Welcome, my name is Oskari. I’m approaching 40 years of age and live in Espoo, in the Helsinki metropolitan area of Finland. I’m a father of two wonderful ch...
I’m looking for a self-hosted project management tool. But there is one twist. The project that I would want to manage is my life. I’d like to be able to track and manage all the different aspects of my life—decisions, goals, and values. A place where I could record things I want to do during the current year, things I want to happen within the next five years, and things I’d like to accomplish…
IKEA’s new smart home system is based on the Matter over Thread standard. Matter is an interoperability standard designed to abstract away the underlying communication technologies (such as Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread). Matter enables smart home devices to be integrated into a home automation system. With Matter, you’re not locked into manufacturer’s ecosystem. Thread is the actual…
In my article, I do not take a position on the principled question of whether ad blocking is acceptable or not. I leave this consideration to each individual. I approach the topic from a technical perspective, as I find it very interesting and at the same time eye-opening. At least, it was so for me. So, how can ad blocking be implemented at the network level rather than through software installed…
A reverse proxy is a component responsible for routing incoming requests to the correct service. Each service consists of its own web server, which is exposed on a specific port for access. Often, you don’t want to remember the ports of these services; instead, you want to access them through a single address. This is where the reverse proxy comes into play. In a reverse proxy, routing is…
It is important to me that my devices stay up to date with updates. I have automated security updates on Ubuntu by using the unattended-upgrades service, which can be installed from Ubuntu’s official package repository. These updates are the kind that do not require any user intervention. The unattended-upgrades service uses configuration files, which allow you to define, for example, how often…
VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a technology that enables the creation of an encrypted and secure connection from a remote location through the Internet to an internal network (e.g. home or office). By default, all traffic is routed through the VPN tunnel, but it is also possible to configure the client device so that only specified address spaces are routed through the VPN, while other traffic…
Did you know that building your own Digital Video Recorder (DVR), or “digibox” as it’s called in Finland, is relatively easy? All you need is Linux, a DVB-T2/C USB receiver, and, of course, some time. I bought the Hauppauge WinTV SoloHD receiver for about 50 euros. It can receive a one channel package at a time and can be connected to my Linux server via USB. Hauppauge supports Ubuntu and provides…
Anbernic RG40XX V is a retro handheld console. A retro handheld console is a device that runs multiple emulators, allowing you to play games from older consoles. These devices have become increasingly popular in recent years and are available from many different manufacturers at a wide range of prices. The cheapest ones can be bought for around 50 euros, while the most expensive can cost several…
One thing is running services; another is monitoring them. Monitoring can be done at many different levels. At the lowest level, in my own environment, I monitor hard drives. For this, I use the S.M.A.R.T. analysis, monitoring, and reporting capabilities built into hard drives. I collect the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic data produced by the hard drives into a centralized service called Scrutiny . Hard…
Maybe I’m naive, but my privacy isn’t my biggest concern when it comes to using Google. I know I don’t understand the topic well enough to comment on it, but I feel like there’s nothing in my photos that would interest Google. I trust Google’s security to prevent unauthorized access to my data. Of course, I use MFA, although even that isn’t completely foolproof. But I still want to get rid of…