Home Assistant is the open-source heart of a private smart home: it speaks Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, Wi-Fi and everything else through thousands of integrations, runs all your automations locally, and shows no ads because there is no company selling your routines. A global community maintains it, and it runs on a Raspberry Pi. The setup […]
FreeTube is an open-source desktop app that plays YouTube through local requests and optional Invidious, with subscriptions stored on your machine instead of an account. No ads, no Google history, no login, on Windows, Mac and Linux. Occasional breakage follows whenever YouTube changes internals, and comments need Invidious enabled. The cleanest desktop way to watch […]
NewPipe is an open-source Android app that uses YouTube lightly and locally: background play, downloads, subscriptions without an account, and no Google services involved. It also handles other platforms like PeerTube and Bandcamp. It installs outside the Play Store, so updates come from the project’s own channel, and breakage follows YouTube’s changes until patched. The […]
Invidious is an open-source front end to YouTube: you watch and search without Google’s ads, tracking or account, because the requests are made by the instance, not by you. Public instances exist, or you can run your own. Google and Invidious play cat and mouse, so instances occasionally break, and subscriptions need workarounds. The price […]
Monero is the cryptocurrency designed so amounts, sender and receiver are private by default, using ring signatures and stealth addresses rather than a public ledger of everyone’s balances. Open source, community funded, with no company behind it. Privacy coins face regulatory pressure on exchanges in several countries, which can make acquiring and cashing out harder. […]
Electrum has been the lean Bitcoin wallet since 2011: your keys stay with you, it talks to servers only to fetch block data without revealing your addresses beyond necessity, and features like multisig and coin control are built in. The interface is spartan and aimed at people who already understand Bitcoin basics. Lightness is the […]
Sparrow is a desktop Bitcoin wallet for people who care about coin control and privacy: it connects through your own node if you run one, supports multisig, and lets you see exactly how your transaction will be constructed before broadcast. It is deliberately expert-facing, and connecting your own node is the intended setup. The most […]
Fairphone, from the Netherlands, builds modular phones designed to be opened and repaired with a screwdriver, with long software support and fairer supply chains than the industry norm. It ships with normal Android, and de-Googled builds like /e/OS are available for it. Performance is mid-range and the price is not, which is what ethical manufacturing […]
Murena sells phones with /e/OS pre-installed, from refurbished Pixels to its own Fairphone models: no Google account, no Google apps, and an optional cloud that is not reading over your shoulder. The setup requires zero flashing skills. You accept /e/OS’s slower Android updates and a smaller app ecosystem in exchange for the cleanest out-of-box experience […]
GOG sells PC games without DRM: download the installer, keep it forever, install offline on hardware you own in twenty years. A curated catalog, fair prices, and refunds handled like a shop rather than a service. The new-release selection trails Steam, and some modern titles never arrive. Every game you buy is actually yours, which […]
BellCrier breach check
Most people are, and never hear about it. BellCrier checks your email against known data breaches for free, then alerts you when it turns up in a new one, with exactly what leaked and how to fix it.
