Blog – The IT Blog

Loops soon SelfHosting!

I just saw this post from @dansup announcing self-hosting to be available for Loops “very soon”.

If you haven’t heard about Loops before: Loops is a short-form video platform designed for the decentralized Fediverse, where users share videos like TikTok.

Compared to TikTok, Loops offers a few notable advantages: it’s decentralized, so no single company controls the entire platform or its content. Users and communities can (soon) host their own servers and set their own moderation policies. Federation within the Fediverse is not YET there but I’m very sure it will come soon as well..

I also have an account on Loops since quite early (search “hikingdude”), but I do not (yet) post a lot of videos there. – I’m really considering the self-hosting. Maybe as soon as it’s available – or I wait until YunoHost has it in its app garden.

Das Ende von GameTwo – Und ein Neustart?

GameTwo ist ein Gaming-Magazin im besten Sinne – ehrlich gesagt auch das einzige Gaming Magazin, das ich wirklich regelmäßig nutze. Produziert wird/wurde es Rocket Beans in Zusammenarbeit mit dem ZDF und dem funk-Netzwerk (Quelle: Wikipedia). Als Nachfolger von GameOne wurden seit 2016 ganze 382 Folgen veröffentlicht (plus diverse Short Videos).

Leider konnte die Finanzierung nun nicht fortgesetzt werden. Etienne Gardé spricht auf seinem YouTube Kanal darüber, was bisher passiert ist.

The end of “The Azure Podcast”

As I am a regular listener of the The Azure Podcast. I was a bit surprised to see the title of the latest episode: Episode 521 – The Final Episode. That sounds like final, final – like as if it wouldn’t be continued?

And indeed! 🙁

In this special final episode of the Azure Podcast, hosts Cale, Evan, Sujit, Russell, Cynthia, and Kendall come together to reflect on the incredible journey of the podcast over the past 12 years. They share personal anecdotes, discuss the evolution of Azure services, and reminisce about the early days of podcasting.

In a LinkedIn comment, the host Sujit D’Mello writes:

When we started, there were no podcasts for Azure […]. Now, there are many podcasts available that cover various aspects of Azure, so the co-hosts felt the time had come to turn off the microphones and channel our passion for Azure in other ways.

So why do I blog about the end of a podcast? First of all, I find it pretty impressive to run a podcast over 521 episodes and 12 years! This shows quite some dedication for their topic! I also found it entertaining to listen to their stories. But I also pay the respect for their decision to finally switch off thei microphones – despite the fact that I maybe have to look for an alternative.

Just too bad, that all the (co)hosts aren’t on the fediverse to follow.

Comment Sections do not need to suck (maybe)

Recently I read the blog post Why Comment Sections suck – re:I want to comment on your blog post | Kami’s Corner. The article discusses the various problems of comment sections in blogs.

And actually, I wondered if a Fediverse-integration couldn’t address some of those issues:

When “Access Control” to sensitive Data is just a Number in a URL

Not long ago, I covered the Merkur hack from Lilith Wittmann – a glaring example of careless handling of sensitive data. And today, here we are again! Another service, another broken-by-design system. This time: the hotel chain Numa, exposing tens of thousands of identity documents to anyone with a URL and a browser.

What happened

I just came across this report by this post on Mastodon from the CCC. Their (german) post describes what happened. I’ll briefly try to outline it:

A New Era of Social Media – Video by Elena Rossini

If you are not following Elena Rossini, you might have missed her really great video about the Fediverse. I find it a very nice and clean way – not focusing on technology but on us, the users. She doesn’t lecture or explain too much – she just shares what she’s found: a space that feels more human. No ads, no algorithmic pressure, just room to breathe and exchange. No ads, no algorithmic pressure, just us.

This video is a colorful introduction to the Fediverse, guided by filmmaker & Fediverse advocate Elena Rossini. Watch now to discover a whole new world of social media, one where privacy is respected, users are empowered, and Big Tech has no say.
Elena Rossini at: Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media

Go check it out at Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media!

And of course, follow @_elena@mastodon.social on Mastodon as well 🙂

PeerTube and Platform Control

I didn’t even plan to blog something today, but a couple of things came together around PeerTube that convinced me to drop a post today. But, maybe before we start … PeerWHAT? you might ask.

Interlude: What is PeerTube?

TL;DR: An open source / self hosted YouTube

PeerTube is a video platform that works a bit differently from sites like YouTube. Instead of one company running it, PeerTube is made up of many small, connected servers – so there’s no central control. You can watch, upload, and share videos just like you’re used to, but without ads or tracking. PeerTube also connects with other platforms like Mastodon, so videos can reach more people across the Fediverse. It’s a privacy-friendly option for discovering and sharing content on your terms.

A more technical description can be found on Wikipedia: PeerTube – Wikipedia

So what happened …

DNS4EU: a private, safe, and independent European DNS resolver

Recently I switched my DNS Resolver to one of the European public DNS resolvers | European Alternatives mainly for privacy reasons after reading Cloudflare’s blog post about analytics in their free-tiers.

But I missed the malware protection. But today I just got aware of DNS4EU For Public!

DNS4EU is an initiative by the European Commission that aims to offer an alternative to the public DNS resolvers currently dominating the market.
https://www.joindns4.eu/about

It offers 5 different flavours:

Unfiltered resolution
Protective resolution: Blocks access to known malicious and fraudulent websites
Protective Resolution With Child Protection
Protective Resolution Ad-blocking
Protective Resolution With Child Protection & Ad-blocking

And also with some step-by-step guidelines for configuring DNS settings on a variety of platforms.

Update 23.06: The article Datenschutz: Wie viel EU steckt in DNS4EU? analyzes the technical setup. which unfortunately shows quite some US-corps involved. On the other hand, DNS4YOU does not aim to analyze the traffic.

Is it finally over for Developers?!

We’ve heard it all a couple of times: “GenAI is replacing Software Developers”, Vibe Coding, … A C-Levels dream to (finally) get rid of expensive software developers by using AI.

Take Back the Stream: Support PeerTube’s Mobile App

Big Tech dominates online video. Algorithms, Ads, and tracking define what we see and who gets heard. PeerTube offers a real alternative – decentralized, open-source, and powered by its users, not corporations.

Now, PeerTube is taking a critical next step: building its first official mobile app. Framasoft, the nonprofit behind the project, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to make it happen.