Matrix is less secure than Signal. While Signal and Matrix use the same encryption, Matrix doesn’t encrypt everything. This includes: message sender, message timestamps, reactions, members, read receipts, etc. All of this data can be accessed by the homeserver admin. On Matrix, you should assume that only the message content itself (text and attachments) is encrypted. Your account data is also not protected, you have to trust your homeserver admin. Signal is designed not to trust the server. It’s important to consider your threat model. Matrix doesn’t require a phone number, which makes it better for anonymity, but Signal has better security.

This is a good explanation of Matrix’s metadata leaks: https://web.archive.org/web/20210618055112/http://serpentsec.1337.cx/matrix

Try using a third-party app. I know Ice Cubes on iOS handles this really well.

I use Tailscale with my Jellyfin server.

I’ve tried https://github.com/oobabooga/text-generation-webui with LLaMA, didn’t have enough VRAM to run it though.

AdGuard DNS and NextDNS both do the same thing, there’s some differences but they’re pretty much the same (except AdGuard public DNS that doesn’t need configuration). Rethink is the same but doesn’t require an account. Rethink and TrackerControl are also Android apps that give you control over traffic locally. It depends on what you’re trying to do but any of the DNS options (AdGuard, NextDNS, Rethink) will protect multiple devices.

I like DuckDuckGo, but I’ve been using Brave Search for the AI summarizer feature.

I’ve noticed that when you make an image post with an external image, the instance will just save the image and won’t load the external image directly. This is a good thing for privacy and security but it also means that it doesn’t matter where you upload your images. Images uploaded directly to Lemmy are loaded directly from the other instance though.

AI generated search is a huge improvement over what we had before. Before, when you searched a question or topic that doesn’t have a Wikipedia page or easy answer, you get a ton of SEO spam. Stack Overflow is still a great resource for programming, but for most general knowledge, AI generated is so much more useful.

I’ve been using Brave Search and the AI summarizer is pretty good, and I get to avoid loading shitty websites. For specific questions that aren’t easy for search engines to answer, I really like how ChatGPT is conversational and lets you ask followup questions. Another thing I’ve been using is perplexity.ai, it can actually search the internet and cite sources.

Overall, AI has been a big help to me, and lets me avoid going to other websites which are usually just awful now. Most websites are full of ads, trackers, cookie notices, “Checking your connection”, I’m done with dealing with that. Search engines are there when I forget the domain for a service or link to a GitHub project.

For your friends and family, Signal is probably the best. It’s simple to use and set up, unlike SimpleX which some might have trouble with. For people who refuse to switch, iMessage.

Fedora. Used to use Arch but it broke and I moved to Fedora, it’s a way more polished experience. I like how Fedora is stable but not “stale” like Debian. Want to try Fedora Silverblue as well.