commit 4c29f47eb4d68518a28dc0a8686e483031b202df
parent 8ef30108a5c465173eb8df2e4d109536a903157c
Author: oscarbenedito <oscar@obenedito.org>
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 00:33:38 +0200
Corrections
Diffstat:
2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/blog/2019-09-11-joplin.md b/content/blog/2019-09-11-joplin.md
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
title: "My note taking app: Joplin"
categories: technology
tags: ["FOSS", "Software", "Decentralization", "Apps"]
-lastmod: 2019-09-11
+lastmod: 2019-09-24
---
Two years ago I had an iPhone and, back then, the native "Notes" app worked pretty well for me. However, when I changed to Android I had some trouble finding a similar app or a different one that would fit my needs. For some time I used Google Keep, but I didn't like how the main view would show you the whole note (instead of having only one line per note, which allows more notes to fit in the screen). I changed to Evernote for some time—which was definitely more suited for me—but there were too many ads about getting premium features and, since I didn't need them, I eventually got tired of it.
-Back then I already knew what Markdown was, since I had used it to build a website, and I realised that an app with Markdown support could be a very good alternative. I looked around and finally found [Joplin](https://joplinapp.org/), a free/libre and open source app that supported Markdown as well as synchronisation—perfect for my needs, since I like having notes backed up in case I loose access to my phone. I have been using it for half a year and so far it has been a great app. I type my notes with Markdown and once I'm done it renders them beautifully. It also let's me backup a copy with Nextcloud which is good since it doesn't force me to do it through Google Drive/Dropbox and on top of that I can set up end-to-end encryption for my backed-up notes! I haven't paid a lot of attention to what algorithm is used to encrypt since I trust my Nextcloud provider, however I know metadata is not encrypted (I'm guessing to make syncronization faster), but that's fine with me. This also allows me to sync my notes with my computer, something that I had never thought would be useful before, but as I use my computer more and more (and my phone less and less), it is becoming very convenient.
+Back then I already knew what Markdown was, since I had used it to build a website, and I realised that an app with Markdown support could be a very good alternative. I looked around and finally found [Joplin](https://joplinapp.org/), a free/libre and open source app that supported Markdown as well as synchronization—perfect for my needs, since I like having notes backed up in case I lose access to my phone. I have been using it for half a year and so far it has been a great app. I type my notes with Markdown and once I'm done it renders them beautifully. It also let's me backup a copy with Nextcloud which is good since it doesn't force me to do it through Google Drive/Dropbox and on top of that I can set up end-to-end encryption for my backed-up notes! I haven't paid a lot of attention to what algorithm is used to encrypt since I trust my Nextcloud provider, however I know metadata is not encrypted (I'm guessing to make synchronization faster), but that's fine with me. This also allows me to synchronize my notes with my computer, something that I had never thought would be useful before, but as I use my computer more and more (and my phone less and less), it is becoming very convenient.
Moreover, since I use it on my computer and I can arrange notes with the use of notebooks, it is becoming more of a personal wiki than a note taking app. I have a notebook named "Notes", but the remaining notebooks hold information in a less "casual" way. I suppose everyone uses notes that way, but being able to use Markdown allows me to store lots of information in a more convenient way, specially when dealing with links and fragments of code.
diff --git a/content/blog/2019-09-23-upgrading-providers.md b/content/blog/2019-09-23-upgrading-providers.md
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
title: "Upgrading to privacy-respecting providers"
categories: technology
tags: ["Decentralization", "Encryption", "Privacy"]
+lastmod: 2019-09-24
---
-I have been reading a lot about decentralization and not depending too much in one company in the past six months and I realized how much I relied on Google: my email, all my files, contacts, calendars, pictures... All my data was basically stored on their servers. This was inconvenient for three reasons: (1) if something was to happen to Google or my account, I would loose a lot of data, (2) Google doesn't use end-to-end encryption, which means that they (and anyone with access to their servers) can see all my files, emails, etc. and (3) Google already uses all this data to better know my personality.
+I have been reading a lot about decentralization and not depending too much in one company in the past six months and I realized how much I relied on Google: my email, all my files, contacts, calendars, pictures... Most of my data was stored on their servers. This was inconvenient for three reasons: (1) if something was to happen to Google or my account, I would loose a lot of data, (2) Google doesn't use end-to-end encryption, which means that they (and anyone with access to their servers) can see all my files, emails, etc. and (3) Google already uses all this data to better know my personality.
Some people might think that the main three problems I have with Google aren't that important. In fact, I have used Google for many years because that was my opinion for a long time. However, the more I read about the issue, the more I realize they aren't minor problems. I realized that for me it is worth it to pay $12 or $24 a year in exchange for privacy. So, although I loved Google for a long time, it was time to let it go.
@@ -45,11 +46,11 @@ I created an account in a Nextcloud instance for my calendar and contacts. Nextc
#### Search
-I thought the search engine would be the hardest service to substitute, however, there are a lot of good alternatives. The one I went for is [DuckDuckGo](https://duckduckgo.com/) which works pretty well and also works if you are connecting to the internet through the [Tor network](https://www.torproject.org/).
+I thought the search engine would be the hardest service to substitute, however, there are a lot of good alternatives. The one I went for is [DuckDuckGo](https://duckduckgo.com/) which works pretty well and also works if you are connected to the internet through the [Tor network](https://www.torproject.org/).
#### Others
-I never had to substitute the web browser since I already used [Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/), and as for the photo hosting service, I just don't upload them online anymore and I use the [Simple Galley](https://simplemobiletools.com/) app (you can install it for free from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro/)). I also substituted Android's custom ROM, but I will talk about that some other time.
+I never had to substitute the web browser since I already used [Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/), and as for the photo hosting service, I just don't upload them online anymore and I use the [Simple Gallery](https://simplemobiletools.com/) app (you can install it for free from [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro/)). I also substituted Android's custom ROM, but I will talk about that some other time.
#### Temporarily not replaced
@@ -61,4 +62,4 @@ When looking for all the new services in order to get end-to-end encryption, I a
## Conclusion
-It took me some time to make all these changes, specially my phone's operative system and my email address (which I still use the old one with a lot of people, I am progressively updating it). Some of the services are hard to replace and it takes time to get used to the new providers. However, if you are interested in getting privacy when sending personal emails or saving files online, it is worth the change.
+It took me some time to make all these changes, specially my phone's operative system and my email address—I still use the old one with a lot of people, I am progressively updating it. Some of the services are hard to replace and it takes time to get used to the new providers. However, if you are interested in getting privacy when sending personal emails or saving files online, it is worth the change.
