Jan-Lukas Else

Jan-Lukas Else

Tech, life and everything else

💭 Thoughts

Welcome to the Thoughts section of my blog. Thoughts are better kept on my blog than on Twitter or other online platforms.


Thoughts on owning my run data

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I use Strava as my tracking app on runs. I used to use Runtastic (now Adidas Running), but unfortunately there is no native app for my Samsung Galaxy Watch. But since Strava has now implemented some more restrictions for free users and I’ve been toying with the idea that I need a different system to own my run data (self-hosted) for a while anyway, I’ve now started to program something myself (as always when my desired solution doesn’t exist…).

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Corona-Warn-App

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The German government tasked SAP and Deutsche Telekom with the development of an open-source contact tracing app (named “Corona-Warn-App”) using the APIs from Google and Apple. Now they’ve published the code for the backend server. I took a quick look at the code and I’m quite a bit surprised about the quality and best practices used. They are using the Java-based Spring framework and use Postgres and minio to store data. Everything running in Docker. Even the Docker images are build using multi-stage Dockerfiles.

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GNOME’s games are awesome

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I almost never play computer games, but what I sometimes like are classic logic games like Minesweeper or Sudoku. And I must say, the versions from GNOME (on Linux), GNOME Mines and GNOME Sudoku are really nice. Simple design, plain and focused on the game with the most important features. I have also just discovered on the GNOME Wiki that there are a number of other simple games available, like 2048, Four in a row or Chess (Chess is probably not so simple). I install most apps via Flatpak and Flathub, but most distributions should also have them directly in their repositories. The advantages of Flatpak are that it is very easy to install and you always get the latest version.

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Why I use a paid CDN

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To answer the question from an anonymous reader:

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Git is great

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After Kev Quirk was initially skeptical about Git and was desperate about using it, he finally made it thanks to community help and realized that Git is better than he thought:

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Microsoft Surface Go 2 and why I will NOT upgrade

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Microsoft today released Surface Go 2, the successor to the Microsoft Surface Go from 2018. All in all with few innovations, rather small improvements. The display edges have shrunk a bit, there is a model with a faster processor and the battery is a bit bigger. The Verge has published a video where they describe their first impressions of the new generation.

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Nothing to hide

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Tonight I spoke with my girlfriend on the phone and we talked for two hours about all kinds of topics. One topic was that I don’t think corona tracking apps, where the data is stored centrally, are a good idea because of privacy and stuff. My girlfriend, on the other hand, said why is privacy important at all? The argument that nobody needs to know what I do with whom, when, where and for how long was not convincing to her. She said that I track my runs via GPS anyway. And she asked who would be interested in your data if you are not famous or something?

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Back to Ubuntu (again)

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Today I finally got a Bluetooth keyboard (Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard) delivered, after I had also got a Bluetooth mouse (Microsoft Modern Mouse in black) a few days ago. Originally I ordered a different set from another shop, but the package still seems not to have been sent.

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Owning my podcast

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Two years ago, I was in a stage where podcasts really excited me. I have heard many podcasts myself and some of my online acquaintances have also started to start their own podcasts. So I decided to do that as well and gain some experience.

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Watching movies

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Today I watched a movie. Not a very good one, but one that entertained me. It was funny and I didn’t feel bored, as I do with some other films. And although the niveau of the film was not very high - my mother probably wouldn’t like it - I still don’t see it as a waste of time. There are good boring movies, just as there are also not so good, but entertaining movies (which kind of makes them good, doesn’t it?). What counts is not so much the niveau of the movie (or how low the jokes are), but more whether it was worth the time to watch the movie. Only when I think that I wasted my time with a bad, boring movie, then it was the wrong decision to watch it.

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Jan-Lukas Else