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Will Webberley
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Technology

(147 items)

Farewell, Nextcloud 15 May 2025

Nextcloud was probably my first foray into proper self-hosting. I ran it on Linode for a few years before moving it to run at home over Tailscale. It was my self-hosting gateway to all there was to come – from RSS aggregation through to HomeAssistant, recipe management, and business and … Read more (5 minute read)
technology selfhost

Umami Updated 13 May 2025

I use Umami for analytics on this website and a few other services that I run. I self-host Umami using Docker. To start, create a docker-compose.yml: services: umami: image: docker.umami.is/umami-software/umami:postgresql-latest environment: DATABASE_URL: …
technology selfhost

Traefik Updated 7 January 2025

Most of my personal services I run within my Tailscale network, and so I do not tend to bother with HTTPS (since provisioning TLS certificates for multiple services running on a single host via Tailscale is a pain). However, for external services that need to be accessed publicly, I use Traefik as a …
technology selfhost

The UK Online Safety Act 30 December 2024

About the Act In March, the Online Safety Act comes into force for UK online services. The Act attempts to curb the spread of harmful content online and puts the onus on the service providers to ensure that online spaces are kept safe from such content. The Act applies to services that involve … Read more (6 minute read)
technology

Improved home printing 20 December 2024

Who still owns a printer, anyway? For some reason, I have a printer at home. I think I bought it for printing wet signature-requiring legal documents a few years back, and buying a printer was cheaper/easier than getting things remotely printed and posted back to me. It’s a cheap-ish Brother … Read more (5 minute read)
technology

Using aerc as my daily email client 22 October 2024

TL;DR (can I see your setup?): see this note. – I’ve now been exclusively using aerc for my day-to-day email workflows for a few months. This has been my first proper foray into using terminal-based mail clients as I never fully got around to trying other ones, such as Mutt (and … Read more (3 minute read)
technology

Email client (aerc) Updated 20 October 2024

This note documents my current setup for email. It includes: aerc as an email client vdirsyncer for syncing contacts khard for reading and searching locally-synced contacts mbsync for syncing email to a local Maildir notmuch for organising and searching locally-synced email Pre-start: Handling local …
selfhost technology

Obsidian Updated 24 September 2024

Obsidian is a note/knowledge management tool I’ve used a fair amount in the past (before moving to nb). Below I log some considerations I dealt with whilst using Obsidian. Self-deleting files When I used Obsidian, I synced it to my devices using iCloud (though I don’t know if this is …
technology selfhost

Uses Updated 23 September 2024

A collection of “things”, software and systems I use on a frequent or daily basis. I enjoy using open source, self-hosted, and independent software where possible. I like the reliability and quality of Apple hardware, and often the combination of the two works best for me. Hardware …
technology selfhost

My Knowledge Base With "nb" 22 September 2024

Whilst browsing my GitHub home feed a little while back (not something I’m in a habit of doing, generally), I stumbled upon the command line journaling tool jrnl. I thought it looked interesting, and so subsequently posted about it and had a good discussion on this and alternatives over on … Read more (5 minute read)
technology selfhost

nb Updated 22 September 2024

As of September 2024 I use nb as my primary note-taking and knowledge management program. Install On a Mac, it can be installed from Homebrew: brew install nb. Set nb directory I sync my nb documents via Syncthing, and therefore need the tool to use my Syncthing directory as its “home”: …
technology selfhost

Ramblings on Hypermedia APIs for Pure Web Applications 7 September 2024

Many moons ago I would write web applications using technologies like PHP or Python to directly serve web content – often using templating engines to more easily handle data display. These apps would thus ship server-side rendered plain HTML, along with a mix of browser-native forms and AJAX … Read more (8 minute read)
technology opinion javascript

jrnl Updated 1 September 2024

A few weeks back (as of 2024-09-01) I posted about a tool called jrnl on Mastodon. The post got a fair amount of engagement and discussion, and I’ve also given it a go over the past couple of weeks myself. jrnl is a command-line tool for keeping a journal. It can be used for quick …
technology selfhost

Tailscale Sidecars Updated 1 September 2024

If you’ve followed my blog or other notes, you’ll be well aware of my extensive use of Tailscale for nearly everything – securing access to remote servers and for connecting to services across my local network. Tailscale DNS is great for assigning DNS names to individual hosts, but …
technology selfhost

Borgtastic Backups 19 August 2024

Restic has been my go-to backup tool for many years, and I’ve used it for a wide range of workloads – including for managing filesystem, Postgres, Photoprism and Vaultwarden backups. At the point I was researching suitable backup options for these cases, and considering my personal … Read more (3 minute read)
technology selfhost

Vaultwarden Updated 29 July 2024

I self-host a Vaultwarden instance to manage my usernames, passwords, two-factor codes, and other details for my accounts everywhere. Standard Bitwarden clients (including browser extensions and mobile apps) can use Vaultwarden instances as their backend server. In this note I describe my particular …
technology selfhost

Photoprism Updated 29 July 2024

I’ve switched from managed photo providers (such as Apple or Google photos) to a self-hosted Photoprism instance. This note documents my setup. I use Linode for this, and you can get a free $100 credit using this referral link. Update 2022: More recently I’ve migrated Photoprism over to …
technology selfhost

Podcasts Updated 2 July 2024

I subscribe to a small number of podcasts. I usually listen to them when at the gym or out walking, and so if I subscribe to too many I just can’t get through them all each week! That said, I’m always open to good recommendations if you have any. Most of these podcasts should be …
technology personal

Cloudfront + S3 Updated 2 May 2024

The tempting approach is just to use a publicly accessible bucket in “website mode” for a website (since the website itself will also be public), and then use Cloudfront with the bucket’s website URL as the origin, but this feels lazy. Instead, use a private bucket and Cloudfront …
technology

PostgreSQL Updated 31 October 2023

This is a reference quick-start note for deploying PostgreSQL via Docker, and with working self-signed TLS. 1. Generate keys for TLS E.g. with one year expiry: mkdir postgres-certs && cd postgres-certs openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -text -out server.crt -keyout server.key sudo …
technology selfhost

MongoDB Updated 31 October 2023

This is a reference quick-start note for deploying MongoDB via Docker, and with working self-signed TLS. Note: This setup does not yet consider replica sets. Coming soon… 1. Generate keys for TLS E.g. with one year expiry: openssl req -nodes -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out …
technology selfhost

Links Updated 16 August 2023

A scratchpad of links. Technology Keep a Changelog - Don’t let your friends dump git logs into changelogs. ChangeDetection.io - detect changes to websites ProtoSchool - Interactive tutorials on decentralized web protocols Tech recommendations - some great tech recommendations from PsychoLlama …
technology development life fun

Cross-publishing web content to Gemini 1 June 2023

My personal website is generated using Hugo, which allows me to write nearly all of the actual content itself in plain markdown files. I also maintain a Gemini capsule (hosted at gemini://wilw.capsule.town). For a while I’ve wanted to be able to add more content to this capsule, and to try and … Read more (2 minute read)
technology gemini

CI/CD with Woodpecker and Gitea 23 April 2023

Some of my personal projects are beginning to get larger and more complicated, often involving different front-ends and services that all need to be separately built and deployed. Managing all of these is taking away more of my personal time, and I’ve been on the look-out for a good CI/CD … Read more (2 minute read)
technology selfhost

Hosting S3 content via Bunny CDN Updated 23 April 2023

As well as serving content from a storage zone, Bunny CDN can also serve from other origins. For example, S3-compatible storage solutions. For example, this website is stored on Linode Object Storage, and served via Bunny CDN. In this note I describe how to achieve this. The note uses Linode as an …
technology

Woodpecker CI Updated 23 April 2023

I use Woodpecker CI to automate my personal CI/CD processes. This note documents my setup. Create a docker-compose.yml and bring the service up (notes on environment below): version: '3' services: woodpecker-server: image: woodpeckerci/woodpecker-server:latest ports: - 8000:8000 expose: - …
technology selfhost

Hosting on Bunny.net Updated 24 March 2023

Bunny CDN provides a cost-effective, easy-to-use, and highly performant service for delivering web content. I currently use it to serve this website, as well as a few other systems. Pull zones and storage In Bunny, web content is categorised into “pull zones”, where each can have an …
technology

A question about encryption for self-hosting 5 March 2023

I self-host a number of services - Nextcloud, FreshRSS, PhotoPrism etc. - at home on a Raspberry Pi. Attached to this Pi is a large SSD to hold the service data and configuration, and all of this is periodically backed-up via Restic to a remote site. The SSD is simply formatted with ext4, and the … Read more (3 minute read)
technology selfhost

Server & database backups Updated 10 December 2022

I run a number of services on my own machines and VPSs, and for each system I ensure there are appropriate backups in place. Backup target I usually use Backblaze B2 as a backup solution due to its low costs, simplicity, and ease of use. Linode’s Object Storage service is also great, but I use …
technology selfhost

Selfhosting Updated 10 December 2022

I’m interested in being able to look after my own data, as much as possible. I try to ensure that this is at least (almost) as convenient as commercial where I can (and so there is probably much more I can do). What I currently selfhost Most of the services I selfhost run on Linode servers. I …
technology selfhost

Joplin Updated 10 December 2022

My notes are kept using Joplin. I use Joplin server to keep all of my devices in-sync. Below is a docker-compose.yml I use to run the server. version: '3' services: db: image: postgres:13 volumes: - ./data/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data restart: unless-stopped environment: - …
technology selfhost

Window management workflows on macOS 10 December 2022

macOS window management Every Mac user seems to have a different way of managing their open applications and windows. Some people prefer to view each window in “full” mode, in which they take up the entire display and the user can cycle apps or use the dock to change the active window. … Read more (3 minute read)
technology

Raspberry Pi Updated 9 December 2022

I have a small fleet of Raspberry Pis (mostly the Pi 4 Model B), which I use at home for various tasks. They are all firewalled off and are reachable via Tailscale. A small number of the services they run are also exposed to the local network. What they run As of the time of writing, services I run …
technology selfhost

Setting-up a Mac Updated 4 December 2022

This note documents my setup for building a sane-ish (for me) software environment on macOS for work, development, and life. Core tasks Rename the Mac (Settings -> General -> Name) Add home directory to Mac sidebar (from terminal run open /Users and then drag homedir to the sidebar) Add …
technology

Donations Updated 25 November 2022

Donations I make To free, open-source, hobby services and products. Product/service Link Donation FreshRSS Liberapay £3 / month Fosstodon Patreon £4 / month Photoprism Patreon £2 / month Joplin Patreon £1.50 / month Accepting donations If you would like to support me or my work, then you can do so …
life technology

From Google and Apple Photos to Photoprism 25 November 2022

A history of media storage solutions Back in 2021 I blogged about how and why I wanted to switch from Google Photos as a storage solution (and source of truth) for my life’s photo and video library. The post compared several solutions, such as Piwigo, Mega, and Nextcloud. In that time … Read more (5 minute read)
technology selfhost

2FAuth Updated 27 October 2022

2FAuth is a self-hostable web service for managing two-factor authentication tokens. It has a nice, clean interface, is responsive (so it can be simply added to the homescreen on iOS), and has various useful features: Adding new tokens by scanning QR codes; Searching for tokens; Lots of features …
technology selfhost

Tailscale: multi-service HTTPS on a single machine 27 October 2022

Update 2024-09-01: I have since written a note on Tailscale Sidecars which provides a more elegant solution to this problem. I have left this post here for posterity. HTTPS on Tailscale Tailscale’s HTTPS feature is an excellent tool for adding TLS connections to web services exposed over the … Read more (4 minute read)
technology selfhost

Note-taking apps: Bear and Joplin 2 October 2022

The Bear notes app has been my go-to notes app for Mac, iPhone, and iPad for some time now. It’s got a great UX, a customisable UI, and is one of those apps that feels like a (clichéd) “delight” to use. Some of my gripes with Bear (and CloudKit in general) Bear is written … Read more (3 minute read)
technology selfhost

Managing s3cmd profiles Updated 1 October 2022

s3cmd is an excellent tool for interacting with S3-compatible storage solutions (Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Linode Object Storage, etc.) via the command line. I personally find it easier to use and more intuitive than the aws equivalent. Install s3cmd The tool can be installed (on a Mac) via Homebrew: …
technology

Gitea Updated 28 September 2022

Gitea is a fantastic GitHub-like service for git remotes and for viewing code and git projects via a web-browser. One can join existing instances (such as Codeberg), or self-host it. I self-host a Gitea instance. I use a docker-compose.yml file like the one below. version: "3" services: …
technology selfhost

Encrypting volumes with LUKS Updated 28 September 2022

For sensitive data storage in the cloud, I will usually provision a separate volume, encrypt it, and then use this as the volume mapper for containerised services. Creating and attaching a volume I use Linode to host the vast majority of my services. In Linode, new volumes can be easily created and …
technology selfhost

Nextcloud Updated 28 September 2022

I use Nextcloud as an alternative to Google Drive or iCloud. I self-host it on a VPS or Raspberry Pi and make it available only within my Tailscale network so that it is only accessible to my own authorised devices. Nextcloud is relatively straight-forward to run using a docker-compose.yml file: …
technology selfhost

Nitter Updated 28 September 2022

When browsing Twitter, I use a self-hosted Nitter instance. Nitter allows you to browse Twitter using a more privacy-respecting front-end. To run Nitter, create a docker-compose.yml: version: "3" services: nitter: image: zedeus/nitter:latest ports: - "8085:8080" volumes: - …
technology selfhost

Teddit Updated 28 September 2022

When browsing Reddit, I use a self-hosted Teddit instance. Teddit allows you to view Reddit using a nicer and more privacy-respecting front-end. To run Teddit, create a docker-compose.yml: version: "3" services: teddit: image: teddit/teddit:latest environment: - REDIS_HOST=teddit-redis …
technology selfhost

FreshRSS Updated 28 September 2022

For managing and consuming RSS feeds, I use FreshRSS. To run a FreshRSS instance, create a docker-compose.yml file: version: "3" services: freshrss: image: freshrss/freshrss environment: - "CRON_MIN=3,33" # Change this if you like - TZ=Europe/London volumes: - …
technology selfhost

Fixing unzip on Alpine Linux Updated 27 September 2022

Alpine Linux ships with several BusyBox utilities, including many day-to-day shell commands. One such example is the unzip tool for extracting ZIP files. Recently, when unzipping a large archive on Alpine, I kept getting this short read error message: $ unzip archive.zip Archive: archive.zip unzip: …
technology

Monica Updated 27 September 2022

I use a self-hosted Monica instance to keep on top of birthdays and other useful/interesting notes about friends and family. This note documents my setup. Create a docker-compose.yml file: version: "3.4" services: monica: image: monica:latest depends_on: - monicadb environment: - …
technology selfhost

Re-Building my Website with Hugo 3 September 2022

GatsbyJS For several years I’ve been using GatsbyJS to generate the static site content for this website. Gatsby is a great tool and produces blazing-fast websites through the use of an interesting combination of technologies. In Gatsby, pages are simply React components, and developers can … Read more (6 minute read)
technology javascript

Making Tax Digital and Plain-Text Accounting 30 July 2022

HMRC’s Making Tax Digital Making Tax Digital (MTD) is part of the UK Government’s plan for modernising the tax system for both businesses and individuals. For years, HMRC (the Government’s tax department) has had an online tax system that is infamously complicated and slow to use … Read more (3 minute read)
opinion technology finance

My setup for coding on iPad 12 June 2022

Since getting a Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro, I’ve been using the iPad for many areas of work for which before I would have needed a laptop. In fact, last week I was able to use the iPad full-time when at work in our new office space, and I didn’t need to reach for my MacBook once. … Read more (6 minute read)
technology selfhost development

Plain Text Accounting Updated 11 June 2022

Over the past couple of years I have been intrigued (and sort of excited) about the ideas behind plain text accounting. To be excited about accounting is probably unusual but I love its simplicity and logic - and the power it gives you. Plain text accounting is essentially the practice of keeping …
technology finance fun

Parcel to the rescue 25 May 2022

Earlier this week I needed to make some changes and re-deploy an old Vue app. I hadn’t touched the codebase in over a year, and my experience with the rate of change in the front-end web space made me dread what would happen if I tried to re-awaken this thing. Sure enough, after running a yarn … Read more (3 minute read)
technology javascript development

Simple Ledger visualisations using Python 24 April 2022

If you’re a current follower of this blog then you may already know that I’m a bit of a fan of using plain text accounting for managing finances. I mainly use the Ledger text file format and CLI tool for bookkeeping and reporting on finances. This works great, and I can quickly and … Read more (7 minute read)
technology python ledger finance

Design Updated 9 April 2022

I’m not a designer, so I find it useful to take inspiration from others when building software. Illustrations Ira Design for illustrations unDraw - A great collection of open-source illustrations with customisable colour schemes. Iconography 3dicons - Open source 3D icon library Boring Avatars …
technology

Ideas Updated 9 April 2022

Blog by mail A service by which users can write, submit and update a blog via email. For example, use the subject line to indicate a path (for a webpage) or blog post ID Use send date as post date? Or allow for customising? mailblog.club?
technology personal

Self-hosting apps and services using Traefik reverse proxy 9 April 2022

I often talk about self-hosting on this blog, and I’m certainly a big fan of being able to control my own data and systems wherever possible (and feasible). I’ve recently switched from using Nginx to Traefik as a reverse proxy for my server and for terminating TLS connections. In this … Read more (7 minute read)
technology selfhost

Interacting with a Nextcloud instance deployed with Docker 28 January 2022

If you’ve ever run your own Nextcloud before, you may have noticed screens like the following in your instance’s settings pages. The messages advise a number of maintenance procedures to help ensure the smooth running of your instance. These could be to run database migrations or to … Read more (2 minute read)
technology selfhost

The future of the decentralised web: thoughts on web0 and web3 21 January 2022

I recently signed the web0 manifesto, which embodies many of the values I consider to be important when it comes to technology - and the web in particular. web0 is the decentralised web… web0 is web3 without all the corporate right-libertarian Silicon Valley bullshit. – The web0 … Read more (8 minute read)
technology opinion

Browser push notifications in a Flutter web application 18 December 2021

🎉 This is post 100 in my attempt at the #100DaysToOffload challenge! For a couple of years I have been writing mobile apps using the Flutter framework, having previously been a React Native advocate. Flutter is a great tool for writing applications that target multiple platforms and architectures … Read more (6 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Moving my Matrix identity to Element One 15 December 2021

For as long as I’ve been using Matrix I’ve hosted my own homeserver on my own VPS and at my own domain. Why I chose to move I previously wrote about how I self-host my homeserver with the help of the Synapse project. Although this set-up is quite straight forward, it’s an extra … Read more (4 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

Nextcloud for photos: using cheaper object storage 11 December 2021

Some people may remember my quest a few months back to find a good alternative to Google Photos for image storage and backup. At the time, I talked about Piwigo, Mega and pCloud as potential candidates. I also briefly touched upon Nextcloud in that post - a service I use (and self-host) anyway for … Read more (7 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

Parse and process incoming emails in a web application 5 December 2021

Most applications include some sort of outbound transactional email as part of their normal function. These email messages could be to support account-level features (such as password-resets) or to notify the user about activity relevant to them. In the latter case, such emails might be read, and … Read more (6 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Open-sourcing projects 2 December 2021

I maintain a small number of projects in my spare time. The amount of time I get to work on and maintain these varies depending on my other workloads. The projects were never designed to be a means of making additional income, and were usually created simply to solve a need that I (or somebody else … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology life

Server back-ups with Restic 27 November 2021

A while ago I posted about how I back-up my personal servers to Backblaze B2. That approach involved adding all of the files and directories into a single compressed archive and sending this up to an encrypted bucket on B2. Whilst this does achieve my back-up goals (and I use Telegram to notify me … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

Nightfall City 25 November 2021

From the hills of Dusk’s End to the small alleys of Main Street, you feel drawn to the lights of this vibrant metropolis in an uncharted internet territory. The sign reads “Nightfall”. – Nightfall City The Nightfall City Gemini capsule (also available via the web) is an … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology life

Webzines 20 November 2021

I’ve really enjoyed my recent discovery of a couple of traditional-style webzines. Webzines (sometimes referred to as online magazines, or - in this instance - simply “zines”) are a way of distributing periodic content through the web. I’m not referring to modern-day online … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology life

On websites and creativity 13 November 2021

I’ve recently been reminiscing about the “old” days of the web. They felt much more like expressions of personality and creativity. These days, most people have social media accounts on mainstream services that act as their sole representation of themselves online. Whilst the … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

Automatically scanning for malicious user-uploaded files 6 November 2021

If you run a service that accepts file uploads from users, and then subsequent re-download by other users (such as images), then your service is potentially at risk of becoming a system for distributing malware. Without safeguards in place, bad actors could potentially use your service to upload … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Taking FreeBSD for a spin 29 October 2021

Background I’ve recently noticed (and read) more and more posts discussing *BSD systems. Creations like the new (and excellent) OpenBSD Webzine and blogs (such as Rubenerd’s and Solene’s) do a great job in raising awareness of the family of operating systems. I’m pretty … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

This Week in Tech (TWiT) 17 October 2021

Another podcast I frequently listen to likely needs no introduction of its own. The This Week in Tech (or just “TWiT”) network’s flagship podcast - also called TWiT - must be one of the longest-running tech podcasts. The podcast series started back in 2005. It runs weekly, with … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology podcast opinion

Giving a talk at the BSV Wales meet-up 13 October 2021

Last week I gave a talk at the Bitcoin Association BSV Meet-up for Wales, hosted by Tramshed Tech in Cardiff. Before learning about this meetup, I had not heard of BSV - either from a technology or currency perspective. However, as well as promoting an interesting project, the event welcomes … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology life

Dotty 11 October 2021

A few years ago I was in the position of needing a solution to backup and sync dotfiles (configuration files for various pieces of software) across my machines. Specifically, I had Mac computers and Linux servers, and needed a way to nicely keep these files up-to-date between them. For example, I … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology project

Pinephone: Manjaro and Phosh 2 October 2021

It’s been a few weeks since my last post about the Pinephone. Since then I have been playing further with a different graphical shell and have been trying out new applications. In that previous post, I noted a few points that made the phone tricky to use as a daily-driver. However, it should … Read more (3 minute read)
100daystooffload technology pinephone

Accessibility is for everyone 22 September 2021

For many developers, the notion of adding accessibility features - such as image alt text attributes to web page images and integrations with host usability enhancements, such as screen-zoom and text-to-speech - might feel like a chore. Especially for those still in the startup or “do things … Read more (3 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

Pacman: signature is unknown trust 19 September 2021

I was performing a standard system upgrade on an Arch server this morning and received the following messages (maintainer details redacted): $ sudo pacman -Syyu ... # Download of packages (159/159) checking keys in keyring [######################] 100% (159/159) checking package integrity … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Using Telegram bots to receive updates from your automated systems 9 September 2021

The need for notifications I self-host several services on various servers - for both some professional and personal uses. I use automated backup scripts to periodically sync data to Backblaze (which I recently posted about). However, once they were setup I would often worry about whether they were … Read more (4 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

SSO Tools 2 September 2021

Another project I try to maintain (when I can!) is SSO Tools. This is a simple web service that aims to help developers test their own services’ single sign-on (SSO) functionality. The motivation behind the project was that many commmercial offerings were too expensive for solo developers, or … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology project

Stripping sensitive EXIF data from uploaded images 28 August 2021

The problem with image uploads Many services - including web and mobile apps - allow for their users to upload imagery. This could be to enable users to upload an avatar image or perhaps create a gallery of image files. Either way, many photos contain some degree of sensitive metadata information as … Read more (7 minute read)
100daystooffload technology python

Adding 'dark mode' and dynamic theming to your React websites 21 August 2021

Adding theming and the choice between “light” and “dark” modes to your website can enhance your site’s accessibility and make it feel more consistent with the host operating system’s own theme. With JavaScript (and React in particular) this is easy to do, as … Read more (8 minute read)
100daystooffload technology javascript react

Starting out with BookWyrm 20 August 2021

For several years I’ve been a user of Goodreads. It’s a very popular platform, and I primarily use it for keeping track of the books I’ve read, for receiving suggestions about new books, and for keeping up with what some of my friends are reading. It’s a good service (though … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Treadl 13 August 2021

I don’t tend to talk much about the projects I’m working on, but thought this would be a good opportunity to write a post about one such project - Treadl. Treadl is a web app (and more recently and less popularly a mobile app too). It enables weavers to create and store their weaving … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology project

Pinephone update: the first few weeks 9 August 2021

Back in April, I bought a Pinephone. I used the phone quite consistently for the first few weeks and I meant to write an update here a couple of months back, but work (and other things) got in the way a bit. So, here is my delayed “first few weeks with a Pinephone” update. As mentioned, … Read more (4 minute read)
100daystooffload technology pinephone

My development stack 4 August 2021

Some people have complex development processes and flows - making use of tools such as heavy editors and IDEs, Docker for running and building locally in development, or even develop entirely remotely over SSH connections. Other people use simpler combinations of tools. I thought I’d write … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Code syntax highlighting in Gatsby 28 July 2021

Providing code snippets on your website or blog can be a great way to convey meaning for technical concepts. Using the HTML pre tag can help provide structure to your listings, in terms of spacing and indentation, but highlighting keywords - as most people do in their code text editors - also vastly … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology javascript react

Capsule.Town 27 July 2021

The Gemini protocol has gathered even more momentum in the few months since I last posted about it. Its popularity is largely driven by its privacy-focused and content-oriented design. It doesn’t allow for bloated sites or resource-hungry client-side scripting. It’s a means for simply … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology gemini project

Accidental Tech Podcast 26 July 2021

I listen to a number of podcasts each week. One of these is ATP (Accidental Tech Podcast). This is one of my favourite weekly podcasts. It’s humurous and full of cutting-edge discussion from the tech world, and I always look forward to new episodes. The episodes are primarily Apple focused, … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology podcast

Generating video previews in webapps 19 July 2021

Many web apps have support for uploading video files. Whether it’s a media-focused platform (such as a video sharing service) or just offering users a chance to add vlogs to their profile - videos are a powerful mechanism for distributing ideas. For services providing image upload … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology javascript

Syncing RSS feeds with FreshRSS 12 July 2021

I enjoy reading my RSS feeds across my devices - whether it’s on my phone when out and about, my Mac in between bouts of work, or my iPad when in downtime. Being able to sync feeds across these devices is important to me, both so I can maintain a single collection of feeds and to ensure that I … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

How to resize images client-side in your webapps 6 July 2021

The problem Image processing and resizing is a common task in many types of applications. This is made even more important by modern phones that take photos several megabytes in size. For example, if you offer an application that allows people to choose an avatar image, you won’t want to … Read more (4 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Using Blurhash to create placeholders for your images 30 June 2021

Loading indicators In user-facing software, loading indicators are extremely important to let your users know that something is happening. This is the same no matter whether your software is a CLI program, a GUI application, a web app - or anything else. Without such indicators, users of your … Read more (6 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Self-host your web searches with Whoogle 24 June 2021

Google and DuckDuckGo It’s common knowledge that part of Google’s business model is to use the data it knows about you, your searches, and browsing patterns in order to more effectively serve ads. Many people feel uncomfortable with this and so there is a strong movement to adopt more … Read more (3 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

Joining a panel at Wales Tech Week 23 June 2021

Wales Tech Week is an annual event held by Technology Connected. The 2021 event is running this week, aiming to bring technologists together from a wide range of businesses and organisations across Wales. Today, I was a member of a panel discussing blockchain - “Welsh Businesses Bringing … Read more (1 minute read)
100daystooffload technology life

Tmuxinator: simple terminal workspaces for your projects 18 June 2021

Living without workspaces IDEs and richly-featured text editors - such as VS Code and Sublime Text - support many great features. One of these is the notion of projects or workspaces. Such workspaces let you save your project’s development configuration to disk - things like the project … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

RSS: include your entire posts in your feeds! 12 June 2021

Recently I’ve noticed that some of the RSS feeds I subscribe to have become more and more restrictive. A post might contain just a title, or perhaps a short snippet or introductory paragraph, with the expectation that I then proceed to follow the link to visit the website itself in order to … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

The networking mall 23 May 2021

Someone non-technical recently asked me the question, “what actually is a server?”. They knew it was just a type of computer that runs somewhere that can be accessible over the internet, but they were interested in how they differ from “normal” computers. The conversation … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

How I back-up my personal server 18 May 2021

For a couple of years now I have been using a self-hosted Nextcloud as a replacement for iCloud and Google Drive. I won’t go into the details as to why (especially given the additional upkeep and other overheads required), as this has been covered before - but mainly it’s about … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

Self-hosted notes and to-do lists 9 May 2021

In this post I will talk a little about how I handle my digital notes and to-do lists. In the spirit of my last post on data sovereignty, the focus will be on self-hosted approaches. To-do list management It feels odd that the first task many new technical frameworks guide users through, by way of a … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

Data Sovereignty 5 May 2021

The term ‘data sovereignty’ is something we hear much more about these days. Increasingly I’ve also heard it being mentioned in different contexts. We’ve seen it more in the world of enterprise SaaS; particularly in the case of UK-based public sector organisations amid … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

Go Time 4 May 2021

I listen to a number of podcasts each week. One of these is Go Time. The Go Time podcast releases episodes every Thursday. Its format is mostly comprised of panel discussions and interviews with founders and specialists in the community about the Go programming language. Episodes are usually between … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology podcast

Starting out with the Pinephone 27 April 2021

As you may know, I recently purchased the beta edition of the Pinephone. It arrived last week in the Pinephone Beta Edition box shown below. As mentioned in my previous post on the subject, I bought the phone for purely experimental purposes, to get involved in the community, and to be a part of the … Read more (3 minute read)
100daystooffload technology pinephone

Reporting business accounts using Ledger 17 April 2021

As is the case with many countries, all businesses in the UK must report the state of their financial accounts to the relevant inland revenue service at their year-end (in the UK, this is HMRC). This is also the case if you are a freelancer or sole-trader (or if you’ve made other untaxed … Read more (4 minute read)
100daystooffload finance technology ledger

Is Facebook scraping the Fediverse? 7 April 2021

I don’t use Facebook often. In fact, I only have an account currently because our company uses the “Login with Facebook” functionality in order to offer an additional single sign-on option for some customers. I logged-in today as we needed to update some of the app’s … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology

From Apple Mail to Spark to Thunderbird 4 April 2021

Like many people, I own and manage multiple email accounts - for example, some are for work, for home, or for specific projects. I used to be a strong user of solely web-based email clients (such as Gmail or Fastmail’s web apps) for each of my accounts. However the number of tabs I needed to … Read more (7 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

The simplicity and flexibility of HTTP for APIs 31 March 2021

Simple and RESTful HTTP APIs The HTTP standard is an expressive system for network-based computer-computer interaction. It’s a relatively old standard - it started life as HTTP/1.0 in 1996 and the HTTP/1.1 standard was formally specified in 1999. HTTP/2 (2015) introduced efficiencies around … Read more (6 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

PinePhone and PineTime 27 March 2021

Pre-ordering the PinePhone Beta Earlier this week I ordered a PinePhone, which recently became available as a Beta Edition. I’ve been excitedly following the progress of the PinePhone for some time now. I’ve joined various Matrix rooms, subscribed to blogs, and started listening to the … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology pinephone life

Running your own Matrix homeserver 22 March 2021

Why use decentralised communication services Centralised communication services, such as Telegram, Signal, and Whatsapp, offer convenient means to chat to friends and family using your personal devices. However these services also come with a number of pitfalls that are worth considering. For … Read more (7 minute read)
100daystooffload technology selfhost

The Tildeverse 15 March 2021

The last twenty years of internet evolution Although I was still somewhere between being of single-digit age and a young teen back in the ’90s and early ’00s, I still fondly remember discovering and becoming a small part of the flourishing community of personal, themed, and hobby … Read more (5 minute read)
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Thoughts on minimalism, and what happens when I get mail 8 March 2021

Minimising possessions Like many people I these days try and live a minimal life when it comes to possessions. Having more stuff means there is a greater level of responsibility required to look after it. I love the principles involved in “owning less”. Although I am in a very different … Read more (6 minute read)
100daystooffload life technology

Easily set up discoverable RSS feeds on a Gatsby website 4 March 2021

RSS has had a bit of a resurgence for personal websites and blogs in recent years, especially with the growing adoption of Small Web and IndieWeb ideologies. Many static site generators - including Hugo, Jekyll, and Eleventy - can easily support the automatic generation of RSS feeds at build time … Read more (7 minute read)
100daystooffload technology javascript

Making your Python Flask app serverless 28 February 2021

Python’s Flask framework is an easy and excellent tool for writing web applications. Its in-built features and ecosystem of supporting packages let you create extensible web APIs, handle data and form submissions, render HTML, handle websockets, set-up secure account-management, and much more. … Read more (8 minute read)
100daystooffload technology python

Migrating from Google Photos: Nextcloud, Piwigo, Mega, and pCloud 24 February 2021

By now I’m sure everyone has heard the horror stories about people (seemingly-) randomly losing access to their Google accounts. Often the account closures are reported to have been accompanied with vague automated notifications from Google complaining that the account-holder violated their … Read more (8 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

SSH Jumping and Bastion Hosts 10 February 2021

For many small or personal services running on a VPS in the cloud, administration is often done by connecting directly to the server via SSH. Such servers should be hardened with firewalls, employ an SSHd config that denies root and password-based login, run fail2ban, and other services and … Read more (4 minute read)
100daystooffload technology security

Using Monica to Help Manage your Personal Relationships 7 February 2021

Many people no longer feel comfortable using Facebook. Whether you were never a member to begin with or you’ve had an account but chosen to remove yourself from the service, or you’ve simply tried to start using it less - either way, it’s no surprise given the way that they, across … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology life selfhost

Add icing to your websites using pattern.css 6 February 2021

Shapes and patterns can be leveraged in user interfaces to guide your users, draw attention to content, lend weight or emphasis, or just for aesthetics and decoration. Layout and styling on the web is typically handled using CSS, however mastering CSS to the level where you can confidently take … Read more (2 minute read)
100daystooffload technology css

React State Management with Zustand 5 February 2021

React state React state management is what gives the library its reactiveness. It’s what makes it so easy to build performant data-driven applications that dynamically update based on the underlying data. In this example the app would automatically update the calculation result as the user … Read more (5 minute read)
100daystooffload technology javascript react

RSS: The Rise and Fall... and Rise Again 3 February 2021

Many people would consider RSS - Really Simple Syndication - to be a relic of the past. However I think it has been making a comeback. RSS is a mechanism by which people can automatically receive updates from individual websites, similar to how you might follow another user on a social networking … Read more (9 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

Why not SQLite? 1 February 2021

If you need a database for your next project, why not first consider if SQLite might be a good option? And I don’t mean just for getting an MVP off the ground or for small personal systems; I mean for “real” production workloads. Many people will be quick to jump on this with … Read more (3 minute read)
100daystooffload technology opinion

Out with the Old: Moving to Gitea 30 January 2021

If you’ve visited my geminispace (gemini://wilw.capsule.town) you’ll have noticed that I’ve recently been on a mission to decentralise the every-day tools and services I use, and will understand the reasons why. This post will likely become part of a series of posts in which I talk … Read more (4 minute read)
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Geminispace Updated 20 January 2021

Gemini is a newer internet protocol designed to provide a more lightweight, privacy- and content-focused experience. For more information I recommend reading this blog post about it. I try not to replicate too much content across this website and my Gemini space (but that might change over time). If …
technology gemini

Project Gemini 20 January 2021

Over the past few months I have been trying to use centralised “big tech” social media platforms less and instead immerse myself into the more community-driven “fediverse” of decentralised services that are connected (“federated”) using common protocols (e.g. … Read more (3 minute read)
100daystooffload gemini technology

Scaling serverless apps: some lessons learned 3 January 2021

Building apps on serverless architecture has been a game-changer for me and for developers everywhere, enabling small dev teams to cheaply build and scale services from MVP through to enterprise deployment. Taking advantage of serverless solutions - such as AWS’ Lambda, Google’s Cloud … Read more (6 minute read)
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React Query 15 December 2020

If you write React web apps that interface with a backend web API then definitely consider trying React Query. The library makes use of modern React patterns, such as hooks, to keep code concise and readable. It probably means you can keep API calls directly inside your normal component code rather … Read more (1 minute read)
javascript react webapi technology

JS Tidbit: Nullish Coalescing 20 November 2020

This short post introduces a useful JavaScript operator to help make your one-liners even more concise. The specification was added formally in the 11th edition of ECMAScript. It is implemented as a logical operator to selectively return the result of one of two expressions (or operands) based on … Read more (1 minute read)
javascript technology

JS Tidbit: Optional Chaining 10 October 2020

JavaScript has lots of handy tools for creating concise code and one-liners. One such tool is the optional chaining operator. The optional chaining operator is useful for addressing an attribute of a deeply-nested object in which you cannot be fully certain that the successive levels of the object … Read more (2 minute read)
javascript technology

Command-line bookkeeping in Animal Crossing 23 May 2020

I recently stumbled across an article on Hacker News discussing the pros of basic personal accounting using GnuCash - a free and open-source desktop accounting program. The article was interesting as the data geek in me resonated with the notion of being able to query the information in useful ways, … Read more (26 minute read)
ledger finance technology

Kubernetes Cluster: Essentials 2 February 2020

This note documents the set-up of a k8s cluster from scratch, including ingress and load-balanced TLS support for web applications. It’s mainly for myself to revisit and reference later on. The result of this note is not (quite) production-grade, and additional features (e.g. … Read more (6 minute read)
kubernetes devops technology

Go backends on Now 20 August 2019

ZEIT’s Now service is great for deploying apps and APIs that are able to make use of serverless execution models, and I use it for many of my projects (including this website, at the time of writing). I recently needed to deploy a backend written in Go and kept running into problems when … Read more (2 minute read)
golang vercel technology

Hue: Security Lights 18 August 2017

A previous note about Philips Hue bulbs got me thinking that the API exposed by the bridge might be used to warn if the house lights are left on too late at night, or even if they get turned on at unexpected times - potentially for security. I put together a simple program that periodically checks … Read more (1 minute read)
hue iot project technology

Android: Consuming Nintendo Hotspot Data 27 May 2015

I recently blogged about Nintendo Hotspot data and mentioned it could be more usefully consumable in a native mobile app. As such, I wrote a small Android app for retrieving this data and displaying it on a Google Map. The app shows nearby hotspots, allows users to also search for other non-local … Read more (1 minute read)
android nintendo project technology

Nintendo's Hotspot 'API' 12 May 2015

Since getting a DS, StreetPass has become quite addictive. It’s actually pretty fun checking the device after walking through town or using public transport to see a list of Miis representing the people you’ve been near recently, and the minigames (such as StreetPass Quest) that require … Read more (3 minute read)
android nintendo technology

Using Weka in Go 1 May 2015

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about wrapping some of Weka’s classification functionality to allow it to be used programmatically in Python programs. A small project I’m currently working on at home is around taking some of the later research from my PhD work to see if it can … Read more (1 minute read)
weka golang machinelearning technology

Media and volume keys in i3 28 April 2015

As is the case with many people, all music I listen to on my PC these days plays from the web through a browser. I’m a heavy user of Google Play Music and SoundCloud, and using Chrome to handle everything means playlists and libraries (and the way I use them through extensions) sync up … Read more (2 minute read)
linux i3 technology

Direct-to-S3 Uploads in Node.js 17 January 2014

A while ago I wrote an article for Heroku’s Dev Center on carrying out direct uploads to S3 using a Python app for signing the PUT request. Specifically, the article focussed on Flask but the concept is also applicable to most other Python web frameworks. I’ve recently had to implement … Read more (1 minute read)
heroku javascript technology

CasaStream 14 September 2013

In my last post I discussed methods for streaming music to different zones in the house. More specifically I wanted to be able to play music from one location and then listen to it in other rooms at the same time and in sync. After researching various methods, I decided to go with using a compressed … Read more (3 minute read)
project linux technology

Zoned Network Sound-Streaming: The Problem 2 September 2013

For a while, now, I have been looking for a reliable way to manage zoned music-playing around the house. The general idea is that I’d like to be able to play music from a central point and have it streamed over the network to a selection of receivers, which could be remotely turned on and off … Read more (3 minute read)
linux technology

Gower Tides v1.4 31 July 2013

Last week I released a new version of the tides Android app I’m currently developing. The idea of the application was initially to simply display the tidal times and patterns for the Gower Peninsula, and that this should be possible without a data connection. Though, as the time has gone by, … Read more (2 minute read)
android technology

Magic Seaweed's Awesome New API 3 July 2013

Back in March, I emailed Magic Seaweed to ask them if they had a public API for their surf forecast data. They responded that they didn’t at the time, but that it was certainly on their to-do list. I am interested in the marine data for my Gower Tides application. Yesterday, I visited their … Read more (2 minute read)
project android technology

Accidental Kernel Upgrades on Digital Ocean 20 June 2013

I today issued a full upgrade of the server at flyingsparx.net, which is hosted by Digital Ocean. By default, on Arch, this will upgrade every currently-installed package (where there is a counterpart in the official repositories), including the Linux kernel and the kernel headers. Digital Ocean … Read more (2 minute read)
linux digitalocean technology

WekaPy 12 June 2013

Over the last few months, I’ve started to use Weka more and more. Weka is a toolkit, written in Java, that I use to create models with which to make classifications on data sets. It features a wide variety of different machine learning algorithms (although I’ve used the logistic … Read more (2 minute read)
weka python machinelearning project technology

Gower Tides Open-Sourced 26 May 2013

This is just a quick post to mention that I have made the source for the Gower Tides app on Google Play public. The source repository is available on GitHub. From the repository I have excluded: Images & icons - It is not my place to distribute graphics not owned or created by me. Authors are … Read more (1 minute read)
android project technology

flyingsparx.net On Digital Ocean 23 April 2013

My hosting for my website has nearly expired, so I have been looking for renewal options. These days I tend to need to use servers for more than simple web-hosting, and most do not provide the flexibility that a VPS would. Having (mostly) full control over a properly-maintained virtual cloud server … Read more (1 minute read)
digitalocean technology

Trials of Eduroam 16 April 2013

I’ve been having trouble connecting to Eduroam, at least reliably and persistently, without heavy desktop environments or complicated network managers. Eduroam is the wireless networking service used by many Universities in Europe, and whilst it would probably work fine using the tools … Read more (2 minute read)
linux wifi technology

AJAX + Python + Amazon S3 5 April 2013

I wanted a way in which users can seamlessly upload images for use in the Heroku application discussed in previous posts. Ideally, the image would be uploaded through AJAX as part of a data-entry form, but without having to refresh the page or anything else that would disrupt the user’s … Read more (2 minute read)
python aws s3 technology

Gower Tides App Released 7 March 2013

A few posts back, I talked about the development of an Android app for tide predictions for South Wales. This app is now on Google Play. If you live in South Wales and are vaguely interested in tides/weather, then you should probably download it :) The main advantage is that the app does not need … Read more (1 minute read)
android project technology

ScriptSlide 18 February 2013

I’ve taken to writing most of my recent presentations in plain HTML (rather than using third-party software or services). I used JavaScript to handle the appearance and ordering of slides. I bundled the JS into a single script, js/scriptslide.js which can be configured using the js/config.js … Read more (1 minute read)
javascript project technology

Delving into Android 13 November 2012

I’ve always been interested in the development of smartphone apps, but have never really had the opportunity to actually hava a go. Whilst I’m generally OK with development on platforms I feel comfortable with, I’ve always considered there to be no point in developing applications … Read more (3 minute read)
android project technology