Self-hosting is great: you control the server, the software & your data. That’s all. Or not?

I think there is a lot understimation about the drawbacks related to self-hosting.

I self-hosted Wordpress for several years and during that time I had some issues while upgrading it, also theme and plugin conflicts where always behind the corner.

Wordpress is a great piece of sofware and very versatile. It is easily customizable, but this can also be a problem once we talk about compatibility. Something can break suddenly and if you are self-hosting you have to understand what’s going wrong.

What I experienced with Wordpress can happen with every piece of software you decide to install on your server. It can be Nextcloud or a Mastodon instance, no matter what you install, there may always be some problems while running your software.

Another issue while we talk about self-hosting is security. Server misconfiguration can expose your data to hackers, if you are not a security expert data breaches could be part of the game.

In my opinion self-hosting is great because you have full control of everything, but such power comes with great responsibility.

You need time to understand the software, install it, update it and fixing if something is going wrong.

All of this requires time and time is money.

If you are not a techie person (or if you don’t want to spend much time working on the server) then probably you should look for an hosted service.

Inspired by Manton blog post I’ve done a recap of the countries I’ve visited over the years.

• Italy
• Switzerland
• France
• Austria
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Spain
• Greece
• United Kingdom
• San Marino Republic
• Vatican State
• Principality of Monaco
• Principality of Seborga (that’s the only unrecognised micronation I’ve visited so far 😉)

Over the years I’ve tried several note taking apps and after using them I came to conclusion that many are overcomplicated for my personal needs.

All I need in my daily routine is a short list of things I have to do (or to remember).

I believe Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) can be useful for some people, but not for me (at least not in this moment).

Simplicity is all I need, so a smart To-Do list is perfectly fine.

When we think about smart homes we usually look into positive things like controlling lights, temperature, security and connected devices.

But are these smart homes truly smart?

A part from the enthusiasm for technology every smart device has its own app and configuration accounts (not talking about security holes).

A solution may be the new Matter standard, which was born in order to offer:

• Simplicity;
• Interoperability;
• Reliability;
• Security.

It's hard to say if Matter will solve all actual problems of our smart homes, but probably it will be an important step to the right direction.

Years of research have shown again and again that the way choices are posed affects our actions.

Source: “What Should We Watch Tonight?” On the Concept of Choice Architecture

I recently read an article that made me reflect on how often we are inclined (myself first) to use sophisticated web services and apps that propose to help us be more productive.

Sometimes alternative solutions are very easy and simple.

The blog post talks about how the author replaced note-taking apps by simply opening a new mailbox used only for this purpose.

This is certainly a creative solution that can actually be interesting for many people that don't need complicated features but only to keep track of their notes on the go.

I agree with postpsychosis, we usually tend to discuss without discussing. That's make sense to me especially because we are immersed in a society always online.

Lately I started to appreciate to wake up early in the morning. From my point of view it's one of my personal life hacks.

The reasons why I really like to be an early riser are several:

• I have more time for myself;
• I go to bed early in order to wake up early;
• I spend less time in traffic to go to work.

“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.”

Sun Tzu

When we talk about security there are many good practices you can follow in order to minimize the risk of being hacked (strong passwords, 2FA, etc..).

One of them is being updated about past and present data breaches.

For this reason I use haveibeenpwned.com, a great free service that provides you information if your personal data have been leaked.

Knowing that one of your accounts have been compromised enables you to immediately take action (e.g. changing your password) giving you another layer of security.

At the beginning there were Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator and I've always preferred Netscape Navigator.

Then Mozilla released Firefox and I've chosen it as my favourite browser for years.

Recently I was forced to switch from Firefox to Brave Browser because I realized that a Chromium based browser is ligther and more reactive on my old notebook.

That's not good as I would have preferred to use Firefox, but Mozilla have created a very heavy piece of software.

Browsing must not be a pain...

Mozilla, if you're there, give us a shout!