I use a Boox Note, and I like it a lot. Its an android based eBook reader so you have full access to android apps including side loading apps from other stores.

By default it does not have Google services set up but you can use the Play store should you want. But its not integrated to googles services. Obviously there is some integration to Onyx Boox services which is based in China. However infindnit is unobstrusive and you dont have to use their store or any of their tools.

Personally I use Calibre on my Linux PC to manage my books on the device, and I use fbreader as a reader (closed source) but you can install open source software if thats your preference. KOReader certainly works but I’m not a big fan of the interface personally.

I use ebooks.com to buy books (and calibre to remove DRM so I can use my preferred software), and you can install the Kindle app to access a kindle library if you haven’t liberated your books yet. Ebooks reader works on the device too. Obviously DRM free books from any source and format can also be used.

My device - the note - has an nice crisp screen, is well made with a nice aluminium chassie and is comfortable to hold. I read books in portrait mode so you have 2 pages visible at a time. Its also good for a4 size documents. They do also have smaller sizes that match a kindle paper white.

I have a living room HTPC connected to my tv and have Jellyfin Media Player on that, and it works well. Obviously thats more of an investment than a firestick. Mine was £290 when I got it, I installed linux and I use it for gaming (including locally and streaming more graphically intense games from my PC), watching some streaming services and browsing the internet on my TV.

I do also have a Chromecast with Google TV stick in another tv. I use that purely for streaming and it also has the Jellyfin App installed.

I find both my HTPC and Chromecast are good with Jellyfin. No issues at all, good consistent streaming. But note HDR in linux can be finicky if thats important to you. Of course most come with Win 11 so you have that choice too (I wiped windows off mine)

I do have kodi on my HTPC, works fine with Jellyfin/jellycon but I prefer desktop mode and the jellyfin media player myself. I tend to use the pc with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, so dont really use Kodi.

My PC was £290 but I got one that could do a bit more gaming. You can get them for £100-£160 and they’d likely be more than capable of streaming 4k content. Better than a Pi 4 and more versatile than a £60 4k fire stick (even if more expensive - might be justified if itnopens up new uses for your tv)

Other option of course is a Raspberry pi 5 - more powerful than the 4. Ive not tested my pi5 with Jellyfin much so cant comment on how it suites the task.

Hopefully she was rushing home - maybe driving? - and couldn’t text well?

“K”, and “I am baby”?

As a Brit, I’m not offended by the Proton CEO’s post. I don’t like Donald Trump BUT I do like that he has hired someone who should be tough on tech anti-trust moves. This is very important.

Americans can be obsessed with their electoral system, but the rest of us don’t have to pretend to support the Democrats or Republicans. I don’t necessarily agree with all of Andy Yen’s take regarding the two parties, but I’m not offended enough by it to boycott Proton, certainly not based on one tweet. I can also see the pragmatic benefit to his position by massaging trumps well known fragile ego.

I had a similar problem with an nvme and it turned out it wasn’t seated properly in its slot. It was sitting very slightly at an angle even with the screw in place. I had the same problem with it sometimes being detected at boot and sometimes not.

I’d double check it’s fully and correctly inserted into it’s slot before writing it off as defective.

I don’t think it is realistic for other projects to step in and reproduce or take on a project that has closed.

It really needs new people to step up and take over the projects that that have closed. FOSS is stretched as it is. Of course ask the question, but Divest OS has a community of people who used it - is there no one in that community who can step in?

The whole divestos thing shows the problems with single person or small projects - they’re great while they last but people are 100% dependent on that one person to continue. That is a lot of pressure to produce on that one person, but also it is concerning if a popular project fails to grow beyond that one person into a sustainable project particularly over 10 years. That suggests either the person is not able to work with other people or unwilling to let go of control, or the community is not stepping up to help, or a mix of all these things?

There may be other factors too, but an entire security focused project dependent on one person is inherently insecure and unstable. When people are making choices around security I’d suggest an important one is who is running a project and his sustainable is it. Because it’s a big ask to keep an OS secure.

I’m not sure how I feel about this news story.

On the one side, it’s good to make sure people are aware of the limitations of secure email providers. However on the other the article almost reads as of this should be a surprise to people?

I use Proton mail and pay for my account. I don’t pay for anonyminity - I pay for privacy. They are two very different things.

The article talks about Opsec (operational security) and they’re right - if you need anonyminity then don’t use your personal apple email as a recovery address. That is a flaw in the user approach and expectations that unencrypted data held by Proton is also “secure”. Your basic details and your IP address are going to be recorded and available to law enforcement. Use a VPN or Tor to access the service and use another untraceable email for recovery, and pay via crypto if you want true anonymity. And even then there are other methods of anonymous or untraceable secure email that may be better than Proton mail (such as self hosted).

But for most users like myself, if you’re not looking for anonyminity then Proton is fine as is. My email address is my name and I use it to keep my emails secure and not snooped on by Google etc.

Proton advertises itself as private, secure and encrypted. It does not claim to offer anonymity.