Right now I’m using a combination of Home Assistant on the server, GrapheneOS on the phones, a pihole set up as a DNS whitelist, and an app that escapes me from F-droid that locks other apps bases on screen time. Took me maybe 10min to find everything and 2 months to set up but that was mostly due to my sheer incompetence when it comes to anything that isn’t physical. Along the way I even got a jellyfin server going age appropriate music and video sectioned off for him. When he’s responsible enough for it I’ll be teaching him how to pirate his own content.

While I’m 100% on your side here and I make a point to champion the actual values of these anxiety riddled glass boxes, I do want to point out that we can do all that without them. My kid didn’t get modern electronics until he was competent with paper books, dictionary, and offline only tech.

That said, the added stance here is that we can have both. My kid’s phone is locked down to the point that he can’t even message contacts that I didn’t approve. It’s all operated in house from his phone, my phone, and the shit box excuse for a server I run. I have a curated plan for how he’ll earn his way up to full access and planned strategies for teaching him the safety and independence he needs. I know exactly fuck all about tech, can’t remember any commands for Linux, struggled to understand Docker, but still managed to make it happen. If I can pull it off, the only thing stopping literally anyone else is the choice not to do it.

Not by this thing, you’re not.

Know anyone that’s into gaming? Modding old consoles is a great way to get into diagnosing board problems and fixing the crap PCBs in small electronics is fantastic for learning to solder. Two weeks ago I didn’t know shit about the eldrich slab of charms and runes inside electronics. Last week I successfully tested two power units for a playstation 4 and correctly diagnosed that mine has died due to APU overheating. Took about 2 hours, two videos, and a $15 continuity tester.

Unfortunately, mine’s dead in the water until I find someone who can reball the APU for less than the cost of a new system. In the mean time, I’m doing a tear down and mod on my Xbox 360.

Personally I run mine through a cloudflared tunnel. I have to pay for the domain and tunneling but I paid like $15 something for 5 years. Now all you have to do is put in the url and it runs in any browser or jellyfin app immediately. I understand the VPN and all that is the free option, but I’m not tech savy enough to teach others that stuff and this is effectively paying a quarter monthly.

Conveniently also forgot where all the money was going too because the only thing they seem to pay for is more flock cameras.

Because Wichita is not a busy city and they also tolled the free parking lots they built a decade back. If you want to go to the cultural heart or file a document at the courthouse you better be prepared to walk two miles or pay for parking.

I get that free parking is a novelty everywhere else, though I compare that to wondering why anyone would want automated tax returns when you can just pay for turbo tax, but Wichita is new to that and of all the options to pad the revenue stream the mayor picked the one that takes it out of the citizens and small businesses.

Meanwhile the mayor of my city removed all the free parking downtown. Now the entire oldtown area is struggling to keep afloat because no one here can afford to hang out in an expensive boutique shop or hipster bar and pay for parking while they do it.

I’m always a supporter of qidi, though for my next rig I’m going to go full diy.

Incase you haven’t heard it enough, jellyfin is free and not anymore difficult to set up. If I can figure it out then you’re probably well capable of it.

Is there a particular reason to avoid crossing the streams here? As I understood it, exiting the VPN lumps everyone using that node together, so of doesn’t matter if you’re logging in from a node that’s torrenting, they’d have to make a solid case that you were the only person connected to that node.

To add in here, what’s the ups and downs or joining a server vs hosting your own?

Last I heard they only released the data on what they had, when did they release the actual music?

Careful, you might give the pedo states an idea.

Microstiff

Haven’t heard of it, what’s the deets?

They have a literal monopoly on the service and the analytical data the sell makes more money then advertising ever could.

Mulvad is the first group that really gets me. Good because they care about the idea, cheap because they aren’t trying to choke me for money, and they take cash.

Can I get left behind?

I got the 7 for $140 where the 8a was looking like $200 and that 60 bucks is a big difference. I’m not too worried about the security update issue, my current phone hasn’t gotten a security update since 2024 and I really only use it as a phone. I’m making the change because I’m tired of walking up with new bloatware added once a month and constantly fighting to get Google assistent for control of my settings.