patronage

the position, encouragement, influence, or support of a patron, as toward an artist, institution, etc.

Not patronage to me... (heck no)... but an ode to... or the non-monetary support of... that stuff that I use, with a dash of meaningless commentary.

email

In the beginning it was that "G" guy... oh the lessons we learn. Nowadays... it's all about aliases. NO online account should share the same email address OR password. Period.

* Proton Mail

For me there is no turning back... at the moment... I am a lifer.

* SimpleLogin

Now very integrated with #protonmail

* StartMail

My very first dip into a "G" replacement. Sadly... there is no app for that.

* Tuta

My first dip into domain email... sadly the price stack... increased each and every month for that... ugh.

* Posteo

Mostly because I wanted to help support their green efforts, not convinced on the privacy side, so don't use with reckless abandon.

vpn

I have battled with the notion of #vpn... for years. No longer...

* Proton VPN

A must for your phone... Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN enabled. Again... for me there is no turning back... I am a lifer.

* Private Internet Access

Used them for a long time... ownership changed hands, there was a lot of internet rhetoric regarding the move. Rumors they started logging... meh. I maintain my account but use with extreme caution.

* Protectli Vault

A home network requirement... I use it to expose two networks. One for all things internet... the other is for streaming (yep the boob-tube). And sadly... my office... they don't allow me to VPN in over a VPN... go figure.

* pfSense

Makes my #protectli... go.

password

If I am being honest... passwords should NEVER be stored anywhere... but maybe a #veracrypt volume. But sadly... out of laziness and convenience, I've leaned toward online solutions.

* KeePassXC

My goto #password manager... always on a #veracrypt volume and is my primary #totp generator.

* Proton Pass

Again... out of laziness and convenience... I use this a lot, both for password and #totp. Just can't beat the ease of it all... I am a lifer.

* Bitwarden

Was my defacto #password manager... they got goofy. I moved on... though I maintain an account for fallback.

search

I duck...

* DuckDuckGo

At least they claim... privacy. Looks like they are pushing a paywall as well a.k.a. "Pro", along with #vpn and #browser solutions. It's future looks complicated...

notes

I like to jot down my thoughts... odd right?

* Obsidian

I am a #markdown kind of note taker... it's just cleaner.

* StandardNotes

I used #standardnotes for awhile... but they moved toward being an all-in-one #office application. Then the endless merge conflicts... #Super mode was wiping out my #markdown... notes irrecoverable... Note: (No pun intended) they are now in bed with Proton... help or hindrance... only time will tell.

storage

Cloud storage... though I am not a fan, it is useful when sharing large files with others. Bands I have been in have used it to share song ideas... as music files can get huge. End-to-end encryption should be the norm...

* Proton Drive

Makes it so easy to get to my music files... manuals... books... I am a lifer.

phone

I use a #Pixel... wait... what? Yep... but just the hardware.

* CalyxOS

I am still on an older #Pixel and thankfully #CalyxOS still supports my older models.

* GrapheneOS

Better if on a newer model #Pixel.

os

For me there is no other... and to make it worse, I'm an old school #xfce guy.

* Linux Mint

'Nuff said...