Reviews Tagged “Using”
Stuff I’m still using on a frequent basis, whether because I like it or I have to.
- Aegis Authenticator ★★★★★ A well-designed 2FA app for Android that lets you organize accounts into groups, can use a password or fingerprint to add another layer of security to your codes, and can easily import from several apps including Google Authenticator.
- Agate (Gemini Server) ★★★★★ A simple Gemini Protocol server for static files. Fast, stable, easy, and running the Gemini version of this site.
- Alpine Linux ★★★★★ Lightweight Linux distribution with modern capabilities and smooth package management despite its low resource requirements. Good for small cloud servers, old hardware, Raspberry Pi, etc.
- Arc Search (discontinued) ★★★★☆ Surprisingly, I like the mobile Arc browser better than its desktop counterpart. Simplified UI, stays mostly out of your way, and it’s satisfying to fling tabs offscreen to close them. Still leery of the AI summarizer, though.
- BBEdit ★★★★★ Text editor for macOS that’s powerful enough to handle multi-megabyte files and still light enough to jot down notes.
- Bitwarden ★★★★☆ A much more usable password manager than LastPass (and with a better track record). Apps for desktop, mobile, and web browser extensions, and organizations can self-host the server if they want to.
- BOOX Go 7 Color (Gen II)
- Boxes (GNOME) ★★★⯪☆ A simple GUI wrapper around Linux’s built-in virtualization support. It makes simple things easy, but to adjust advanced settings you either need to edit config files manually or use another GUI.
- ClassicPress ★★★★☆ More than just WordPress Minus Gutenberg! Familiar, super-easy to migrate, and can work with most of the WP plugin/theme ecosystem.
- Codeberg ★★★★★ Non-profit git services for free/libre/open-source software projects. Familiar interface, works well, easy to migrate from GitHub and other forges.
- ConnectBot ★★★★★ A no-nonsense SSH client for Android.
- Consent-O-Matic ★★★★★ Convenient browser extension that detects cookie consent pop-ups and automatically fills them out according to your choices. Lets you know it’s working without getting in your way.
- Dillo (Web Browser) ★★★★☆ Ultra-minimalist and super-fast browser for web documents (not applications). You won’t be logging into Gmail with it, but it’ll load a Wikipedia article incredibly fast.
- DreamHost ★★★★☆ Rock solid web hosting with managed VPS and good support. Hosting this page right now. Cloud computing has been less stable in my experience.
- DuckDuckGo ★★★★☆ A private-ish search engine that’s also serving less slop than Google. Disposable email aliases are convenient. The browser extension and standalone browser block known trackers, and the Android app can block trackers in other apps too.
- Falkon (Web Browser) ★★★★☆ A surprisingly capable Chromium browser for KDE and other Linux desktops that runs well even on low-end hardware and virtual machines.
- FeatherPad ★★★★☆ A lightweight, fast, stable, and capable text editor for Linux.
- Fedora Linux ★★★★⯪ Still my favorite Linux for desktop use, but every once in a while you’re reminded that IBM (via Red Hat) still has an out-sized influence on it.
- Firefox Sync ★★★★☆ Works on nearly every Firefox-based browser and can mix and match. Even IronFox and LibreWolf recommend using it, as it’s encrypted end-to-end.
- Floccus Bookmarks Sync ★★★★★ Very flexible, syncs across many different desktop browsers and mobile devices, and for privacy it can run on your own server or encrypted on another cloud service.
- Fossify Calendar ★★★★☆ Basic calendar app that works with your phone’s local calendars. You can do all the usual things you want to use a calendar for on your phone. Doesn’t clutter up your schedule with ads or vacuum up your personal data.
- Fossify Contacts ★★★★☆ Basic, privacy-respecting contacts app for Android that works with all contacts accounts on your phone.
- Fossify File Manager ★★★★★ Nice, simple app for handling the local files on your phone without talking to any cloud services.
- Fossify Phone ★★★⯪☆ Minimalist dialer app for the actual phone part of your smartphone, with basic call blocking. Doesn’t provide all the transcription and screening that Google’s app does, but it’s also not sending your call activity to the cloud.
- Git ★★★★☆ An extremely capable and flexible version control system, Git is also extremely cryptic, and you’ll want to keep the docs handy for commands you don’t use regularly.
- GoToSocial ★★★★☆ A lightweight Fediverse server, with a clean web interface for viewing public posts. Compatible with Mastodon apps and interacts with other ActivityPub platforms.
- Hamilton Beach 12 Cup Coffee Maker ★★★⯪☆ Basic coffee maker. It makes coffee. But be sure to mark the fill gauge on the side yourself after checking how much it actually makes
- HeliBoard ★★★★☆ Versatile on-screen keyboard for Android with local-only autocorrect and suggestions for multiple languages. Extremely configurable. More private than GBoard, and works better for me than Fossify Keyboard. A separate download can enable optional gesture support.
- iNaturalist ★★★★★ A citizen science project for reporting and identifying wildlife observations, plus a phone app for use ‘in the field.’ Think of it as Pokémon Go for real animals and plants.
- K-9 Email ★★★★☆ Classic email app for Android: No frills, no ads, no tracking. Supports multiple accounts, phone-to-tablet layouts, and dark mode.
- KeePass Password Managers ★★★★★ KeePassXC, its browser extension, and KeePass2Android are a nice, clean set of apps to manage your passwords on your OWN desktop and mobile devices, auto-fill websites and apps, and sync over your own server or cloud provider.
- KeePass2Android ★★★★★ Nice, clean interface to a KeePass2 database with auto-fill support for both websites and apps and seamless syncing over your own server or the cloud of your choice.
- Kobo (eBook store and readers) ★★★★☆ A solid alternative to Kindle, from the eBook selection through apps and hardware. The app works well on my eink tablet without too much tweaking, though it still wants to sell me more books before I can open the one I want to read.
- LibreOffice ★★★★☆ A complete open-source and Free office suite for your desktop or laptop, comparable to and largely compatible with Microsoft Office. I’ve been using the word processor and spreadsheets for decades on Linux, years on Windows, and occasionally on macOS.
- LibreWolf ★★★★☆ Customized Firefox, with an eye toward security and privacy. Follows the stable release channel. Works well most of the time, but privacy features can break some sites.
- Linode ★★★★★ Flexible, inexpensive cloud hosting with a variety of Linux options. Rock solid so far!
- MapComplete ★★★★☆ A web app that guides you through updating OpenStreetMap by category, similar to StreetComplete but with a different set of features.
- Microsoft Outlook (Android) ★★★★☆ It works. More stable than the desktop version. Handles mail, calendar and contacts, offers the focused/other inbox view. Tries to keep you in Microsoft’s apps. OK for work, wouldn’t use it for personal mail.
- Microsoft Outlook (Desktop) ★★★☆☆ I won’t say I’ve never liked Outlook, because the macOS version has been pretty decent for a while now (if a bit of a resource hog), but the Windows versions have always been awkward, cluttered, and quirky.
- Microsoft Surface Go 2 ★★★★☆ A great ultra-light Windows 10 tablet with detachable keyboard. Or an annoyingly slow Windows 11 tablet.
- NetNewsWire ★★★★★ Clean, stable, fast, free, no-clutter and no-nonsense RSS/Atom newsfeed reader for macOS and iOS.
- NewsFlash ★★★★★ Clean, stable, fast, free, no-clutter and no-nonsense RSS/Atom newsfeed reader for Linux that optionally syncs with multiple services.
- Nextcloud Bookmarks ★★★★☆ Online web app for managing bookmarks using your own Nextcloud server. I usually use it indirectly as the storage for syncing via Floccus.
- Nextcloud Calendar ★★★★★ Self-hosted, web-based calendar that syncs easily with other apps and has completely replaced Google Calendar for me.
- Nextcloud News ★★★★★ Simple web-based news reader for Nextcloud, easy to install and syncs with multiple desktop and mobile clients.
- Nextcloud Notes ★★★★★ Simpler than Google Keep, more private, with human-readable data that syncs quickly and cleanly with your devices.
- Notepad++ ★★★★★ A perfect balance of powerful and lightweight, Notepad++ is far more capable than Notepad, but doesn’t complicate things like a full IDE.
- Orion Browser ★★★★★ A Mac-native WebKit browser from Kagi that’s more advanced than Safari, slightly cleaner than Arc or Zen, and can run Chromium/Firefox extensions. I may be sticking with this as my main web browser on macOS.
- Parallels ★★★★⯪ A virtual machine application for macOS that makes it easy to install a Windows, Linux or macOS guest. Downside: annual subscription.
- Phanpy (Mastodon App) ★★★★★ An app for Mastodon (and other Fediverse sites) that cuts through the clutter. Runs anywhere in a web browser, or can be installed to your device’s home page as a PWA.
- Postmarks ★★★★☆ A self-hosted public bookmarks/linkblogging server (think Delicious or Pinboard) that can interact with Mastodon and the rest of the Fediverse.
- Project Gutenberg ★★★★★ Predating the web itself, they’ve put together tens of thousands of ebooks from classics and other public domain sources in multiple formats from plaintext to ePub.
- QuickEdit ★★★★★ Full-featured text editor for Android. Good in a pinch on a phone, better on a tablet.
- Sequel Ace ★★★★★ An unapologetically macOS application and a powerful database manager for MySQL/MariaDB. This and its predecessor Sequel Pro are the only database GUIs I’ve actually liked.
- Snac ★★★★☆ Extremely bare-bones social networking server that runs on low-resource machines, works on the web without cookies or JavaScript, and still interacts through ActivityPub with Mastodon, GoToSocial and other Fediverse software.
- Standard Ebooks ★★★★★ Great source of classics and other public domain material, formatted and edited for maximum readability and compatibility.
- StreetComplete ★★★★★ StreetComplete is an easy way to contribute to OpenStreetMap on the go, as a beginner, or both from your Android phone.
- Thunderbird (Email and Calendar) ★★★★★ Stable, capable desktop email application, works well with multiple accounts including Gmail, Nextcloud, easy to set up and use but with advanced settings when you need them. FLOSS.
- Tinyview Comics ★★★★☆ Good comics formatted for small screens.
- Tusky for Mastodon ★★★★★ I’ve checked out some alternatives after several years using Tusky, and it’s still my preferred Mastodon/Fediverse app. It really runs smoothly, even with multiple accounts.
- Vespucci (App) ★★★★★ Vespucci is a powerful editor for OpenStreetMap on Android that can handle just about anything, though the learning curve is steep.
- VirtualBox ★★★★☆ Reliable virtualization that runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, and can actually run a Windows 11 guest on my Linux host. The core app is Free, but Oracle charges for add-ons.
- Wallabag ★★★★☆ A read-it-later type service built on open-source software that you can run yourself if you want (but don’t have to). Not as polished as Pocket, but it’s sticking around, and you know it’s not using your saved bookmarks to train a recommendation engine.
- Watch Duty ★★★★★ More useful than official alerts or the LA Times fire maps for knowing which parts of a wildfire you need to worry about and how soon.
- Waterfox ★★★★☆ A Firefox fork aimed at improved performance and privacy, without sacrificing usability. Also available on Android.
- Where to Get eBooks A round-up of places I’ve used to find, buy, borrow and download eBooks.
- Wine and Crossover ★★★★☆ THE major compatibility tool for Windows apps on Linux or macOS, including SteamOS. And a commercial distribution with installers and support.
- WordPress Plugins (and ClassicPress too!) Some WordPress and ClassicPress plugins I’ve used and which ones I recommend.
- Zen Browser ★★★★☆ Similar to Arc, Zen has a non-cluttered design that stays out of your way. Unlike Arc, it’s built on Firefox, runs on more platforms, and doesn’t require you to log in just to use it!