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Standard Notes is an open-source note taking application available on desktop and mobile platforms that offers end-to-end encrypted synchronization. In other words, all data are encrypted on device before they’re sent to the server to propagate to other devices. I think it’s one of the best open-source note taking products out there with a free plan, at the time of this writing. That being said, their introductory free tier leaves a lot of be desired. It could work for users with basic note taking needs but if you want to organize your notes in nested folders, use multiple editors like Markdown and Rich text, switch between a variety of themes, or schedule regular backups, you have to go with a premium plan. At $12/month, or $5/month if billed yearly, their cheapest plan is definitely at the higher end of the spectrum, especially that the service isn’t complex enough to warrant the hefty subscription fee in my view. It should come at no surprise if a Standard Notes subscription is considered a quite hard expense to justify by regular users who don’t fiddle with notes on a daily basis, or heavily rely on note taking in a professional capacity. ...

Long gone are the days when websites consisted of static HTML pages styled with basic CSS, when links actually directed users to new web locations instead of calling a Javascript function. Now, websites (or should I call them web apps?) have grown so complex that browsers had no choice but to turn into operating systems. This made for a much richer user experience with so many possibilities; you can do online banking, play video games, join video conferences, shop, and even install apps, all within the same application: the browser. It’s obvious that the more complex any software gets, the more chances there are for security vulnerabilities to emerge, and the browser is no exception. The surge of browser CVEs we’ve witnessed in recent years is a good testament to that. Additionally, the more user interactions are made possible in the browser the more attractive it becomes to marketers and companies looking for new revenue streams. Online advertising, which is fueled by online tracking, has become so lucrative that it’s consistently been the top revenue category for so many big tech corporations. So, should we just throw our hands up in the air and accept our imposed destiny? Do we have to give up our privacy if we’re to do any meaningful browsing on the internet? ...

There’s a saying that goes: “Show me your friends, I’ll tell you who you are”. A slight variation of this is: “Show me the websites you visit, I’ll tell you who you are”. A lot can be learned about an individual just by examining the websites they visit, the search queries they run, and the apps they use on a regular basis. A trove of information about a user’s online activity can be gleaned from their DNS traffic. Have you ever wondered why practically all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) pre-configure consumer routers with their own DNS servers? ...

Password managers have become a crucial tool that every online user must rely on. Since they handle extremely sensitive data, like login credentials, credit card information, secret notes, and more, careful consideration is recommended when choosing a password manager. This article goes over the phases I’ve gone through in my experience with password managers, the different solutions I used, and how I got where I am today. First Password Manager My journey with password managers started way back when I used the “save password” feature in the Chrome browser. I was still “generating” passwords myself but relying on Chrome to save and automatically insert them when I’m on the login page of various websites. At that time, I didn’t really have too many accounts - probably no more than a dozen. But as the web started turning into a plethora of sign-up walls, where you can’t hover on a button without having to log in first, I quickly ran out of ideas to create new unique passwords. This is the point where I knew I needed a proper password manager. ...

Bitwarden is a password manager that allows users to generate and store strong passwords. It also handles other types of data like secure notes and credit card information. At the time of this writing, it is one of the best password managers out there because in addition to offering strong and zero-knowledge encryption, the codebase is open source. This means that anyone can inspect the code and run it for their personal use. In this article, we’ll go over the steps to build a fully functioning Bitwarden instance that anyone can run on a server at home. ...