world of Android phones.

For the next few years, I continued to use Project Fi (which became Google Fi a few years ago), and I also continued to use Android phones, as they worked best with the service. Also, the Google/Android integration was great, as much of my life revolved around Google services. I went from the Nexus 6 to the Nexus 5x, followed by the Pixel 1, Pixel 2 XL, and finally the Pixel 3 XL. All of the phones (minus the 5x) were great devices, and I had no complaints with their performance. I did have some annoyances dealing with messaging friends and family who still had iPhones, and occasionally I ran into situations where being on Android meant I didn’t have the app selection I would have had on iOS, but by and large the experience was pretty good. Which leads to the obvious question: why change? Why shift my life from the Android ecosystem back to iOS?

I’ve been debating whether I would stay with Android phones for about 2 years now. I occasionally read blog posts from others who have “de-Googled” their lives (such as “Why I’m Ditching Android” by Kev Quirk), and found their stories and opinions both intriguing and thought-provoking. I have also been getting more and more concerned about the sheer amount of information that Google has on me, as well the lack of privacy when using their tools, especially from a Google-branded phone. Don’t get me wrong: I really like some of the perks that come from all of the data Google has collected. But it is also unnerving, from a privacy standpoint. Two things had always kept me with Google phones though: perceived-superior services, and Google Fi (since using a non-Google phone on Google Fi is not a worthwhile endeavor in my opinion based on reviews, and Google Fi is a legitimately good cell phone service). But then, around the beginning of summer, I began in earnest looking at other options.

My first reason for looking at switching to iOS is perhaps not a particularly good reason, but it is one of the top reasons for my switch: iMessage. It simply works better than SMS/MMS, in my experience, especially better than SMS/MMS between Android and iPhone. I have been annoyed at photo and video quality when sent cross-platform for years, and recently it reached the breaking point. I wish that RCS or another SMS replacement were ready, but they simply aren’t. And I can’t convince friends and family to all switch to Telegram or some other platform when iMessage is installed on most of their phones by default, and it just works. And on top of that, it’s encrypted, out of the box.

My second reason is closely tied to the first: AirDrop. A few times a year, I have found myself in a situation where someone wants to share a large number of pictures with me, and AirDrop, once again, just works. Unless, of course, the person on the receiving end doesn’t use an iPhone, in which case there are no simple solutions for sharing files, other than using Google Drive. Google Drive, or Dropbox, or another similar service all work, but invariably the person I am trying to send to or receive from doesn’t use whichever service I happen to use. And in the moment, it’s not easy to convince them to sign up for a new service, download an app, and then send me files via the app.

The third reason is a bit more philosophical: I’m getting tired of Google’s ads, and Google’s lack of privacy. I know they are claiming that they are working on improving customer privacy, but the fact is, they are predominantly an advertising company. They make money by collecting and selling my data, and by showing me ads. The newer versions of their apps seem to be even worse about this than in years past, and that, combined with my other reasons for considering an iPhone, made it a pretty easy decision to leave. Apple devices do cost substantially more than Android phones in general, but from what I can tell it’s because Apple makes their money on me buying the device, not on the data they collect from me as I use their device. I did consider either running an Android alternative on a phone, or else using a Linux phone (such as the PinePhone), but while those options look interesting, none are in a state where I am willing to rely on them in my day to day life. Therefore, switching to an iPhone was the best option for me, as far as I could see. I will continue to watch the Android alternatives and the Linux-based mobile operating systems (especially Plasma Mobile), and perhaps at some point there will be a solid, FOSS option. I hope there will be.

So, in a few short days, my new iPhone will arrive. And honestly, I can hardly wait. I picked up one of the new iPhone 11 models that was announced earlier this month by Apple, and I will be moving from my Pixel 3 XL to the iPhone this Friday, if all goes as planned. I already switched from Google Fi to Verizon at the beginning of the month, intentionally making the change pre-platform switch, in case there were any hiccups (which there were, but nothing substantial). I love playing with new gadgets, and I plan to write another blog post in the coming weeks detailing my thoughts on iOS after years away from it, along with general impressions of the new phone, and if there are things I miss from my Android days. And yes, I’m sure I’ll take a few Slofies. I may even post one.

Abandoning Audible

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 12:30:58 -0600

Every year, when it comes time to renew memberships and subscriptions to various online services, I sit down and re-evaluate if they are still worth the amount of money that I am spending. It is relatively rare that something gets added to the yearly subscription list, and even rarer when a service gets removed. I’ve also found that, year after year, there have been a collection of services that I haven’t even considered removing. And up until this year, Audible was one of those services…

Let me begin by stating for the record that I was a fairly active Audible user. I’ve been a subscriber since August 2012, and a quick perusal of my purchase history shows that I was buying well over 12 books a year on the site. In both 2017 and 2018 I listened to 15 books on Audible, and while I don’t have good records from the years prior, it is safe to estimate that the trend continues. In fact, I’ve already completed 4 Audible books in 2019 alone. Clearly it is a beneficial service for me, right? So why would I consider cancelling my subscription?

#1: I don’t actually own the books I’m buying on Audible

This singular point has been bothering me for a number of years. The books that I purchase through Audible are protected by DRM, and therefore are not available for me to download and store on my own servers, or listen to without using Amazon’s apps and/or website. I don’t actually “own” any of the audiobooks I’ve purchased. It’s more like a per-book rental. I can listen to them as much as I want, but if Audible ever goes away, so do my purchases. This is the same problem I have with purchasing e-books, movies or music on services like iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon: you don’t actually own what you’ve bought. It’s not the same as purchasing a physical book, a CD, or a Blu-ray Disk. There is a part of me that prefers to actually own what I’m purchasing, if possible. There are, of course, ways to strip the DRM from an Audible book (which is illegal, and therefore not an option for me), and there are also stores that sell DRM-free audiobooks, but at a much higher premium (which I am unwilling to pay).

#2: I don’t get as much out of audiobooks as I do physical books

I’ve read articles commenting on the downsides of audiobooks, but until recently I ignored them. Some of the arguments I’ve seen are that you can’t take notes or mark passages that you really like, which always seemed bizarre to me: why would I mark up a perfectly good book? The book won’t look as nice if I write in it! But you know what? The authors of those articles had a point. Recently, I’ve started to read more physical books again, and when I come across something interesting, or a point I want to be able to easily find again, I mark it. Not only is it useful (I’ve already found myself thumbing through a book to find a section I underlined, which would have taken much more time had I left the book pristine), but why worry about keeping the book in perfect condition? I bought it. I own it. Why not use it to meet my needs?

#3: Audiobooks have limited re-readability (or re-listenability)

In some ways, this goes along with Reason #2. Audiobooks are great for listening to as entertainment, but sometimes I want to go back and re-read a passage. It’s VERY hard to go back and listen to a specific part of an audiobook. I’ve done it, but it’s not nearly as easy as walking to my bookshelf, grabbing the book, and quickly flipping to the section I want to re-read. There are ways to add bookmarks to an Audible audiobook, but even then, it’s not nearly as easy in my opinion.

#4: It’s too easy to multi-task with audiobooks

A lot of my recent reading has been devoted to the study of deep work (a term coined by Cal Newport, who also wrote a book by the same title), and minimizing the amount of time I spend idly and distractedly doing things in my life. In this, I noticed that listening to audiobooks was something that I almost always did while multi-tasking. I never just sat and listened to a book. Instead, I worked around the house, or drove (I used audiobooks a lot while traveling), or even sometimes began working on small tasks at my computer. I was never fully focused on what I was listening to, nor was I fully focused on what I was doing. This often meant that I only gleaned some of the information from the audiobook, or could recall only parts of the stories I was listening to. In direct contrast, reading a physical book requires concentration, and it is much harder to multi-task while reading. And by marking passages that stand out to me, and taking my time reading through the book, I tend to learn more.

So, where does all of that leave me? For now, I’ve opted not to renew my Audible subscription. I can still listen to the audiobooks I’ve purchased previously, if I choose. But for now, I am devoting my reading time primarily to physical books. I will definitely re-examine my choice the next time I take a longer trip, and may find that it makes sense to listen to audiobooks then. However, I have a large collection of audiobooks that I have not yet started, and I suspect I may find other things to fill my time and thoughts with as well.

Mycroft Mark 1

Sat, 12 May 2018 12:02:54 -0600

I have been dabbling in smart home technology and voice assistants for several years now. I was one of the first people I know to own an Amazon Echo (the original black tube), and used it until November 2016, when the Google Home first came out. Since I am an Android user, and I use Google’s services heavily in multiple areas of my life, I made the switch to the Google Home and never looked back. That is, until mid-2017, when the Mycroft Mark 1 Kickstarter was first announced.

Mycroft is an open source voice assistant, and the Mark 1 was the first hardware kit designed to run the Mycroft software. It consists of a Raspberry Pi 3, a speaker, a microphone, and a small LED display, all in a friendly white case. I chose not to back the project when it first came out since I was somewhat skeptical of the developers’ ability to deliver on their goals, but I continued to follow the project with interest.

Fast forward to early 2018, and the Mycroft team once again ran a Kickstarter campaign to finance a new hardware project. This time, the device was the Mycroft Mark II, and the system had matured to the point where I was comfortable backing it. I opted to back at the level where I would get both a Mark II when it comes out (est. December 2018), and a Mark 1 earlier in the year (est. April 2018).

All of that leads me to this week, when my Mycroft Mark 1 device finally arrived. Unfortunately, on the day that it showed up on my doorstep, I had to leave for a quick business trip, and so I didn’t have time to actually open anything until Saturday morning (today).

My first impressions are that, as expected, the Mark 1 is at best a reference device, good for developers and early adopters. That is, after all, what the Mark 1 was marketed as. It is nowhere near as polished as the Google Home, nor is it as useful to me currently. However, I don’t plan to let that stop me from continuing to use it. My current plans are to set it up in my home office, and tinker with various skills and integrations as they become available. One interesting integration already available is with Home Assistant, which is what I am currently using as the hub for all of my smart home gadgets. Also, if I have time over the summer, I may experiment with writing my own skills for Mycroft.

So, why spend time and money on a device that I knew from the start wouldn’t be as good as Google or Amazon’s offerings? Simple. While I am heavily invested in both the Google and Amazon ecosystems, I don’t actually like the idea of either one of those companies having microphones in every room of my house. I am continuing to use their products for now, since I am curious enough about new advances in the smart home and voice assistant spaces that I am willing to sacrifice some privacy. But, I want to foster competition in the marketplace, and the best option from a privacy standpoint is an opensource, self-hosted solution. Hopefully, given time and support, Mycroft will become that solution.

Reflections on a Year With Linux

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 12:01:37 -0600

A little over a year ago (Nov. 2016), I made the switch to using Linux pretty much full time. I wrote a few blog posts about it during the first month, but I have been relatively quiet since then. So, I thought it was about time that I gave a public update.

First of all, am I still using Linux as my daily driver? For the most part, yes. In fact, I’m writing this blog post on one of my Linux machines. Both my main laptop (the Asus ZenBook) and my main desktop computer (an old Dell Precision T3600) run Arch Linux as the OS, with KDE Plasma 5 for the desktop, and I have had very few issues with them overall. Arch gives me the latest version of pretty much any Linux software I want to run, and KDE gives me a nice, fluid desktop experience that doesn’t feel stuck in the 90s/early 2000s like some other desktop environments do (not to disparage them – just not my preference if I have the option).

Also, during 2017 I switched from using Chrome to primarily using Mozilla’s Firefox as my web browser, across all platforms. While I sometimes have qualms about how the Mozilla Foundation operates, Firefox does everything I need, and provides a nice user experience with some cross-platform syncing, which is important for me. I also use Thunderbird on my ZenBook for a desktop email client when I want one, although I typically rely on web mail (I’m still a heavy Gmail user for both work and home).

I said that I use Linux as my daily driver “for the most part”. So where do I not use Linux? Unfortunately, there are a few places where I still rely on Mac OS X and Windows 10, sometimes much to my annoyance.

Mac OS X still works best for me when it comes to photo/video editing (I prefer Adobe’s Premiere Pro and Lightroom Classic), and also when I’m working on notes in Evernote, and tasks in Todoist. While the latter two have web clients, the Mac desktop clients are much easier to use, and I can get my work done quicker there than in the web interface. I have explored using Kdenlive for video editing, but Premiere Pro still feels like the better option for me at this point. Also, yes, there are options like Darktable for photo editing, but since I am already purchasing the Adobe Creative Cloud for the time being, I decided to continue using Lightroom, which I was already familiar with.

Windows 10 gets used for certain development applications at work (where there are often no Linux alternatives), and gaming (primarily Blizzard games). I have investigated using some Windows tools under Wine, but since it is not an option for every tool that I need, I will continue running Windows 10 on one machine at home, and one at work.

In the fall of 2017 I also deployed a server running Linux at my house (ZoneMinder + Emby), and a Raspberry Pi (Home Assistant). The server is currently running Ubuntu 16.04, since that was the easiest way to get started with ZoneMinder (Emby was an afterthought since I already had the server set up). At some point I may move that machine to Arch, or else another server distro, but since it is working for now I have no reason to change it. The Raspberry Pi is running a custom build specifically for Home Assistant (based on ResinOS + Docker), and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, since it is completely dedicated to being my smart home hub.

So, what changes do I have planned for 2018? In no particular order:

Set up a Raspberry Pi with Kodi: I’ve read about Kodi a number of times, but I have never tried it out. The barrier to entry is pretty low, so this seems like a good project for a long weekend sometime this year.
Install Gentoo: I have a coworker that uses primarily Gentoo, and I have never done a Gentoo install. I know it will take some time, but it seems like it might be a good experience for me.
Set up a system with ZFS: I have read quite a bit about ZFS, and was originally going to use it on my server this past Fall. However, I ultimately did an EXT4 RAID-6 array, so ZFS got pushed to a later date.
Set up a FreeBSD system: This may go along with my ZFS experimentation. Earlier this year I actually did a FreeBSD install on one of my laptops, but I had enough issues with it that I re-installed Linux, and put of FreeBSD for another time. I’d like to purchase a small desktop system to use for BSD experimentation.

That pretty much wraps up my experience and current thoughts about Linux after a year of using it full time. At this point I do not foresee any reason for me to not use Linux primarily, although I also do not see a path forward to it being my only operating system. Hopefully, throughout 2018, I will be able to move some additional tasks to Linux, and also get a chance to work on some of the projects listed above.

Site Redesign and Migration

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 11:31:15 -0600

Note: This blog post is outdated, but left in place for historical reasons.

As you may have noticed if you’re reading this on justinvollmer.com (instead of an RSS reader), my website has undergone some visual changes. This was due in part to my choice to migrate away from Squarespace, where my site had been hosted for the last few years.

So, why the change? Well, for a couple of reasons, the biggest of which was cost. I was paying close to 100 USD a year to Squarespace, and I felt that I could find a cheaper solution elsewhere. Also, while Squarespace is extremely easy to use, it was also beginning to feel a bit limiting. I’ve been looking at using Amazon Lightsail to host my own server for a few months anyhow, and my impending renewal on Squarespace gave me a good incentive to make the switch. And since I had a few days off from work, it felt like a good time to make the changes.

And… that’s it for now. Enjoy!

Three Weeks Into the Linux Experiment

Fri, 16 Dec 2016 11:29:29 -0600

Note: This is part 2 of my series on switching to Linux. To see my first blog post, click here.

In “The Long Road to Linux”, published in late November, I wrote a post stating that I was attempting to switch to using Linux full time as my operating system of choice. And so, after spending slightly over three weeks running Linux on my main laptop, I figured it was time to post an update on how things are going.

Thus far, everything has been going smoothly. I have used Linux at work long enough to know that there are often a few bumps in the road, and was therefore prepared to have some hurdles in using it daily, but my experiment with running Arch Linux on my Asus Zenbook has been one of my nicest user experiences in recent memory. That is not to say that there haven’t been some small issues. But nothing has been a showstopper, and I continue to use my Zenbook day in and day out.

So, what issues have I ran into? The first annoyance I had once my computer was set up was some tearing when watching full-screen video, and also when scrolling through websites in Chrome. After a bit of research on the Arch wiki, it turned out that there were a few simple settings I could tweak in the video driver .conf file. I made the changes, and after a reboot I have had no further problems with my graphics card. Easy fix.

The next problem I tackled was finding a replacement for Airmail. I’ve followed the Linux community long enough to know about most of the major email clients, and so I tried out almost all of the big-name applications: Nylas N1, Geary, Wmail, Evolution, and Thunderbird. Geary and Evolution were very quickly checked off the list. Neither felt comfortable to use in my opinion, and were lacking some features I was interested in. Next, I checked out N1. It looked nice, but I had no interest in having my email going through servers other than Google’s (which I’m not actually 100% comfortable with either, but I am living with for the time being). And though they have a self-hosted option, I was not ready to put that much work into my email. Which left me with Wmail and Thunderbird. Wmail is nice, but it is effectively just a wrapper for Gmail. And Thunderbird feels old and clunky, but it will get the job done, and will let me have a combined inbox (something I am very keen on having). After a few hours of testing, it was settled: I’m using Thunderbird for my email client.

The last major issue I have run into is using Evernote under Linux, or else replacing it entirely. I have tried a couple of the alternatives to Evernote, but so far, nothing has really impressed me. The tools were functional, but not nearly as handy as Evernote. And so, I have once again decided to punt on finding a replacement, and continue using Evernote. This does mean that I must use my Mac for the occasional document-scanning or database-backup task, but it is normally limited to around once per week.

As you would expect, there were some important decisions I made when I switched to Linux that have affected my experience so far (desktop of choice, web browser, etc), as well as some specific config settings that I have used to improve the performance of my ZenBook. But, that’s another post for another time!

The Long Road to Linux

Tue, 15 Nov 2016 11:28:33 -0600

In October of 2015, I transitioned to using Linux as my primary OS at work. At the time I was using Ubuntu 14.04, as it was the suggested distribution for compiling and testing one of the main software products my employer creates, and it was (for the most part) compatible with all of the other various toolchains that I needed to use as an Embedded Software Engineer. I got along with it for the most part, and continued to use Mac OS X and Windows 8 in my personal life.

Fast forward to this past April, and I decided to purchase a used computer similar to the desktop I have at work for my own personal use. When it arrived, I opted to install Arch Linux (a distro I had tinkered with a few years ago), and began using it a few times a week to determine whether switching to Arch as my main distro at work was a viable option. I decided it was, and so in mid-May I began running Arch professionally as well.

This brings us to last Saturday, November 19, 2016. I had been considering moving from using a 3-year-old MacBook Pro as my daily driver to using Linux full time. And so, to that end, I purchased an Asus ZenBook UX330, with the intention of installing Arch on it. The ZenBook arrived on Monday afternoon, and my experiment began. Could I use a light-weight laptop running Arch as my go-to computer for everything except gaming (which I use a dedicated Windows rig for)? I spent 3-4 hours on Monday setting up the OS, and then had to stop for the night so I could be prepared to leave for my parents’ house at 6a on Tuesday.

I spent all of Tuesday morning traveling, and after meeting with a friend for lunch, and spending time with family in the early afternoon, I met my first challenge in my new Arch-filled life: how to sign on to my parents’ WiFi network with my chosen network setup: systemd-networkd. Thankfully, I had already connected to one WiFi network with my ZenBook (my own home network), and so between what I remembered and the Arch wiki, I was soon up and running.

The rest of the day was uneventful, until I got to the hotel I was staying at in the evening. I had not connected to a WiFi network yet that used no password, but linked your device via a room/name-based sign-on. Thankfully, every room as an ethernet port, and so I opted to avoid WiFi for the time being and simply use my trusty Anker USB3/Ethernet adapter to set up a wired connection. I was quickly on the hotel’s network, and the day went back to being uneventful.

And that brings me to today! Nothing eventful has happened today, other than I ran across a fun tool that I will probably do a brief blog post on at a later date. I am still using a wired connection for internet access, mostly because until this evening I have not had enough down time that I have wanted to experiment with things.

I intend to make this a multi-part blog post, detailing steps that I have to take as I move from using my MacBook Pro as my daily driver to replacing it with Linux and opensource tools. I know that I will be looking for a mail client to replace Airmail, and also potentially a note-taking tool to replace Evernote. Alternately, I may need to look for a way to use Evernote efficiently under Linux. I currently scan a large number of physical documents into Evernote for easy access when I am traveling, and for an easy digital filing system, and I suspect that my current workflow will not translate well to Linux

But, that’s an adventure for another day. And so, here’s wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!

Tech on Justin Vollmer

App Defaults 2026

My Photo Backup Strategy

My Photo Workflow + Backup Strategy

My Family’s Photo Workflow + Backup Strategy

Recommendations to Others

Conclusion

App Defaults 2024

Bluesky and Enshittification

Site Redesign

Removing giscus Comments

My Software Stack is (Mostly) Old Too

Sorry for the Spam in the RSS Feed This Morning

Enable Mastodon Discovery by Domain

Adding giscus Comments

10 Years of JustinVollmer.com

Reflections on JustinVollmer.com

Reflections on Justin Vollmer

Conclusion

2023 Year in Review

My Default Apps at the End of 2023

Linux Kernel Security Demystified

Experimenting with Immich

Background

Enter Immich

First Impressions

Conclusion

Mercury Weather

Use a Custom Domain Name

Asus ZenBook 14: One Year Later

My Search for the Perfect Note-Taking Solution

Introduction

My (Ideal) Requirements

Options I’ve Tried

Evernote

Bear

Joplin

Obsidian

Standard Notes

Notion

NextCloud Notes

TiddlyWiki

Craft

Notesnook

Nota

Others

(Lack of) Conclusion

A New Linux Laptop...

Thoughts on Hugo after 21 Months

The Apple Store Time Machine

iOS 14.5 with App Tracking Transparency + Apple Watch Unlock

Experimenting with Fitness Tracking

My Early Experience with Fitness Metrics

Enter the Apple Watch

Along Came Whoop

But What About Privacy?

But What About FOSS?

Is Fitness Tracking Worth It?

Removing Google Analytics

Migrating from WordPress to Hugo

Things That Work: Firefox

Things That Work: Soundiiz

Things That Work: Zowie FK1

Windows 10 Updates

Moving a Git Submodule

How to move a Git submodule to a sub-directory

Initial Thoughts on a Personal Wiki

Requirements

Enter Wiki.js

My Setup

Current State

Micro-Update: KDE Konsole and tmux

Micro-Update: Recommended Firefox Extensions

Asocial? A Life Without Social Media

Background

No Social Media: The Pros

No Social Media: The Cons

What would I have done differently?

Final Thoughts

Leaving Android Behind