Install Android applications without the Play Store
Lately I brought back to life an old Android device of mine that I wanted to use to try out some unrelated stuff. When it came to open the store and install applications it happened: it asked for an account to install applications. Turns out putting my password on this device was going to take a while so I wondered which option do we had if we wanted a capable Android device without requiring the Play Store. I know there are forks of Android around that removed all Google services so there has to be something.
I read Wool (Silo #1)
Disclaimer: I started reading this after watching the first two seasons of the Apple TV+ series, which—coincidentally—cover exactly what this first book includes.
The last dystopian novel I read might have been Divergent, a long time ago. I really missed getting hooked on a world like this, and even more so now after not only watching Silo but also the Fallout TV series.
I played Katana Zero
I’m publishing this in 2025 but the reality is that this has been my second playthrough as I already finished (almost completed) this game in my Nintendo Switch back in 2019!. Yes, I love it that much.
New projects section
Small update!
From the huge backlog of tasks I have in store for the site: I’ve added a new sections for the project I’m currently maintaining.
This will not only give them a bit of visibility, but also help me keep track of the projects I’m currently working on and consider active.
You can find the new section at /projects.
My defaults at the end of 2024
Finishing this year with some changes from last year.
It’s an interesting excersise since at the beginning I thought that everything was mostly the same but as I started writing I realized that there were a lot of changes.
| Category | Tools/Platforms |
|---|---|
| 💻 Operating System | MacOS |
| ⌨️ Launcher | * Raycast |
| 📱 Mobile OS | iPhone |
| 📨 Mail Client | Fastmail Web |
| 📝 Notes | Notion (personal) & Obsidian (personal/work) (Still a mess) |
| 🖼️ Photo Management | Google Photos, iCloud Photos, Local NAS (Still a mess) |
| 📆 Calendar | * BusyCal |
| 🙍🏻♂️ Contacts | Fastmail |
| 📁 File Storage | * Nextcloud |
| 🌐 Browser | * Zen Browser |
| 🔎 Search Engine | Kagi |
| 🔖 Bookmarks | Shiori |
| 📑 Read It Later | Shiori |
| 📖 RSS Reader | Miniflux |
| ☑️ Task Management | * Vikunja |
| 🛒 Shopping Lists | * Vikunja, Apple Reminders for shared lists |
| 👥 Social Media | Mastodon |
| 💬 Chat | * Telegram, Element, iMessage, Signal, Mattermost |
| 💰 Finances | * OnlyOffice |
| 🎵 Music | * Local files, Bandcamp |
| 🎤 Podcasts | * Audiobookshelf |
| 🔐 Password Management | 1Password |
| 🧑💻 IDE and Code Editor | * Zed |
| 🔑 VPN | Tailscale, WireGuard |
| 🏠 Home Automation | Home Assistant |
Welcome Hugo
Yes, it finally happened. I moved my site to Hugo.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time but I never found the motivation to do it so I kept postponing it.
It took a while, but I’m happy with the result. I’m still tweaking some things here and there but there are some goodies already around, like dark mode, new font, different accent colors, …
This is just the beginning, I will keep improving it as I go, and adding a few sections that I have already planned.
Keep it simple, stupid.
There’s a moment to play, there’s a moment to read, to rest, to listen to music… we need to choose how, when and how much of our time we spend on each area we like. As someone with multiples hobbies, it’s very difficult to find balance between them.
These past few days weeks months, after writting a few blog posts about my k3s infra and having some headaches around stuff I kept thinking… is this worth it? I’m doing it to fiddle around with it and learn, and that’s a good thing. The problem is there are a lot of other areas I want to learn from and I need to schedule my time accordingly.