Matrix — Why? – Julian Foad

A collection of articles

“Dear politicians of the EU, it’s time to decentralize the internet” with a fun video 600 TOMATOES explain how to fight BIG TECH introducing federated inter-operable messaging — NoordStar, 2021

WhatsApp and the domestication of users with case studies Mozilla, Signal; followed by Keeping platforms open with case studies XMPP, Matrix — Seirdy, 2021

We Need Alternatives to Big Tech. These Decentralized Tools Might Be The Answer. highlights Beaker/Hypercore and Matrix — New America, 2021

Best WhatsApp alternatives that respect your privacy — Matrix is the only one which allows users/groups to control their own servers/services — ProtonMail, 2021

Matrix for …

Up-Scaling Infrastructures for Open Science — Generation R

Our Energy Consumption 2023-03-01

Our Household Energy Usage History year Elec kWh Gas kWh 2018 4,500 16,000 2019 4,500 16,000 2020 5,500 16,000 2021 5,500 17,000 2022 4,500 13,000 expected ~5,000 ~16,000? – Years based on October to October billing. 2018/2019 are a 2-year average (2019 bill unavailable). – Why is our 2022 gas usage low? Were we so […]

Julian Foad

Solar PV 2022-11-24

This page contains our notes about our proposed solar PV installation. “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, so the saying goes. I am no expert on these matters, just technically savvy and curious to learn and understand it all. I’m hot on electrics, physics, geometry, calculation; but weak on the practicalities in this industry. […]

Julian Foad

Jellyfin Feature Requests: 26: Add support for two factor authentication: comment 2021-12-10

Yes we need more powerful auth options but no we don’t want each service implementing its own sign-on and security code, we don’t want more user-visible complexity that’s specific to Jellyfin and works differently from our other self-hosted services. So… Instead, help the whole self-hosting ecosystem by supporting standard external auth / SSO such as […]

Julian Foad

Snake Oil 2021-11-12

I have a cough and a cold. I followed a recipe for home-made cough mixture. Cider vinegar, honey, ginger, cinnamon, Cayenne pepper. Potent, and rather delicious to someone who enjoys the tastes of vinegar and spices and sweetness. It evokes childhood memories of the silky black-brown Galloway’s cough syrup. These remedies smell nice and feel […]

Julian Foad

From Mac to Freedom Laptop 3: Data Recovery 2021-10-22

Leaving Apple’s Nursing Home This series is about replacing a MacBook Air with an equally beautiful Freedom Software laptop. It is also about setting up a Freedom Software laptop for the kind of user who wants it to Just Work with the least possible involvement and no interest in how it works. Part 1 of […]

Julian Foad