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On a beautiful day, I was minding my own business, tinkering around on my computer and suddenly… Pitch black! Power outage. All electronics go dark, and I have to resort to pre-digital-era distractions until the power’s back. No big deal. Some time passes and the power is finally restored. Back in my comfy seat, ready to pick up my digital wandering where it got interrupted, I press the power button and eagerly wait. Few seconds later, I’m greeted with an unfamiliar boot menu. It definitely isn’t Grub, to my surprise. It’s the Windows bootloader1… How? Why? Where did my beloved Arch installation go? And just like that, down the rabbit hole I dove in pursuit of a plausible explanation for this mystery. But before I take you down with me through this tortuous investigation, I think I need to lay down some foundational context first. ...

I’ve been on Arch Linux for years now and if there’s one thing I miss from the old Windows days, it’s got to be gaming. I’m not a professional gamer by any stretch of the imagination, or a gamer period, for that matter. I just like to check out some titles here and there, mainly for immersive experiences, and the occasional intellectual puzzle. If I were to guess, I’d put my average play time around the 2-to-3h-per-month ballpark. So, “sacrificing” gaming for the benefit of a better operating system was a no-brainer. I took the plunge the moment I could - no regrets there. That being said, gaming was always at the back of my mind. I’d see new games come out, or gameplay recordings of old favorite games of mine, and just wish I could whip out my Fortnite costume and sink one or two hours in an adrenaline-spiking FPS game. And no, I don’t actually have a gaming costume - it’s just an expression. I don’t even remember ever playing Fortnite, come to think of it. Do you think I should give it a try? ...

Signal has positioned itself as one of, if not the best mainstream messaging service when it comes to preserving its users’ privacy. Everything, including metadata, is end-to-end encrypted using the quantum resistant Signal protocol. They have group video call support, text formatting, message editing and scheduling, disappearing messages, the controversial stories, and more. It’s all great until we bring up phone numbers. I think the phone number requirement has been one the most contested aspects of the messaging service so far. In order to connect with anyone on the platform you have to share phone numbers and that doesn’t sit well with privacy-sensitive folks. Exchanging phone numbers isn’t that big of a deal when we talk about family and close friends, but when it’s time to link up with a client, business partner, or just an acquaintance from the internet, people tend to be reluctant in handing out their phone numbers, and rightfully so. Now all of this has changed! ...

In the vast landscape of social media platforms, Mastodon has emerged as a refreshing alternative. With its decentralized nature and commitment to user privacy, Mastodon offers a unique experience that fosters community building and meaningful interactions. However, mastering Mastodon requires navigating through different levels of proficiency, especially for someone coming from a traditional, centralized platform, like Twitter. In this article, we will explore the various stages of mastery on Mastodon and uncover the possibilities that each level brings. ...

In the present digital epoch, it has become imperative for companies with an online presence to host a blog which is nothing more than a compendium of articles or posts, typically organized chronologically. This is not limited to companies obviously and anyone can, and is even highly encouraged to, run a personal blog. If you’re one of the fortunate who own a personal blog and are currently relying on a database to power it, you may be under the impression that it’s necessary for your blog to function properly. Wrong! In this article I’m going to explain why that’s not the case and why your blog doesn’t actually need a database. I will even go further and suggest that your blog should not use a database. While databases can be useful, if not mandatory, for certain types of websites, blogs are definitely not one of them. ...