Afaik copyrighted, DRM-protected content is encrypted at bitstream-level, meaning only licensed receivers have the ability to decrypt it. If the receiver, aka the pirate, doesn’t have the key, that portion of the stream will be blank or substituted before transmitting to the viewer.

Maybe a Wayland integration in the browser is the solution to this - if it’s built in there may be a setting in the browser to enable playing DRM content

OK, if this is mostly successful they need to extend this to scalped tech. Ban any resellers from selling above RRP and hopefully the first-party sellers won’t help them by raising the bar

Right? My one has developed a nasty case of defective WiFi/Bluetooth chip. I’m convinced it’s a superficial, intentional break. Flashing it could well revert what Google’s doing to it

Aside from being hella slow, I just don’t like that it can’t use the same directories as my network shares and requires uploading. This script might help but honestly I just stick to the basic shares because of this

From my experience using a mailserver with no PTR and an ISP who likes to put their addresses on a PBL, it’s very good. Gmail tends to be the most annoying and wants that PBL listing removed or you’ll go to spam for new recipients, but other than that 10/10. I’d be interested to hear what your findings are if you do test it!

Get yourself a Sonoff ZigBee bridge! Hue light support is practically native, and they act as extenders to reach your other ZigBee devices! Just don’t expect to be able to sync them with any movies or peripherals. I think there is a virtual Hue bridge on HACS and that might help with that, but idk

Smooth sailing for me too, shockingly. I’ve recently added my 26th service to Proxmox - LibreELEC (Kodi), with the very complex matter of monitor passthrough. It’s such a versatile program and it has replaced my Chromecast with more features and side bonuses than I could’ve imagined. Another huge step towards degoogling.

Nice… I use ytdl-sub for downloading music, highly recommend it. You can write tag metadata but if you want embedded stuff I’d recommend trying beets. Running both as a user whose primary group matches Jellyfin is a must if you want stuff saved next to the video files… The dev is also very active.

I just installed Ollama and use gemma3 for now. I wanted to use dolphin-mixtral but holy crap it wants more RAM than my entire setup

Snikket is great. I liked my choice of Prosody with Monocles and Gajim for server, Android and Windows/Linux, respectively

XMPP for my attempt just worked, voice and video calling too. The Android clients Monocles, Cheogram and Conversations are great, as for desktop they all look like 90’s messaging clients haha

I ultimately switched to Matrix because the encryption key sharing is much more friendly, at least for helping non-enthusiasts use it, and I didn’t realise I could decrypt old XMPP messages for new clients by transferring them manually, but at least Element Web is nice. It has flaws, definitely - on Android I find myself using Element Classic for creating unencrypted rooms and voice/video calling using my TURN server, and Element X for general messaging, caption and Markdown support. That’s another thing - for me the Element clients are the closest to being usable, the few others are borked.

In short XMPP is ugly but functional, and the client devs try their best, and Matrix is enticing but, as you said, finicky. Element is pretty but their new client that promises full e2ee for calling hasn’t reached a level I would consider out of Beta yet.

I just set up LibreELEC on my Proxmox machine, on a VM with monitor passthrough and Bluetooth passthrough so I can use my Chromecast remote and stream audio, then installed the Emby Next Gen addon to access my library on it. Super happy rn.

Especially as I’ve been until now using the 2022 Chromecast with Google TV and, now they’ve brought out another device, it’s been breaking slowly. The wireless chip has been spazzing out to the point that every day it loses connection and the only solution left that works is to forget the WiFi and use my phone to quick-add it back via QR code. Even then it’s started constantly saying ‘connection lost’ and ‘connection restored’ during playback. Well, a few days ago it started breaking connection to its (Bluetooth) remote as well, meaning I kept having to use my backup remote on Home Assistant that uses wireless ADB. When both wireless breaks, my only option is to use the Chromecast’s button to trigger re-adding the remote. And when that fails, well…

Russians, Chinese and Israelites, to name three, have infiltrated all positions of all foreign powers. Geoblocking is not a solution.

Trans men are okay then? Sick, as long as the freaks don’t see them they’re safe

EMAIL PROVIDERS:

1. Posteo - Their choice of domain
2. Mailbox - Custom domain, free trial
3. Runbox - Custom domain, free trial

DEFINITELY FREE TIERS:

4. Tuta - Focused on security and resisting influence, but incoming mail can only be accessed by the Tuta client (because of their e2ee)
5. GMX - Apparently has ads
6. Zoho - Business focused
7. Proton - Feels walled garden-esque, has one email for free, may cooperate with governments

That’s going to be very interesting with persistent spam senders.

Proton allows only one free email address, which is what taught me to be wary of unexpected restrictions on services. I’ve got to say the only one I trust fully is my own, with complete certainty of security and features are all only limited by the hardware. Whenever someone talks about paying per month to get more addresses, aliases, calendar or storage - nah. Self-host. DuckDuckGo email is a good firewall layer as well - it forwards all mail to your chosen actual address after trying its best to strip the mail of trackers.

You know, I have purchased around 200 games. I have no idea how many of those can be mine because they’re linked to a store, maintained (usually) by a corporation hellbent on optimised profits, subject to mandatory updates so I have no choice but to play the way they want me to, and I don’t have the space to store them all. I don’t feel like any of them are really owned by me (and I know this is true but I reject that notion), not until they’re transferred to an offline machine.

Ty. For what it’s worth I agree with Gemini; I believe it’s the existence of multiple ethically horrible events that cause someone to feel like this is the worst timeline. It was able to find and summarise all large-scale current events that have been reported internationally, and formulate it into a better response than I could’ve in under an hour. I would’ve missed something, or undervalued another thing.

Seeking help isn’t contempt; providing some information is useful.

• Gemini

AI Overview
People might have Googled “Worst timeline” from July to September 2025 due to a combination of severe and compounding global crises, including major humanitarian crises, a series of devastating natural disasters, significant geopolitical instability, and widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the internet and search engines.

Humanitarian and Conflict Crises

• Gaza War Escalation: The humanitarian situation in Gaza reached catastrophic levels, with reports from the UN and aid agencies in July and September confirming widespread starvation and mounting evidence of famine, leading to significant global outrage and diplomatic shifts. A UN report in September went on to state that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
• Worsening Global Conflicts: The Sudanese civil war, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a gang war in Haiti, which saw gangs take control of over 90% of the capital, all continued or escalated during this period, causing immense suffering and instability.
• Mass Casualties in Pakistan and Iraq: A fire in an Iraqi hypermarket killed at least 61 people in July, and monsoons killed at least 63 in Punjab, Pakistan. A building collapse in Karachi later that month killed 27.

Natural Disasters and Climate Events

• Extreme Weather Events: A deadly heatwave hit Europe in early July, and flash floods in Central Texas killed over 100 people. Severe monsoon rains and landslides also caused numerous deaths and widespread damage in India and South Korea throughout July and September.
• Devastating Earthquakes: In September, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan killed at least 2,200 people, with a second strong quake the following day interrupting rescue efforts.

Geopolitical and Societal Instability

• Political Turmoil: Donald Trump’s administration faced numerous domestic and international challenges, including an unproven claim linking autism to a common pain killer, the indefinite suspension of air defense and weapon shipments to Ukraine, and a controversial increase in military presence and a subsequent military strike near Venezuela, which drew international condemnation.
• Global Diplomatic Shifts: Several Western countries, including Belgium, Australia, Britain, Canada, and Portugal, announced their support for Palestinian statehood, leading to strong reactions from Israel and heightened diplomatic tensions.
• Internet and Technology Frustrations: Many users found Google search results to be significantly worse in 2025, saturated with AI-generated content, aggressive ads, and clickbait, making it harder to find reliable information. Google also rolled out two significant, messy algorithm and spam updates during this time, frustrating website owners.

These interconnected events created a pervasive sense of global crisis and unpredictability, making the search query “Worst timeline” a likely expression of public sentiment.