I've Inadvertently Opted Out of Smart Notifications Thanks to GrapheneOS.
I've been running GrapheneOS for a little over a year now and didn't realize much Smart Notifications have changed phone usage. I'm happy I had the chance to opt out of them.
Matthew Brunelle's Blog
I write about a variety of projects, events and thoughts, but they all share one aspect: I learned something and want to share my experience with others.
Latest posts
Agentic Engineering Is Just Everything We Haven't Been Doing
The adoption of AI Tooling ironically encourages better practices. Now you have to actually do everything you've been putting off.
Converting a PS4 Persona 5 Royal NG+ Save to Steam with Adversarial Interoperability
Sony is locking the PlayStation down more and more. I just want to free my PS4 Persona 5 Royal save so I can play on Steam.
YouTube's New Programs to Encourage Binge Watching
YouTube is trying to become everything you watch on the TV. Luckily, there are still ways to opt. At least for now.
Thundermail, Tuta, and remembering Lavabit
How much does your choice of email provider matter? In some sense as an individual not much. However, together our choices do matter. So I reminisce about using Lavabit and the options today like Tuta and Thundermail.
My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI Cable
It turns out that a _very_ long HDMI cable, a Steam Controller 2 and Bazzite on a second drive was all I needed to get a comfortable couch gaming experience.
Trying Out OpenCode To Avoid Claude Code Lock-in
FOSS tools are empowering and increasingly valuable in a world where model providers can degrade your experience. So I'm rerunning an experiment with OpenCode and Kimi K2.6.
It's OK to Use Coding Assistance Tools To Revive The Projects You Never Were Going To Finish
I tried to use Claude Code with Opus 4.6 to implement a connector between Youtube Music and opensubsonic. The end result was a fairly short amount of time to get a working project.
The Claude Coding Vibes Are Getting Worse
I've seen a continuous degradation to the UX of Claude Code over the last two months. Now with the release of Opus 4.7 it's really evident.
Griffin McElroy On Writing His CYOA Book The Stowaway
I got to see Griffin at his only event about his new book The Stowaway where he did a live reading and gave advice on writing a CYOA book.
8.4 Months of Daily Driving GrapheneOS
I've been running GrapheneOS on my Pixel Fold for over half a year now and can finally provide some experience on what it's like. Also, the official hardware partnership was announced!
The Backup and Restore Experience On GrapheneOS
Backing up on GrapheneOS has gotten _much_ better and worked well for me in my time of need.
Hello Walter! Learning Rust on ESP32
The Walter is an ESP32-S3 module with LTE-M, and GPS. Literally perfect for my BeaconDB wardriving experiments. I now have Embassy all set up on it.
I Almost Had a Good Support Experience With Google
Google support is unwell. In fact, it never really has been good. The staff in their physical store in Boston was great, but the rest of support really dropped the ball when my Pixel 9 Pro Fold died.
Braunshittification
When the OEM shaver heads on the Series 7 are just as poor as counterfeits.
Trying out Thunderbird Appointment While I Patiently Wait For An Invite
OK, I'm actually a little impatient to use the new open source schedule booking tool by the Thunderbird team that will be a part of Thunderbird Pro.