I will second the suggestion for a dash camera, they can record audio automatically without need for user intervention.

Another option is to just use a voice assistant, I usually quickly ask my watch to start a voice recording beforehand to ensure there is a record of the interaction.

I’m going to suggest an alternative to Samsung Internet or Firefox : https://github.com/uazo/cromite

Out of the options I’ve tried, it’s probably the best bet for reducing tracking, fingerprinting & increasing security without turning to Tor browser (which while it is more anonymous, is frustrating for general browsing)

For clearing cache, there are two options. There’s a dedicated clear browsing data button in the hamburger menu, it can also be configured to “sanitize on close” (similar to Firefox on desktop, or Brave on desktop / mobile) [In cromite, this can be found under Security > Clear the data at open]

I can’t recommend Firefox on Android in good faith, until site isolation (fission) is enabled on the platform. This is a major security regression compared to desktop Firefox, or chromium based browsers on Android

Edit: It seems like Iron Fox (continuation of Mull / fork of Firefox) has site isolation enabled - but it is still buggy and does not have all features enabled e.g no isolated process SELinux labels.

To be fair, even a skilled users may just not notice something like this. There are many things we do in our day to day life without paying enough attention, particularly when it’s routine / something we feel adept using.

If you don’t mind me asking, what music client is pictured?

I think there’s an element of prestige people are missing. At least in my country there were online options prior to the pandemic even, they however lacked the prestige / name recognition that other institutions had. Keeping mandatory in-person classes is another way to maintain this prestige, a differentiating factor, from the other institutions.

I also have to agree with most of the comments here. From an instructional point of view online classes are lacking, they can be less engaging, and pedagogically neutered. And in fields with lots of laboratory work, it’s frankly impossible to get rid of at least part of the in-person educational component. Even for the humanities, having access to a large on-campus library of scholarly resources is integral to research.

In my personal experience I’ve been quite grateful to have access to a large archival collection, items that could not be shipped to remote students because they are too old to leave a temperature & humidity controlled environment. An online experience would prevent someone like me from doing some manuscript / original publication related research.

Now, I do think online options are helpful. ESPECIALLY for summer classes, where students may wish to retake a class while also moving away for summer work. But I do not think they should become the default, they should be an option where possible, but not the new normal.

Normally I would say community forks have the power to continue the project. However, in this case I think chrome / safari would eventually add enough new features that Firefox forks can’t add quick enough. Mozilla at least has some power in pushing the direction of web-standards, which these forks would lack, as well as the larger development team and some corporate usage of the browser which Mozilla has. I also don’t see the smaller development community keeping up with security issues found in the browser, particularly pertinent for corporate marketshare and individuals with a stricter threat model (journalists, dissidents, etc.)

The only other factor, is whether Firefox dissapearing would officially create impetus for an anti-trust case against Google. I doubt so under the current American presidency, but I could see the EU being concerned (even if they lack the power the US has to force the company to split). If something were to happen here there would be substantial change in the browser market, but I wouldn’t be too hopeful of this happening.

I hate to post another comment, but another great tool for media reading in general is RSS feed aggregators. Yes they can be janky, but it is the easiest way to explicitly choose what media you receive, rather than relying on algorithms in news apps / social media to dictate all that you read.

NetNewsWire is a great option for Apple devices Feedbro integrates into your web browser And Feeder is the one I use on my Android phone.

Here is a general comparison list on Wikipedia of different feed aggregators.

If you are a bit more technically inclined, I highly recommend hosting your own feed aggregator online (allowing you to sync your saved articles / read articles between devices, and better battery life on mobile devices). The two apps I usually see recommended for this are tt-rss “Tiny Tiny RSS” as well as FreshRSS.

I think it isn’t the most useful spam reduction method as lemmy.ca and I’m assuming Pixelfed.ca federate with a block list rather than an allowlist. Bad actors can always run a new instance to bypas bans etc., even positioning the instances as valid moderated instances for a while before launching bot attacks.

I also think part of the joy of using a platform like lemmy is the pseudo-anonymous nature of the platform. That type of government identity verification begins to compromise that a bit, but maybe I have a more extreme view on the option of pseudo-anonymity being a paragon of the free internet.

Edit: Just to note I am not a lemmy.ca account, but I am a Canadian (which is in part why I picked sh.itjust.works, another Canadian owned instance)

One of the advantages of Relay is that it is agnostic of your email provider, making it easier to switch providers without having to change the email on every account that has an alias.

Considering this, I’d be tempted to go with Addy.io instead of ProtonMail / SimpleLogin (subsidiary of Proton AG).

If you’re concerned with having to trust a third-party to process your emails however, Proton may be the better option with built-in aliasing. Mailbox.org is another option recommended by privacy guides with built-in aliasing.

If you’re concerned with Mozilla’s TOS change however, you may also be concerned with the Proton CEO implicitly supporting the current Trump presidency, believing that the Republicans will do a better job reigning big tech in (While I’ll agree that the democrats are not anti-corp, that died with Bernie, I think it’s foolish to believe the republicans will be better). They also pulled their entire media presence on Mastodon, and recently integrated Zoom despite explicitly stating that it has privacy issues in their blog.

I think some people are being a bit extreme in their characterization of Proton AG right now, but it definitely feels like they’re making some peculiar choices when looking at their guiding mission of privacy / security.

I find it’s just a lot of effort to go through visual customization for very little benefit, I have spent more time creating rootless podman images for certain apps, custom scripts, keybinds etc.

What I mean to say is there’s likely many people who customize functionality of their systems one way or another — without ever touching the visual side of things much beside maybe changing the font or turning dark mode on.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeline Thien was a great read. It was shortlisted for the Booker prize, won the Governor General’s award and won the Giller prize that year.

I also can highly recommend Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, which was a finalist for CBCs “Canada Reads”.

Overall I’d highly recommend looking at the GG and Giller for authors, as well as CBCs “Canada Reads”. For Canada Reads, we also have the shortlisted books for this year’s edition already!

That is a really fascinating blog post! Thank you for sharing it :)

As with any map app, when the app is in the foreground it uses location data to position you on the map. Most of the transit authorities also have public APIs for locating their vehicles which the app uses in conjunction with user location data to provide more accurate transit arrival time (and inherently is how they can know if you’re taking transit)

They do state in their privacy policy that location data isn’t linked to your personal information, nor is it sold to third parties. Their model solely relies on user / transit authority subscriptions. Of course, this still requires you to trust their data processing, but I feel like they adequately provide useful transit features with said location data.

Edit: I should also add you don’t need to make an account, in which case location data cannot be tied to any personal user data and you are still admissible for the free subscription offered by select transit authorities.

I am not entirely sure, for me there’s an option to email them if I believe I am admissible and haven’t been added. I don’t take transit enough to be admissible however, I usually just walk. I will have to ask some of my friends who have it if it was a fully automatic process for them or if it was manual (in my case, OC Transpo / STO)

Edit: I just opened the app to check and I am now a Royale member, so it is automatic. I take transit only once a week I’d say.

I’m not surprised by the corporate network, it’s pretty common for those types of networks to severely block inter-device LAN communication. There are two solutions however, for one, KDEconnect has initial Bluetooth support. I think it only support Plasma and Android as of now, and could be documented better, but it does avoid the LAN access problems. The other solution is using a VPN, the easiest off the shelf solution being Tailscale, but I feel this is only worth it if you have multiple use cases for it (I use it for faster Syncthing transfers, Moonlight / Sunshine game streaming. And KDEconnect)

I really wish KDEConnect “just worked”, similar to how Apple’s devices connect to one another, but I guess this is the price you pay sometimes for an open source cross platform solution.

For sending things to devices I use KDE Connect. I realize it is a fundamentally different application, but it is what I use generally to send / receive links between devices, as well as documents, images etc. It also is good for notification mirroring, and really just integrating Android devices into Windows / Linux computers.

For passwords I used KeePass (and I sync them between devices with SyncThing), but I usually recommend Bitwarden (which is what I used to use). Both are open source, have apps for all platforms, can integrate into your browser if you choose. The main advantage of Bitwarden is that it is open source, all necessary features are free, and you can host the server yourself if you want. It also integrates into some services, notably email aliasing ones, to allow you to generate new emails every time you make a new account.

For bookmarks / history your best bet is the extension everyone else is recommending here!

I’m saying this as a coffee fanatic myself, you don’t need to be educated on what is “good or bad”, what matters is what you like :)

I haven’t tried Muskoka myself but I’ll likely give it a shot at some point!

Some other Canadian ones I like are Hatch (out of Markham) and Equator (near Ottawa)

If you’re francophone (or just a francophile) I highly recommend La Presse and Le Devoir. The former is a non-profit and considered a “newspaper of record”, the latter isn’t non-profit but is still an independent publication and is also often considered a newspaper of record.

And of course there’s Radio-Canada, the French language publication of the CBC.

The French avoid list for me mostly revolves around Québecor — but this is more of a journalistic integrity issue rather than an American media problem. I find it important from a moral and ethical perspective to avoid media megacorp conglomerates (and this is also yet another reason to avoid Postmedia).

One more thing on franco media, reading the news is a great way of developing vocabulary in your second language. Give it a shot, it’s really fulfilling and in this case unlocks some great independent / non-profit options :)

I agree with the other comment – buy from other retailers.

In a pinch however, usually you can find the same thing that people sell on Amazon, cheaper, from AliExpress. I’d personally avoid them when you can, but sometimes they are the only option for getting obscure parts etc.

For ebooks, you can go to Kobo (Canadian company, owned by the Japanese company Rakuten) OR you can borrow them from your local library (they can be synced to your phone or kobo ereader). Otherwise support a local new or used bookstore!

Spotify, Dezeer, SoundCloud and Quobuz are all European alternatives to Amazon Music (and Apple Music for that matter)

I haven’t fact checked it myself, but I have seen a few people comment that the Shopify CEO believes Canada needs it’s own equivalent to America’s DOGE.

Which I feel is reason enough for someone to boycott them as well “by proxy”.