Tech on An Untitled Blog

A Technical Comparison of Distributed Social Media Protocols v3

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Update 3/14/2026: I’ve updated the post to reflect that porting Nomadic Identities to Activity Pub is still ongoing. Shoutout to silverpill@mitra.social. Also, less than 24 hours posting this, BlueSky CEO Jay Grabber has stepped down from her roll. A change in leadership may change the state of the platform, which may cause this post to be somewhat inaccurate in the future.

Hello, I’m back for round three of my social media protocol comparisons. I wrote v2 because of some mistakes on my part, although it’s been two years since writing it, and it’s become a bit out of date. It’s also a bit long, with a bunch of explainers and clutter right at the start of it, so for this round, I figured I’d get things up to date while shortening the text (or at least moving ramblings to footnotes) and move a lot of the explainers to the end.

The RAM wars: mini penguin to the rescue

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Originally, I was drafting this in September, planning on dedicating it to Windows 10 Home becoming EOL. I also figured I’d share a meme that contained something along the following:

Instead, however, it’s early 2026, and I feel like a dedication to RAM prices would be a more fitting start:

Memes aside, the lightweight laptop - what I’m typing this post on - has a whopping total of 2 GB of ram (1.88 usable) and an Intel Bay Trail processor from over a decade ago. And, believe it or not, it’s a pretty capable machine; at least after being very particular about what I install on it. The device itself is a former Chromebook, now sporting Coreboot and Debian 13.

2025 Defaults

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In 2023 Robb Knight started the defaults trend, covering what people used as their default apps for specific purposes. I did a 2023 version, and while I mentioned planning to do a late 2024 version in my 2024 year end wrap up post, I never wound up getting to it. I’ve got a 2025 edition of my default apps below, with changes in bold.

	PC	Tablet	Phone
Mail Client	Proton Web	N/A	Proton App
Mail Server	^	^	^
Notes	Joplin	Joplin	Joplin
Tasks	N/A	N/A	Tasks (org.tasks Android App)
Photo Shooting	N/A	N/A	OpenCam, G Cam
Photo Management	File Manager	N/A	AOSP Gallery
Calendar	N/A	N/A	Fossify Calendar
Cloud Storage	AWS, Proton, Syncthing	Syncthing	Proton, Syncthing
RSS	FreshRSS	FreshRSS	FreshRSS (via Read You App)
Contacts	N/A	N/A	AOSP Contacts
Browser	Brave & LibreWolf	Brave	Brave & Fennec
Chat	Google Chat (web)	N/A	Beeper, Signal, Simplex
Bookmarks	Brave Sync	N/A	Brave Sync
Read It Later	SingleFile Plugin + Syncthing	SingleFile Plugin + Syncthing	Brave’s MHTML or Single File Plugin + Syncthing
Word Processing	Abiword	Abiword	N/A
Speedsheets	LibreOffice	N/A	N/A
Presentations	LibreOffice	N/A	N/A
Shopping Lists	Joplin	Joplin	Joplin
Meal Planning	N/A	N/A	N/A
Budgeting	N/A	N/A	MoneyWallet App
News	FreshRSS	FreshRSS	FreshRSS (via Read You)
Music	Clementine	VLC	VLC
Podcasts/Audiobooks	Phone via Bluetooth	N/A	Audio Anchor
Password Management	Keepass	N/A	Keepass

My own custom additions to the prompt:

	PC	Tablet	Phone
Operating System	Debian (+ KDE)	Debian (+ Gnome)	GrapheneOS
2FA	N/A	N/A	Agis
Ebook Reader	Calibre	Librera (via Waydroid)	Librera
Microblogging Protocols	Nostrudel (Nostr) - Friendica Web (ActivityPub & more)	N/A	Amythest (Nostr) - Friendica PWA (ActivityPub & more)
IRC	Hexchat	N/A	N/A
Photo Editor	Gimp + Darktable	Darktable	Snapseed
SMS	N/A	N/A	Flip Phone
Text Editor	Emacs, Kate, VS Code	Emacs	Nano (via Termux)
Terminal	Konsole	Gnome Terminal	Termux
TTS	Festival	e-speak	Google Voice Synthesis
Virtual Keyboard	N/A	Gnome Keyboard	Futo Keyboard
YouTube & Other Platforms	FreshRSS + FreeTube or a Private Tab	FreshRSS + FreeTube or a Private Tab	FreshRSS + Grayjay or a Private Tab
Local LLMs	LM Studio	N/A	PocketPal
Local Translation	LM Studio	N/A	G Translate, PocketPal, Amythest

Why I changed specific things:

I haven’t actually changed my Notes App yet, but I might in the future. Before Joplin, I used to keep a directory of markdown files which I’d sync using Syncthing. This was before I had any sort of server, so both my phone and PC would have to be online and running Syncthing to sync the files. Joplin fixed that by letting me import the markdown directory, then sync to a Dropbox account using E2E encryption. I later set up Nextcloud, then replaced it with a server running FreshRSS & Syncthing. With an instance of Syncthing running 24/7, I can get the same instant sync regardless of what other devices are online, as well as sync other files (e.g. scanned notebook pages as PDFs) in addition to markdown files. Joplin can both import & export notebooks as markdown directories, so there’s no real cost of giving my new (old) setup another try.

This is Fine: an Interim Microblogging Protocols Update

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As is customary on my microblogging posts, let’s get us started with an original meme.

Also, if you’d like to read my previous Microblogging Protocols compared posts, you can read v1 here and v2 here.

It’s been a little over a year since I made my updated microblogging protocols comparison. Since then a few things have happened, and my previous could use some trimming. In the spirit of keeping things shorter (and keeping the comparison v3 post relevant longer), I figured I’d split the post into two parts: this one, which includes random updates and things that happened over the last year or so - and a second one, “Microblogging Protocols Compared v3” which will be a more streamlined protocol comparison. Anyway, as you can probably tell by the meme, the microblogging protocols have been going through a rough patch lately - though it’s not all bad news.

Rather Impressive Image Compression

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Can you tell the difference between the two images above? At first glance, probably not. If you look at them side by side long enough, at least in fullscreen on an HD display, you might notice a little bit of a difference. In one the sky looks an ever so slightly darker shade, and if you look close enough, color shades seem to change in a more blocky structure instead of a more smooth transition. Zoom in, and you might notice the word “Excel” on the side of the windmill is mostly legible on one, and mostly illegible on the other.

Phone Reviews (Pixel 5a, 8a + Mystery Phone)

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Update: Everything worked in hugo’s test environment, but I guess local images in sliders breaks everything for who knows why once I actually published the post. I’m just going to replace some sliders with lists of images you can click on.

Before upgrading my phone I heard the Pixel 8a referred to as the “most boring phone ever,” and that seems like a good description of the phone - and something that I’m a fan of. If you’re techy you’ll probably be interested in weird and unique devices (homemade cyberdeck anyone?), but as far as being used as a tool goes, the Pixel A series excels. So yeah, today I thought I would review my Pixel 5a & 8a in addition to a quick blurb on a mystery phone.

Non-Generative uses of Local LLMs

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Update Oct. 21st: The transcription portion of the post has been updated, what I originally mistook as issues with how the data was formatted was an issue with too many tokens in the transcript I wanted transcribed.

At this point we all know how LLMs can generate text, and I’m guessing that everybody reading this knows some relatively lightweight libre LLMs can be installed and run locally. But, as you can probably guess by reading this, I enjoy writing stuff, so text generation isn’t really something that I have a use for. The knowledge stored in them is helpful for sure; I use local LLMs to find data or troubleshoot something on probably more or less a once-a-week basis (because I’m not connected to the internet, can’t find what I’m looking for in search engines, want to ask about an error code in plain English, etc). They’re also always fun to toy around with at first, but after using them for a while the fun wears off and it just becomes another tool.

Microblogging Protocols Compared v2

Sun, 11 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Update: September 20th, 2024: I was incorrect regarding AT’s (BlueSky) inability to fully delete things, the protocol DOES support fully deleting posts from the user’s repo and I’ve updated the post to reflect that. Read more. Big thanks to Ryan for providing the info.

Also, on a less important update (in regards to this post’s accuracy) - in keeping tradition with the original post - Bluesky has managed to change rapidly shortly after I finished this. It’s good news again, in this case a huge influx of users, many from Brazil after Twitter/X was blocked. Additionally, I also recently saw Frontpage, an AT based link aggregator. In the post I mention a few times hoping more will be built on AT now that it’s opened up, and it appears exactly that is happening.

Browsers: Plummeting Off the Brink

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is sort of a successor to Firefox: A Brink of Their Own Making that I published ~6 months ago, followed by me rambling on about different browsers that I’ve used or decided to check out for this post. This follow-up was largely spurred on by two different things: Manifest v2’s phasing out in standard Chromium and Firefox getting worse. Further, after writing a whole lot and then reflecting on it, I’ve gotten a few more thoughts on the topics on hand - but unfortunately like the two external motivations, my thoughts have also led me to think about the ecosystem more negatively.

Confessions of a Data Hoarder

Mon, 20 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Okay, so I’m not actually sure I would consider myself a data hoarder, but I thought the title was pretty eye catching, and archival is close enough to data hoarding to only be moderately clickbaity. (I actually think I’ve got a pretty well organized and reasonably trimmed home directory). Anyway, I thought I would go over a couple of related topics, specifically my backup strategy, some data archiving, and me getting back into useing optical storage.

Local LLMs and AI Ethics (mine makes nukes)

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

What you are reading now is the fourth iteration of this post, which has gone through multiple revisions and re-considerations. It might feel a bit fragmented, but my aim is to provide a comprehensive post covering two related topics. The first part will discuss my experimentation with local LLMs (large language models), and the second will explore my personal philosophy and conclusions on AI. Feel free to only read one or the other. They could have been separate posts, but I enjoy writing (and reading) long posts that are well thought out and cover a wide range of topics. Besides, if you regularly read my writings you’ll know I have a habit of writing posts that expand beyond what I initially intended.

I made a client, Nostr surpassed Mastodon, and BlueSky is open?

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

So after two very long posts, one complaining about web browsers and one comparing the three big non-centralized social media protocols, I thought about writing two shorter posts about random things (hats and making sour krout specifically). However, between then and now stuffs happened and I thought I would make an anthology post with three different mini topics I wanted to share.

I made a client

So yeah, I made a client that can post to Nostr, Activity Pub, and BlueSky (hopefully all of AT once it’s fully opened). It’s a bit hacky, and written in Python using dependencies that do all the heavy lifting, but it works. It can broadcast the same post to all three, post different posts to different protocols, or skip posting to a protocol altogether. There’s a version that uses Keyring to have your OS manage your credentials instead of baking them into a script, and it’ll run on just about everything. I’m not a programmer by trade, and it’s been a very long time since I wrote any code for public consumption, so I’m excited to get it working and share it. Apparently I’m the second person to do this, as shortly under two weeks before I released mine somebody else made Nootti, so if you like this idea, are on IOS, and want something more polished that is also an option as well.

ActivityPub/Nostr/AT-BlueSky Compared

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Note: This post is out of date, here’s a more up to date version

Update August 5th 2024

I have some good and bad news regarding this post. First, I made two mistakes. AT crawlers are not in fact crawlers, they are called relays. Also, shared inboxes are actually part of the Activity Pub W3C standard as apposed to hacky additions to the protocol by third party servers. I was wrong about Activity Pub servers sending multiple messages to the same server remote to update it about a single post.

Firefox: a brink of their own making?

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Update August 5th 2024

I have been made aware that Firefox for Android no longer includes Google Analytics as part of their app telemetry. It appears it was removed in v80.1.13. At the time I posted this the Exodus page I linked to did list Google Analytics, but according to the page now they updated the page on July 15th and likely removed the tracker information on that date.

Further, on July 3rd I made another post about browsers. As the title contains ‘plummeting off the brink’ you can correctly assume things are only getting worse.

Platform Agnostic Following

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Chances are if you’re here it’s through an RSS feed (or an RSS feed bridged to something else), so I probably don’t need to do too much of an introduction. Here’s a quick rundown if you’re unfamiliar. However, today I wanted to talk about RSS (as well as three other means of following content), how I’ve benefited from it, and a small project I started. Just about every piece of content I follow is through RSS - organized into different categories (news, blogs, videos, audio, etc), and the following benefits really stand out:

Nostr

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I have recently been re-dipping my toes into Nostr (tried it a while back just to experiment with it but never really stuck around), and so far it’s become my preferred microblogging platform. There’s a handful of reasons surrounding that, both in the protocol itself and what’s being built up around it, and I think it has a lot of promise that merits its very quick growth. Today I thought I would go over why I am a fan of it, and why I think it might be worth checking out if you’re interested in a more decentralized web.

MITM Risks in Signal? Mitigation + Monologue

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Update 11/25: I was made aware that Signal has some proprietary anti-spam code and added the TLDR.

A More Technical TLDR

I never know how much jargon I should include or how much I should explain, and as long as I’m writing I’m enjoying myself meaning I’ve been all over the place. But here’s a shortened version for those familiar with encryption.

A vanilla implementation of the Signal protocol relies on public key infrastructure to perform a handshake between devices. As you may know, a public key server can certify that any device/key belongs to an account if you have nothing more to go on than a phone number. Furthermore, at any point the server may say keys have changed and direct you to start communicating with a device other than the one you expect.

What is IPFS + basic use

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

IPFS, an acronym for “InterPlanetary File System”, is a way to deliver files that takes a different approach to HTTP. As I mentioned in my very first post, I originally considered hosting my entire site/blog on it, and while I decided against it for reasons I mentioned there and reasons I’ll get into later here; I am working on something that may involve me sharing files here, which I’ll probably use IPFS for. This is of course in addition to me finding it an interesting method of sharing data and worth speaking about.