A short article about what I use to manage my digital life.

Computer

It took me some time to find the right setup for me. I tried Mac, Windows and Linux and still own machines with these OS and my daily driver is finally Ubuntu 22.04. I mainly use a Dell XPS 13 running Ubuntu 22.04.

It allows me to take calls from Webex/Google Meet/Teams/Zoom/Skype etc, and use professional software like the Jetbrains suite, Unity3D and Fusion360. It’s also great because most of my work on server-side stuff is also running on Ubuntu server or Debian.

For the webcam I’m using OBS with my iPhone (modern smartphones have great cameras, might as well be useful with the computer as well?)

I have a small Windows 10 virtual machine that I only use to run iTunes to backup my phone since I own an iPhone but don’t use iCloud.

My browsing experience is simply Firefox with uBlock Origin.

Phone

I use an iPhone 12 13 mini. I owned an iPhone SE (2016) before for some years. I like being able to use it with only one hand, and having a smaller screen incentivize me to use it less (at least that’s my belief). I’m not a big user of my smartphone because I don’t want to be too dependent. To give you an idea, this is my home (and only) screen:

I only have notifications enabled for SMS/Signal and Gmail (the last one doesn’t have sound/vibration).

I don’t have accounts for Facebook/Whatsapp/Snap/TikTok etc… for Linkedin and Twitter I use Safari or my desktop as the apps consume too much battery and are generally doing more tracking than the mobile web experience. My background is black because the phone display is OLED-based so it consumes less battery.

The only thing I don’t like on my phone is Signal not providing a good backup system for iOS.

I highly recommend the “DS File” app if you have a Synology server, see next paragraph. I use it to backup my photo as well as having my music and some important files (ID, passport scan etc) at hand. Also thank God for Adguard.

Servers

I own a Synology DS220+ at home that I use for:

• Backing up my computer and email, photos, files… as well as some of my family members data
• Backing up my phone (DS File for photo backup, and for everything else the backup file from iTunes)
• Hosting this website
• a VPN when I’m abroad or when I need
• My addressbook server

As it’s quite sensitive, it’s using the highest security possible. It also syncs weekly with a distant cloud in an encrypted manner, so if my house burns down or someone breaks in and steals the server (useless without the keys to decrypt content on disks of course), I still have a backup. I highly recommend this product.

I also operate some servers, mainly rented from OVH (<3).

HMDs

Of course I own various AR & VR HMDs, and at Lynx we have most of what’s on the market.