Regarding your second point: When I initially configured my Cloudflare Tunnels + Access setup, I spent way too much time getting the App Launcher [0] nice and pretty. Seemed really useful seeing as I came from a setup with VPNs and internal IPs, but did not realize that because Cloudflare Access gives you free pretty URLs, I would never look at it again…
I have personally been using Banktivity for some years. It’s a great app with decent feature velocity (not too slow, but not too fast either), has decent support for EU banks now, and syncs really well. You do have to be in the Apple ecosystem to enjoy its benefits though.
Something along those lines is actually highlighted for Private Relay connections:
“All connections that use Private Relay validate that the client is an iPhone, iPad, or Mac and that the customer has a valid iCloud+ subscription. Private Relay enforces several anti-abuse and anti-fraud techniques, such as single-use authentication tokens and rate-limiting. This is designed to ensure only valid Apple devices and accounts in good standing are allowed to use Private Relay.”
Have been using Vimium C for some time and even sponsored because I cannot imagine using Firefox without it. I love the way you can customise everything, although am not sure how that compares to other Vim-like extensions. The developer is also very responsive and helpful, providing work-arounds and quickfixes when needed.
I LOVE the iDrive controller and it is a definite plus for choosing a BMW over another car with a touchscreen only. My current BMW also has a touch screen, but I rarely use it. The iDrive controller is perfect for the BMW-specific UI, but also works pretty OK even with Apple CarPlay. I would not miss the touch screen at all.
There’s not a lot of content to be exchanged between Siberia and Alaska. And running long stretches of fiber over land is actually more costly and subject to failure than under the sea, so going from Moscow -> Vladivostok (or something) over land, then going subsea, and then Alaska -> West-coast US over land, is not really beneficial.
Depends on what you may already have! I was looking for something similar the other day, and remembered that I already had some redirects setup under my custom Fastmail domain; turns out they also allow you to host static HTML. You can even generate a dedicated FTP login to automate uploading. This specific case might not apply to you, but perhaps you’re already paying for another service that also offers something like this?
Although the article does not add anything new, I do have to agree that the way Telegram is positioning itself is rather frustrating: they are really pushing the "secure" nature of the service and try their best to make it seem even _more_ secure than WhatsApp or Signal (eg. speculating other encryption standards are US-funded and therefor not trustworthy), while it is clear that they have made some design decisions that make it less secure. And that's fine!
The user experience is great, and I like the service in general. The fact that it's not tied to an advertising company that is profiling users and making money of it is of course the biggest plus, but please stop with the whole "totally secure" BS. It's confusing and is probably even hurting their image: I have had to explain multiple times to friends and family I finally moved off of WhatsApp that we did not do it for the security, but rather to be free of being mined for personal data... Same thing goes for these non-tech 'news' sources that make a big deal out of it as well, while it's totally obvious if you investigate a bit more.
(Apologies for the rant, I guess had to get this off my chest.)
The actual WHO Influenza update [1] rightfully adds a disclaimer:
> The current influenza surveillance data should be interpreted with caution as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have influenced to varying extents health seeking behaviours, staffing/routines in sentinel sites, as well as testing priorities and capacities in Member States. The various hygiene and physical distancing measures implemented by Member States to reduce SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission have likely played a role in reducing influenza virus transmission.
But also:
> Globally, despite continued or even increased testing for influenza in some countries influenza activity remained at lower levels than expected for this time of the year.
> If you are running a small Clos network and don’t have IPv6 or EVPN [..]
... seem like two relevant qualifiers to choose BGP over OSPF.
Other than that, being religious about a certain technology seems like a bad mindset to hold on to indeed. When you have a certain scale it starts to make sense to question the efficiency of the primary technology in the market for your specific use case.
Edit: essential qualifier for the mentioned mindset added
The last time I looked for an alternative for Google/Apple Maps some months ago, I couldn't really find a decent OSM (or even Mapbox)-based app for iOS. Any recommendations from anyone?
I really like the web-based Openroute Service [1] that was shared here recently, but AFAIK this doesn't have an app version.
Related to this, reading some Chinese science-fiction (mainly Ken Liu's translations of full books and collections of short stories) has made me realize the gap in knowledge I have with regards to Chinese history. In some of the time travel-related stories some dynasties and other historical events are mentioned as easily as we do our Roman or Greek histories for example, which of course makes sense.
Does anyone have any recommendations on books covering the major Chinese historical eras? This article and the diagram in it are a great start that I would love to dig deeper into.