This post started out as an update on what software I'm self-hosting. It's turned into a general year-end recap about notable technology I've used or acquired. Let's jump in! ## Computing and networking ### Homelab + laptop My little GEEKOM MiniAir 11 is still chugging along, serving up this page and a whole lot more . I'm still very enthused by self-hosting and owning my data. So what's changed on the little guy? The server has been upgraded to Ubuntu 25.10 (aka Questing Quokka.) I've decided to do the biannual update vs. waiting for the long-term release every two years. Mostly as an excuse to fiddle. So what's a quokka exactly? It's a "small macropod about the size of a domestic cat." Why is it questing? As a herbivore, it probably "quests" for food regularly. So what quest am I on? I'm not sure. I'm not thrilled with the direction of Windows and making everything AI-enabled and Copilot this and that. I've had a Surface Laptop 7 for 18 months now and I've never once pressed the Copilot button. I eventually disabled it and uninstalled Copilot. I have strong thoughts on AI that I should write down one day… I've been impressed by the laptop's Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite ARM processor. It's held up and the battery life is Mac-like. I've not run into too many compatibility problems. Most non-game stuff is ARM native these days on Windows. That said, I'm considering Linux for my next laptop. I love to tinker and what better way? The Framework laptops are very appealing. I also setup Cloudflare in front of my homelab to learn how that works and to hopefully secure it, or at least use the cache and give my poor little machine a break. I am not sure I am succeeding here yet. #### Latest software I'm self-hosting * Ghost - Open source blogging (and newsletter) platform. Hosts this website. Now with Fediverse power! * Pi-Hole - adblocking and DNS management for my home network. Hello v6! * Nginx Proxy Manager - reverse proxy so my little server machine can host multiple websites. * Home Assistant - the do-everything home automation system. * Eclipse Mosquitto - let's other devices communicate easily with Home Assistant via the MQTT protocol. * Flaresolvver - A proxy server to bypass some Cloudflare protections so my GasBuddy integration on Home Assistant continues to work (and display on my Stream Deck.) * FreshRSS - RSS is back baby! This is easily my favorite addition in 2025. I now self-host a Google Reader-esque service I can use in the browser and sync with various apps on my phone. The best part: I can filter feeds and mostly get rid of sponsored and affiliate posts. * Wallabag - with Pocket dying, I needed somewhere to stash links I meant to read but probably never will. This is the best self-hosted Pocket replacement. * Obsidian Live Sync (Couch DB) - let's me sync my Obsidian vault between my computers and phone. * Portainer - Monitor and maintain Docker containers from a web interface. This came and went, and is currently back, so here it is. * Vaultwarden - Open source server compatible with Bitwarden. My passwords are only stored and available on my home network. * Wireguard - VPN server, allowing me to remote into my home network from afar. This may get replaced by Wireguard built into my router. We shall see. * Samba - network drive server for sharing content within my home. * Calibre-Web Automated - web server to manage my Calibre library (and accessible remotely from my BOOX Palma 2 Pro). Switched from Calibre-Web to the Automated fork this year. Why? I don't recall. I had a reason. ### Internet I got fiber internet at home a few years ago and paid for the half gig (500 Mbps) service via Metronet. T-Mobile recently bought them and dropped the price so 1 Gbps was only a penny more than I was paying for the slower service, so I jumped on that. Then T-Mobile offered a 10 year price guarantee on the 2 Gbps service so I jumped once again. My internet is now faster than my local network. I don't think that has been the case since I was living in the dorms with a 100 Mbps ethernet card. I need to upgrade my router and a switch or two. My house is wired with CAT 5e so I should be good. I'll do that this year and report back. ### Personal Computing I got into a bad habit of upgrading my phone each year by trading in the old one. I've used Google Pixel phones and their predecessors, the Nexus line. I'm mostly happy with Android, minus all the AI-everything that is being shoved into it. I was planning on breaking the yearly upgrade cycle and skipping this year but my son wanted my Google Pixel 9 Pro, so I traded in his old phone and got the Pixel 10 Pro. I do plan on holding onto it for 2+ years. That is, if I can resist the siren call of a foldable phone. Mini review: it's the Pixel 9 Pro but with MagSafe--I mean Pixelsnap. The phone came with "free" credit at the Google Store, so I picked up a Pixel Watch 4 to replace my Pixel Watch 2. It's easily the best smartwatch I've used. I've owned Motorola, Fossil, Pixel Watches before this. Battery life is pretty good! I got a Elgato Stream Deck Neo to replace/supplement my Stream Deck Mini. Mini review: 8 buttons + 2 nav buttons > 6 buttons. Definitely splurge for the Neo over the Mini. ## Entertainment ### Switch 2 I'm considering a Steam Machine in 2026. I love my Steam Deck (although it sits unloved with the Switch 2 out—not that I have a ton of time to play games). The Switch 2 feels like a phone upgrade. Clearly better, but not knock-your-socks-off that previous console generations have felt. I had similar feelings about the PS4 Pro to PS5 upgrade. ### Boox Palma 2 Pro I broke my Boox Palma on a flight (pro-tip: don't put it uncased in the plane seat pocket). I hacked my Kindle for a few weeks (it was fine, not great) and then the Palma 2 Pro came out and I snagged one. It's definitely faster but the lower res color screen took some getting used to. Plus it's not as clear as a black-and-white e-reader. Mini review: save some money and opt for the Palma 2 black-and-white instead. ### Lego Game Boy Technically entertainment, I got the Lego Game Boy for my birthday. It's so cool. ### Noise Cancelling Headphones I got a pair of Sony WH-1000XM5 Premium Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones (woof, what a name). The noise cancellation is good enough for my needs (loud kids or loud 3D printer). I've reached the age where your hearing starts to go and it's been so annoying. These are much better than the desktop mic and speaker combo I was using before. And the Bluetooth actually works well with Windows?! Windows used to be a disaster when it came to BT audio. ## 3D Printing I got into 3D printing in 2024. I started with an Ender 3 and upgraded to a Bambu P1S (with AMS) later that year. Since I bought the P1S, I've logged 2,300 hours of printing. My wife and I designed and printed trophies for students at her school as rewards for hitting various milestones. The kids love them! ## Also Notable ### Obsidian I moved my notes and tasks over to Obsidian. I love Markdown and always have lists and with a few key plugins, I'm having a great time. In fact, I am writing this post in Obsidian. I paid for the Catalyst license. Support software! ### Kagi Last but not least, I switch from Google to Kagi as my search engine. As a paid search engine, you don't have to deal with the ads or AI jumping in your face (unless you want it). Mini-review: is paying for search worth it? I've been happier and feel like I can find things faster than Google. Others say "it's like Google used to be" and that's so true. I also love the ability to downrank certain sites so they don't appear (or appear less.) ## Wrap-up Wow, that was a lot. It was a good year tech-wise and fun to write. I'll try to keep better notes this year so the 2026 edition is easier to write. Have a great 2026!

I'm tired of services I use disappearing, so I ultimately decided to self-host this blog with Ghost. One of the new features in version 6 is the ability to federate the content of this blog via ActivityPub. In short, you can read this blog three different ways: 1. Via a web browser @ https://famularo.org 2. Via RSS in the reader of your choice @ https://famularo.org/rss/ 3. Via social web client of your choice * ActivityPub (Mastodon, many others): @[email protected] * Bluesky: @blog.famularo.org.ap.brid.gy Will this cause me to post more stuff? Probably not 😅