โ๏ธ2023
Things discovered
Apps & software
Splitwise: This might have been in the 2022 review because I've actually used it in Phantasialand. However I've since forgotten about it, but thanks to H* it has resurfaced on my mind (plus she keeps pushing me to put it in my yearly review ๐คญ๐). Splitwise allows tracking the expenses of a group of people. You can always see the balance you owe or are owed. This is especially useful when you're travelling together - it doesn't matter who pays for stuff - at the end of the trip you simply pay the remaining balance.
ChatGPT & LLMs in general: Imho this is probably the biggest advance in computing since the modern smartphone. Yes there is a lot of hype surrounding AI but having used ChatGPT extensively for both work an personal use I would not trade it for almost any other piece of software. Personally I've replaced a lot of my Google searches with ChatGPT queries. I'm convinced that even if there are no more advances (unlikely) this will keep having ripple effects through IT and the global economy in general as more and more companies start adopting LLMs in their workflows.
WhatsApp: Having mostly used Telegram for many years I've recently rediscovered WhatsApp. The app definitely got a lot better since I've last decided that I don't like it ๐. There's two things that I actually prefer over Telegram. When reacting to a message all standard iOS emojis are available and not just a subset. I didn't know how annoying this is until I started using both chat apps regularly. Secondly the search.. it has been brought to my attention that the search in Telegram sucks and sadly I have to agree. So yea.. good on you META ๐
Portainer: In 2022 I was using Yunohost as a host operating system for various selfhosted web apps. Although it was running fine, I never felt entirely comfortable with its old-school approach to deploying application. Yunohost is essentially a linux distribution with a web-interface that can install applications and their dependencies automatically via scripts from a kind of app-store. This makes it easy to use but it has the disadvantage that applications are not really segregated from each other. I also found it difficult to backup and to have a reproducible configuration or even configuration as code. So in early 2023 I scrapped my Yunohost installation in favour of a plain Ubuntu Server base image with Docker and Portainer installed. Portainer essentially replaces the Web-UI part of Yunohost. I now store the docker-compose configurations of my webapps (e.g. Firefly) in a private repo on GitHub and then I can use Portainer to easily deploy & monitor these applications.
Duplicati: Free backup software that can run as a docker container. I use it to backup the data stores of applications that I run on my Portainer app server. It supports backup schedules, encrypted incremental backups and common cloud providers such as Google, AWS and more as backup storage locations. Personally I backup all data to my Google Drive.
Traefik: A modern reverse proxy application. I use this together with Cloudflare, Authelia and Let's Encrypt to expose my webapps to the internet and access them over domain name.
Authelia: Authelia is a open-source authentication and authorization server. I use it as multi-factor authentication & SSO provider for my selfhosted web-apps.
Tailscale: I initially discovered Tailscale when I wanted a way to access my home computer from ski-holidays. Tailscale is a wireguard based, zeroconf VPN solution that is suuuuuuper easy to install and use. I use the Tailscale home-assistant addon as an exit node into my home network. This allows me to access all devices on my home network, from anywhere, securely.
Services
Finpension 3A: This year I've been using this 3A service. Although I did keep Frankly for my existing 3A accounts. The advantages of Finpension are slightly lower fees (0.39% vs 0.45%) and more choices on what products to invest in. It also allows 99% stocks compared to Franklys 95%.
Interactive Brokers: I've actually been using IBKR as my main stock brokerage account since 2022.. but I forgot to include it in that year's review. So here it is a year later. IBKR is a large international brokerage firm and it's actually the largest electronic stock trading platform in the US. This allows it to have super cheap trading fees on US stocks & ETFs (around 50 cents per trade). It also does not have any custody or inactivity fees and it has a very fair flat rate currency exchange fee of around 2$. This is contrary to e.g. Swissquote that charges around 1% of the transaction value per exchange. Lastly IBKR also provides all the documentation necessary to reclaim the US foreign tax on US stocks & ETFs via DA-1 form. Personally I've found accessing these document via IBKR to be a lot easier than via Swissquote. For a more detailed review of IBKR read this post by thepoorswiss. (If you're planning to open up an account, use this link with my promo code. It gives you some free IBKR stock)
Activities
Via ferrata: H* introduced me to Via ferratas, which are protected climbing routes in the mountains. At first I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle the heights but I've since invested into my own via ferrata kit because its such a cool hobby. Basically like playing an adventure video game in the real world.
Indoor climbing
Bouldering
Cool Places
Goodbyes
Bring: A shopping list SaaS/app that I discovered and used in 2022. It used to integrate well with Google Home/Assistant but sadly Google has decided in 2023 to no longer allow third party apps for lists. For me this is a KO criteria - so I'm now using Google Keep instead of Bring. Hopefully it doesn't end up on the Google Graveyard next... ๐.
Yunohost: Given up in favour of Ubuntu Server & Portainer. See the "Apps & Software" section for details.
KPT (health insurance): Same as last year - no hard feelings but there's a cheaper option for 2024.
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