I love using Write.as to host my blog. I love using Obsidian to manage the bulk of my second brain. And it's the love for these two products that eventually led me down a rabbit hole in search of a way to potentially integrate the two together. Not only did I find a solution, but it works even better than I could've imagined.
Bitwarden is one of the best password managers in the business. It's easy to use, open-source, secure, and cross-platform. Honestly, there are very few downsides to using Bitwarden.
And, as many of you may know, a password manager's best friend is a solid 2FA client. Though Bitwarden supports 2FA passwords from within the password manager as a premium feature, it's always been a better security practice to keep those two things separate.
Now, the team behind Bitwarden are helping up your security game by offering 2FA functionality in a separate app: Bitwarden Authenticator.
Tailscale touts itself as an affordable, zero-config virtual private network (VPN) that easily connects all of your devices from anywhere in the world. Without going into the nitty-gritty of how it works, Tailscale is built on WireGuard, and it uses a centralized server to make the initial introduction between all of your devices.
I've been using Tailscale for some time now. I first tried it out because I wanted an easy and secure way to access my home media server from anywhere in the world, and I heard Tailscale was a fairly pain-free way to do this.
Not only is that true, but I've actually loved using Tailscale, and I will never go back to using reverse proxies and port forwarding into my local network again. That being said, there are a few things you can do to make your Tailscale experience quite a bit better, and I've compiled a list of three which I believe just might do the trick.
A while ago, I wrote a post about what I believed was the best open-source two-factor authentication application on the market: Ente Auth. And though I still love and use Auth, what I didn't know was that there was already an older kid on the block. Enter 2FAS, another free software 2FA option you should consider.
If you want the most private and secure operating system for your desktop or laptop, GNU/Linux is likely the route to go. Mainstream proprietary offerings like macOS or ChromeOS may have some security benefits over the many Linux distros available, but Linux's strengths far outweigh these potential shortcomings.
That being said, the applications you put on your machine can make or break your privacy and/or security as well, regardless of what operating system you run. That's why I have three Linux desktop apps that you should give a try today that can help improve your digital privacy in one way or another.
I, like many of you, watch a fair bit of video content online. Whether it be YouTube, Odysee, or PeerTube, I engage with this form of media on a nigh daily basis.
Typically, that means going to each website or opening different apps to watch videos from various creators on each platform. That was until I stumbled upon a little Android app called Grayjay.
Unlike iOS, there is no shortage of third-party app stores on Android. From the Amazon App Store to Aptoide, we have a plethora of options to choose from.
In my opinion, F-Droid is easily the best of them, since it's filled with only free and open-source software and is FOSS in itself. But what if I told you there is a new FOSS android app store available, and this one focuses on privacy and security?
Well that's exactly what Accrescent is, but unfortunately, it comes with a few caveats.
About eight years ago, Google released what I believe to be one of their best products to date – Google Photos. I admit that though I cared about my digital privacy at the time, it wasn't enough to avoid the pull. Among other things, I got sucked in by unlimited photo backups, advanced photo recognition features, easy photo album collaboration, and access to ALL of my photos on ALL of my devices.
Only long after Google Photos became ingrained into my workflow over the course of four or five years was it that I finally sought something better. But it wasn't until May 2022 that I eventually found a genuine Google Photos alternative. It's called Ente Photos, and I doubt I'll be switching from it anytime soon.
There is no short supply of two-factor authentication (2FA) apps out there. From Google Authenticator to Authy to andOTP, we have a plethora of options. Heck, even some password managers like Bitwarden feature 2FA functionality. But what we don't have yet is a standalone open-source solution that touts a modern UI, encryption, and cloud syncing all built right in. That is, until now. Say hello to your next 2FA app: Ente Auth.
Firefox is easily my favorite web browser; both for mobile and for desktop. Privacy and security aside, I actually enjoy Firefox's workflow. Its flexibility and design caters to me in a way most Chromium-based browsers just can't—apart from Vivaldi and Opera, though I wouldn't necessarily equate bloat to flexibility or good design. And when you factor back in the privacy benefits Firefox brings, it's a no-brainer.
But, until recently, Firefox mobile has had one minor issue I haven't been able to get past—the lack of extensive add-on support. That was until I figured out how to add ANY Firefox extension to the Android mobile app, and now there's no looking back. Here's how to do it.