Google is not a search engine, but an ad engine

DHH, CTO of BaseCamp, tweets the following: Google is not a search engine, it’s an ad engine. You search to find stuff, they respond with a full page ad. This is so ludicrously user hostile that it’s only tenable when you operate a monopoly. Break. Them. Up. Later he adds: This i … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 4 years ago

Running Linux Apps on Windows with Alpine WSL and VcXsrv

In this series I want to share my experiences of using Windows on a private device again.If you want to use Linux applications on Windows you have multiple options. Using the Windows version of the application if it's available, cross-compile the app, use a VM or Docker, or use t … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 4 years ago

My Problem with Email Logins

There are some online services that use email login. This means that instead of a combination of user name and password, only the email address is entered and a login link is sent to it. Basically, this is a good option to increase security a bit. The service only needs to store … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 4 years ago

iPrivacy

Matt Baer, the creator of the writing platform write.as, writes about Apple’s privacy focused marketing and how that doesn’t matter when your iPhone is full of apps like Facebook, Instagram or Google. Though I appreciate the ads for what they are, it’s silly to see iPhone adverti … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 4 years ago

The Operating Systems I Use

I use at least eight different operating systems on a daily basis. Windows 10 on my Microsoft Surface Go Ubuntu Desktop on my latpop (Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga S1) Fedora Silverblue on my desktop PC Android on my smartphone (Xiaomi Mi A1) Tizen on my smartwatch (Samsung Galaxy Watch) … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 5 years ago

You Shouldn't Start a Newsletter

It seems like there’s a new trend popping up: Newsletters and paid newsletters.I prefer to read content using a news reader, with which I can subscribe to countless RSS (or JSON) feeds. I can also decide when to consume new content and am not bothered with reminders etc. that the … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 5 years ago

Gitlab Telemetry: Use Non-Commercial Alternatives Instead

Yesterday, GitLab sent an email to all users (and wrote a blog post) telling that they are updating their terms & services (to which you have to agree) to include a new third party service to track and analyze the behavior of their users, so that they better understand how their … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 5 years ago

Google Alternatives for More Privacy and Less Monopoly

I hope I don’t have to explain why Google is bad, but just to give a few reasons to switch to alternatives: You’ll probably get better privacy because those alternatives collect less data about you, your data won’t get sold to advertisers or government organizations that easily a … | Continue reading


@jlelse.blog | 5 years ago