The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
Wait, what?
Think about it. At some point everyone has had an old phone lying around. They are designed to be constantly connected, constantly on... and even have a battery and potentially still a SIM card to survive power outages.
We just need to make it easy to create APK packaged servers that can avoid battery-optimization kills and automatically configure an outbound tunnel like ngrok, zerotrust, etc...
The goal: hosting services like #nextcloud, #syncthing, #mastodon!? should be as easy as installing an APK and leaving an old phone connected to a spare charger / outlet.
It would be tempting to have an optimized ROM, but if self-hosting is meant to become more commonplace, installing an APK should be all that's needed. #Android can do SSH, VPN and other tunnels without the need for root, so there should be no problem in using tunnels to publicly expose a phone/server in a secure manner.
In regards to the suitability of home-grade broadband, I believe that it should not be a huge problem at least in Europe where home connections are most often unmetered: "At the end of June 2021, 70.2% of EU homes were passed by either FTTP or cable DOCSIS
3.1 networks, i.e. those technologies currently capable of supporting gigabit speeds."
PS. syncthing actually already has an APK and is easy to use. Although I had to sort out some battery optimization stuff, it's a good example of what should become much more commonplace.
Among the many changes, the new rules would require batteries in consumer devices like smartphones to be easily removable and replaceable. That's far from the case today...
So Google is now preventing people from removing location data from photos taken with Pixel phones.
Remember when Google's corporate motto was "don't be evil?"
Obviously, accurate location data on photos is more useful to a data mining operation like Google.
From Google: "Important: You can only update or remove estimated locations. If the location of a photo or video was automatically added by your camera, you can't edit or remove the location."
Specifically I'm wondering about the TV frontend UI. Presumably most people are going to be using an android tv box like fire tv or chromecast? Something else?...
#GrapheneOS: Der Goldstandard unter den Android-ROMs. Kein Zweifel: GrapheneOS ist derzeit das sicherste und datenschutzfreundlichste Custom-ROM bzw. Android-System. :android: 👇
For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, with most of the ire directed toward in-car infotainment.
📲 Welches Custom ROM (mit MicroG) für das Pixel 5?
Ich soll für jemanden ein Pixel 5 flashen und einrichten. Die Person hat bislang ein anderes Gerät mit #eOS genutzt und eigentlich ist der Auftrag, auch auf dem Pixel /e/OS zu installieren.
Ich habe nun aber gesehen, dass das Pixel dafür einen Downgrade von Android 14 auf Android 13 braucht, daher bin ich nun am Überlegen, ob ich nicht doch ein anderes #CustomROM empfehlen soll.
Für das Pixel 5 kämen infrage: #LineageOS 21 (Android 14) #DivestOS 20.0 (Android 13)
/e/ t (Android 13) #CalyxOS 14 #iodeOS (Android 13)
Da nur LineageOS und CalyxOS Android 14 für das Pixel 5 anbieten, tendiere ich momentan zu CalyxOS (mit dem ich aber noch keine Erfahrung habe).
Für mich persönlich würde ich ja DivestOS nehmen, aber das wäre doch vielleicht noch etwas weiter von eOS weg (und unterstützt #microG nicht bzw. nur über Umwege). Es sollen auch einige Apps über Aurora installiert werden, die wohl bislang mit MicroG auf eOS gut laufen.
Einen besonders hohen Sicherheitsanspruch gibt es in dem Fall nicht; es soll auch kein Banking und keine Zahlungsdienste o.ä. drauf laufen (nur bspw. einige Spiele, die wohl microG erfordern)
Hat jemand von Euch Erfahrung sowohl mit eOS als auch mit CalyxOS und kann von den Unterschieden aus User-Perspektive berichten?
Kann man irgendeine Prognose treffen, welches ROM das Pixel 5 mehr oder weniger lang unterstützen wird?
I have been building browsers for 30 years now. First Opera and now Vivaldi. My estimate is that more than 1 billion have used one of my browsers or both. Have you?
⭐ What programming language do you use most of your life? Why exactly?
Most of my time I worked with almost the entire .Net stack, and in recent years it's Unity, so my language is C#
There were episodes in my life with mobile, many web stuff, java, c++, databases, etc.
Does anyone know of a modern #Android phone which allows call recording without root?
I'm currently on an aging 5T running #LineageOS and can record calls just fine - a button in the dialler lets me record straight from the line. I don't need to put it on speaker and record via the microphone.
(Looking for 1st hand experience, not search results. No need to reply to discuss the legality of call recording. I need root-less for online banking etc.)
As a person who has used 15 years of Android and other devices but not iPhones, here are my quick notes on it based on a couple of hours of first use:
Absolutely love the quality-feel it has
Unpopular opinion, but the keyboard is much better on an iPhone than on Android phones once you get hang of it
The UI... I'm in love. No bad sides of it. I don't even want to change anything.
The screen is so crisp
Things I need to accept:
The bottom swipe bar, can't disable or hide it. Well, most of the Android phones nowadays have it as well. I guess it's good for accessibility reasons
There is no right swipe gesture (back), but then again the back button is always near thumb, well designed. I will get used to it.
There is no fingerprint unlock. On Android phones where there was a face unlock I always disabled it because I was used to fingerprint. I need to get used to this, but I notice immediately I don't even miss the fingerprint now because face unlock is much better on iPhones. It actually shows the indicator about the unlock as where Android just feels it's "unlocked" and leaves you feeling uncertain did you even lock it. Apple makes sure with micro interactions. It's smooth.
Did I mention already, the UI is fabulous! Android has infuriating UI mistakes (see attached image). As an UI designer/developer iPhone is joy to use.
Reminder that Apple uses a technology literally invented in 1984 to brainwash their users into thinking anyone using a non-Apple device is poor.
This lie is rampant and reinforced by the billionaire CEO of Apple, the richest company to ever exist.
Apple intentionally makes their devices bad at communicating with other devices because it means kids without Apple devices might get bullied into giving Apple more money. Apple knows this, and plays into it.
I fixed my silly phone.
It's a Pixel 4A 5G, and there's dust under the main camera, which is something I use a decent bit.
I was doing tons of research into alternative OSes (because even de-googled #Android is pretty BLEH), and was considering getting a #PinePhone (not Pro) for #PostmarketOS & #SXMO, or getting a Pixel 3a XL for #UBports.
🆕 blog! “All phones are foldable. But some are foldable only once.”
I want a new phone! I went to a wedding and everyone1 had one of those new folding phones. Social marketing has done a number on me and inveigled its way into my brain. Hey, I make decent money, perhaps I'll buy one. How much could they possibly cost? About £1,700 for a Pixel Fold […]
Gosh y'all, some of these Android users are just, like... It's like they have a hate boner for Apple. Like, wow. Not even I feel that strongly about Google, or Apple, or Microsoft really. They're companies who are full of people, with their own tragectories, with tiny accessibility teams, and their own strengths and weaknesses. Apple manages to have enough internal communication to make things work well together. Google runs just about everything an everyday user uses. And Microsoft has kept Windows going for decades.
I mean, I rarely hear any iPhone users just plain have an anger-orgasm over Google. At most, it's apathetic "Yeah I wish they were better but there's not much I can do about that, so I'll keep writing my novel in Ulysses with my Braille display," or something. I mean, maybe I've just not seen this secret group of Google-hating blind people. I mean, my choice to use, and lightly suggest, an iPhone is from my experiences with Android. I've used this Samsung phone for like a year and a half now. I went 6 months without even touching my iPhone, especially after I got Google TalkBack on there instead of Samsung's out-of-date version. And still I've come back to iPhone. And I still don't hate Google. I don't hate anyone at Google. I think they could work together more, especially the TalkBack, Assistant, dictation, and Android UI teams to give TalkBack a way to shut up while a core part of the phone is recording, no matter what phone you're on. But I'm not cumming in rage at them. In fact, I'd still gladly work with them. Honestly I'd work with all three of the OS companies, and the FOSS orgs, to make things more accessible or enjoyable to use. Because there is no perfect OS for blind people right now. Every single one has their good and bad parts. A sighted person may be able to just move between them all, able to do anything on each one. I want that for us blind people.
Hi there, the Artemis private beta rollout has just started! @hariette will be emailing 50 signup sheet users, while @lilkev will be adding 50 users from Artemis Discord. The order will be based on the submissions to the private beta signup form, as well as general activity within the Artemis community....
"I deleted keys generated by our TV for 5 straight minutes. 5 Minutes of like 200BPM clicking. I restarted. Everything worked again. I laughed so hard I cried. I felt like I'd solved a murder."
European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries (www.techspot.com)
Among the many changes, the new rules would require batteries in consumer devices like smartphones to be easily removable and replaceable. That's far from the case today...
What does your TV/Movie streaming setup look like?
Specifically I'm wondering about the TV frontend UI. Presumably most people are going to be using an android tv box like fire tv or chromecast? Something else?...
People are getting fed up with all the useless tech in their cars (www.theverge.com)
For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, with most of the ire directed toward in-car infotainment.
Google is about to make life more difficult for custom ROM fans (www.androidauthority.com)
Google has quietly deprecated the Messages and Dialer apps in AOSP, and it could have ramifications for upstart brands and custom ROM fans.
Artemis private beta rollouts have begun!
Hi there, the Artemis private beta rollout has just started! @hariette will be emailing 50 signup sheet users, while @lilkev will be adding 50 users from Artemis Discord. The order will be based on the submissions to the private beta signup form, as well as general activity within the Artemis community....