I started a new project and had the chance to work with some exciting tools and technologies. Outside of work, I took a few road trips across Thailand, visited several cities in Russia, and spent a week in Spain, which, I have to say, was the nicest of all.
On the tech side, I’ve fully switched to Linux, and almost all the software I use is now open source. I also put significant effort into cutting Google and Apple out of my life. It wasn’t easy, but it’s been completely worth it.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about individual sovereignty and the tools that can help us reclaim it. These are global issues, and thoughts alone don’t change reality, so it makes more sense to focus on small, clearly solvable pieces of those bigger problems. That’s what I plan to keep doing in the year ahead.
I don’t like plans and commitments, especially public ones, so I’ll refrain from them, but I have a few wishes. I have no power to make them true, but I’ll do my part, where possible:
- It would be nice to see a cleaner and faster web without countless trackers and ads.
- More visa-free countries and more ways to stay in different countries for longer than a usual vacation, please.
- Woldn’t it be great for people to be less dependent on nasty intermediaries? Our financial system is too centralized, and I hope that we’ll see some traction on the cryptocurrency front. In the ideal world, our financial data should be private and in our total control, and we should be able to authorize our transactions by ourselves. It’s not the case now, unfortunately, and I have to rely on my bank and my broker. I consider such a development a logical next step in order to take back control of our data.
- Less JavaScript. Generally, and especially on mobile.
- More progress on efficient tools that respect both programmers and machines.
- Less Google Service dependencies in Android apps. Google Play isn’t the only store around!