I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner, but I am now blocking ads and trackers system-wide on my iPhone via AdGuard's public DNS. And anyone can set this up for free on their phones, PCs, or even their home routers.

A friend reached out with a dilemma. He lives far away from the meeting place of his religious community. They use Zoom to broadcast their meetings for those who can't attend in-person. For many reasons, he avoids using proprietary software (software that is not free as in freedom), but he was seriously thinking about installing Zoom in this case. I can empathize with his dilemma. All of us have to make choices like this every day.

I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus calling for a decentralized internet infrastructure. Within the span of a few weeks we have seen web outages on a global scale caused by problems with AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure, and now Cloudflare.

I was blessed to be able to get a used HP laptop in practically new condition with decent specs for free, so I installed Linux on it and I'm going to try using it as my primary personal computer for at least the rest of 2025 – about six weeks.

I have many concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and LLMs in their present state. I'll elaborate on these concerns in future posts, but I wanted to make it clear that until my concerns are resolved, this is an AI-free blog.

For a long time – at least a decade and a half – I have been learning about and gaining greater understanding of the problems with Big Tech and how pervasive it is in our lives. I have tried numerous times to move away from using proprietary, corporate-controlled technology but have always been drawn back to using it for one reason or another, burying my concerns in the dark recesses of my mind. But recent events have drawn those concerns again to the forefront of my thoughts. And I feel a great sense of urgency to try to adopt and use freer technologies.