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The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @Omniraptor in theory Mastodon will show a "read more" button for longer comments. Top level posts sent from Lemmy often require clicking the link to view them in full and content isn't ordered by votes because they don't exist.

    So, it's a bit messy to read Lemmy from Mastodon, but posting something and then replying to comments on that thread is really easy.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @Omniraptor ah yes! Probably that's why.
    Actually the whole original post was sent via Mastodon.

    I tend to write posts that I share to my Mastodon followers and then at the end I mention a Lemmy community if I believe the community would also find it interesting.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @MigratingtoLemmy use a hammer to break the screen, control via adb :vlpn_happy_blep:

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @benjohn @selfhosted 6-8 GB of RAM with powerful CPU and GPU that was designed to run games and can in some cases run small AI models is nothing to scoff at imho.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @leggylav @selfhosted OMG, yes, thank you <3

    I finally feel understood now :vlpn_cry:

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @selfhosted Update:

    1. Just to clarify, the the whole point is that Android makes it easy for less tech oriented people to host small single user / family services.

    It does not need to be perfect, have massive throughput or allow for massive amounts of read/write cycles.

    If people can host their own media server like Jellyfin or note taking apps like Joplin instead of using commercial services by simply installing an APK on an old phone they can leave connected at home, that's already a big win.

    1. Regarding device longevity, Android 13 apparently supports / will support full KVM emulation. Windows can be run if you have root while android based VMs are expected to be possible without the need for root. Since this type of virtualization allows VMs to run their own kernel, keeping the "server app" updated should allow the user to be protected even if the host OS is outdated as long as these server-app-VMs are trustworthy themselves.
  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @RegalPotoo Maybe I should have been more specific in the wording of my title.

    No one planning on hosting public multi-user service that would see some serious traffic would probably benefit from hosting on a phone.

    Someone who wants to simply run a single-user instance or their personal nextcloud? I think that's a real possibility.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @TCB13 I'm not an expert in the matter but I wonder how large the attack surface actually is for a web service that has a single port exposed via a tunnel which can even contribute to doing some security filtering.

    The application / server component can actually be updated since it's just an APK. And someone else in this thread actually linked to whole linux distros that can be installed and run without root. In theory even if the underlying OS is insecure, more secure OSes can be installed on top, or risk can be severely limited by only exposing a single port.

    Basically, while flashing a new ROM would be ideal, I think there's likely a way in which a sandboxed and possibly even updated environment with updated TLS cyphers, CA stores, etc... can be run in a secure manner on top of a stock Android ROM.

    Furthermore, developers packaging their apps into APKs could run security checks and by the time it says "your OS is insecure" you're already on your third phone and can host stuff on your second. I mean... Android phones are in their prime for two/three years at most in my experience :P

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @ahoyboyhoy @selfhosted How old is the phone and what version of the OS are you using? I was under the impression that modern phones bypass the battery when connected to the charger and having full charge.

    Regarding limiting the charge, I believe there's some software calibration you can do which would allow you to set it to 50%. I'm no expert in battery or repairs at all, so someone else might have a better idea.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @AMS @selfhosted yes, hopefully we'll see an explosion in self-hostable alternatives that can be installed as easily as syncthing.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @ahoyboyhoy @selfhosted Nice. I remember trying it out once. Actually I might use that to follow my own advice and self-host at home once I retire my current phone.

    True, I haven't had the need because I know how to run stuff on a server, but for personal files it's probably better to host things at home.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?
  • @southsamurai Oh that's definitely a huge concern, but not just for self-hosting but for privacy in general.

    But still, if the average joe wants to self-host something using an old phone is probably the easiest way to get them to try self-hosted alternatives and drop corporate / commercial services.

    Maybe not the 'average average joe' such as my parents, but anyone who is minimally curious enough to do stuff such as registering a domain, setting up a game server for friends and maybe has opened the CMD windows console once or twice in the past following a tutorial. That kind of demographic (IDK if it has a name) might be much more inclined to self-host if it was as easy as installing an APK and letting your phone one somewhere at home.

    Overall as long as Android doesn't become straight out malicious spyware itself, the benefit of dropping commercial alternatives might very well be a net positive. In a worst-case scenario, any tunnel / vpn configuration necessary to expose a service to the internet could also add an automated step to blackhole requests to google's tracking servers.

  • The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?

    The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?

    Wait, what?

    Think about it. At some point everyone has had an old phone lying around. They are designed to be constantly connected, constantly on... and even have a battery and potentially still a SIM card to survive power outages.

    We just need to make it easy to create APK packaged servers that can avoid battery-optimization kills and automatically configure an outbound tunnel like ngrok, zerotrust, etc...

    The goal: hosting services like #nextcloud, #syncthing, #mastodon!? should be as easy as installing an APK and leaving an old phone connected to a spare charger / outlet.

    It would be tempting to have an optimized ROM, but if self-hosting is meant to become more commonplace, installing an APK should be all that's needed. #Android can do SSH, VPN and other tunnels without the need for root, so there should be no problem in using tunnels to publicly expose a phone/server in a secure manner.

    In regards to the suitability of home-grade broadband, I believe that it should not be a huge problem at least in Europe where home connections are most often unmetered: "At the end of June 2021, 70.2% of EU homes were passed by either FTTP or cable DOCSIS 3.1 networks, i.e. those technologies currently capable of supporting gigabit speeds."

    Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/broadband-coverage-europe-2021

    PS. syncthing actually already has an APK and is easy to use. Although I had to sort out some battery optimization stuff, it's a good example of what should become much more commonplace.

    cc: @selfhosted \#selfhosted #selfhosting

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    NSFW Featured
    New proposed tags for andromorph, gynomorph and intersex
  • @AdellcomdoisL @Wander@yiffit.net Actually that's my preferred option but then I was worried that by not having an option for andromorph or gynomorph characters it could also be some sort of erasure. I definitely need more feedback / opnions on the matter.

  • Quick question about DNS and DoH that I thought about after reading this post:

    Quick question about DNS and DoH that I thought about after reading this post:

    https://packmates.org/@silvereagle@furry.engineer/111176886781705659

    Wouldn't it make sense for Firefox or another third party to bundle and transparently forward all DoH requests to cloudflare so that:

    A) Cloudflare doesn't know who made what request due to not knowing the origin

    B) Firefox doesn't know who made what request due to TLS

    \#Infosec #Privacy CC: @privacyguides

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    Federated wireguard network idea
  • @despotic_machine thank you. This sounds interesting!

  • Federated wireguard network idea
  • @fediverse I've read that this is called an overlay network. Unfortunately many of the ones I've seen documented focus on keeping things in their own private networks which is okay but not fun.

    ULA addresses require no permission and were designed precisely to knit together private networks. We can just use domain names and convert them via checksum into a static ULA /48 prefix. DNS can be used to announce routes, or eventually something more BGP-like given that ownership of a domain can be verified and thus authorization to announce routes.

    If domains ever become a bottleneck one could use private TLDs with some consensus mechanism and even create multi-layer networks this way where packmates.layer.1 and packmates.layer.2 are two different networks even though they might have the same address range.

    Anyways, I'll go out and touch some grass now.

  • Federated wireguard network idea
  • @nysepho @fediverse there would be routing without being peered directly by delegating your endpoint to another peer you trust (this can create an infinitely long routing chain depending on where you latch on so to speak, but you would be in control)

  • Federated wireguard network idea
  • @breadsmasher I have no idea how Tor works. In this case I would say most peers would have no problem disclosing a public IP, but it could have benefits in making resources in a private network accessible and as long as the endpoint can be reached those resources would be hosting provider agnostic.

    I would say this is less about hiding user activity than it is about logical networks, abstracting away the hosting provider and allowing to knit together self hosted services, regardless of where they are hosted.

  • Federated wireguard network idea

    Federated wireguard network idea Any feedback welcome.

    Let's keep things stupidly simple and simply hash the domain name to get a unique IPv6 ULA prefix.

    Then we would need a stupidly simple backend application to automatically fetch pubkeys and endpoints from DNS and make a request to add each others as peers.

    Et voilà, you got a worldwide federated wireguard network resolving private ULA addresses. Sort of an internet on top of the internet .

    The DNS entries with the public IPv4 / IPv6 addresses could even be delegated to other domains / endpoints which would act as reverse proxy (either routing or nesting tunnels) for further privacy.

    Maybe my approach is too naïve and there are flaws I haven't considered, so don't be afraid to comment.

    Exact use cases? Idk, but it sounds nifty.

    \#privacy #networking #VPN #wireguard #infosec

    cc: @fediverse

    11
    Algorithm-based social media "recommendations" has normalized us putting up with blatant SPAM

    Algorithm-based social media "recommendations" has normalized us putting up with blatant SPAM

    Imagine if gmail or outlook were to place emails by 'creators and brands you might like' in your inbox!?

    Following the process of enshittification, the algorithm on many social media platforms is becoming an excuse to push blatant amounts of SPAM to users. It starts as a feature that is genuinely useful, but becomes a tool to show you ads, content from paying users or to keep you hooked with rage-bait content as social media platforms seek to extract more value out of its users.

    Algorithm-based social media has its benefits, but looking forward it is becoming increasingly necessary that such an algorithm runs client-side and is owned by the user.

    cc: @showerthoughts

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    TIL that there's a pride flag to represent queerness itself.

    TIL that there's a pride flag to represent queerness itself.

    "Queer is an identity in and of itself that more and more people are choosing to identify with. It is a sort of label for those who don’t want to put themselves in a box. Often considered a movement, queer people are those who fall outside of and/or renounce the cultural norms around sexuality, gender identity, and/or gender expression.

    The word queer can mean different things to different people, but the most accepted definition is someone who is not cishet or someone with variant experiences with orientation, gender, and/or sex."

    https://queerintheworld.com/queer-pride-flag/

    cc: @lgbtq\_plus

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    Test Community @pawb.social Wander ΘΔ :verified_paw: @packmates.org
    Do you know if it's possible to create link-posts to Lemmy from Mastodon?

    Do you know if it's possible to create link-posts to Lemmy from Mastodon? @test

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    Me: if I could be a furry I'd be a feral! The reality of my choice: (by Wereshiba)

    Me: if I could be a furry I'd be a feral! The reality of my choice: (by Wereshiba)

    Oh, but I would still choose it regardless. I'd just have to get people to do things for me :P

    Artist: https://twitter.com/wereshiba cc: @memes

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    Deleted
    👋 Have you stopped using Google much because of ChatGPT/Bing ?👀
  • @gzrrt @dl007

    The biggest problem with GPT-4 is that it's severely restricted.

    I believe that AI's next big change will be model optimization and open source models will be able to catch up.

  • Wander Wander ΘΔ :verified_paw: @packmates.org

    :therian: Grey Wolf Therian, he/him, 30ish y.o. Running packmates.org and yiffit.net fediverse instances.

    :vlpn\_happy\_heart: Interests: Tech, therianthropy, furry/feral art, animal books, shamanism & animal-influenced spirituality, SFW & NSFW petplay

    I sometimes post or boost NSFW content.

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    Comments 19