Tech
I got bought a 3D printer and it’s taken over my life
Turning 40 has inspired a resolve to embrace change and organization, fueled by a new hobby in 3D printing that has pleasantly impacted space management despite the rising costs of materials.
Returning to Mastodon
As part of my diversifying of apps and services, I rejoined Mastodon a few days ago with a new account.
It’s early days but my experience lands halfway between Bluesky and Threads. Threads has a lot of angry tech people on there who love telling you their unwanted opinions. Bluesky is a lot nicer, but it is an engagement ghost town. Mastodon sits nicely in the middle. I get engagement (not as much as Threads, but much better than Bluesky), plus the added benefit that the people on Mastodon seem really nice.
I might even get the Ivory app again to relive those Tweetbot days.
Migrating Away from US Apps and Services
I’m going to be honest here: this project started out as a way of me using the tiny amount of power I have to respond to the political situation in the USA.
I’ve been working on switching the apps and services I use away from US-based companies and looking for alternatives around the world. I think it’s generally a good idea to diversify the apps you use to more countries around the world. One country shouldn’t hold all the technological power.
I’ve made a list which you can access here, of the services I’ve switched to. There have been some great discoveries along the way, such as Craft.do which is an alternative to Notion. I’m also now a full-time Proton Mail user.
It’s also been slightly alarming to see how little the UK has in terms of apps and services. Anyway, it’s been a fascinating journey so far, and I’ll keep that list updated with more discoveries in the future.