So, decided to try Hubzilla, and set up an account on Zotum.net…
And now apparently that's died. Seriously, bark is still down after 2… 3? days, this place is on borrowed time, and apparently anywhere I go on the Fediverse is either on borrowed time or unable to offer more than a few hours of uptime.
Honestly I can't say I'm surprised having seen him recently, he had a stroke back in 2012 which I wasn't aware of, and he hasn't looked particularly healthy last I saw him.
Until just recently, Flock never felt it needed to rehabilitate its image, even when several cities were dumping contracts and cameras over persistent surveillance concerns. When cities shut down s…
The performing arts center “cannot survive, either structurally or financially” without Trump’s help and proper credit, attorneys for his administration argued in a new court filing.
With everything else going on in the world, it’s been a while since we’ve dug into a good old-fashioned patent troll story or a bogus defamation SLAPP. Today we’ve got a two-for-o…
If'n I disappear, its because bark.wolp is down again, again for 12+ hours with no news any where, while at the same time, @GoFedi who hosts this blog has been sending me emails letting me know I'm running out of space here, but there's been no response here to my questions, so I guess this blog has a limited lifetime.
Really not sure what I'm going to do, I like the features of Friendica, though it lacks a few I'd like, but I really don't like the interface, nothing a good alternate front end wouldn't fix, but nothing like that exists. And hosted instances are basically non-existant, GoFedi is the replacement for my previous host, the only straightforward host I've found. #gotosocial isn't quite ready yet, it lacks some features that I expect, particularly the ability to provide a synopsis for links, plus like the rest of the Fediverse outside of #friendica , it lacks some features I want. I won't quit the Fediverse, but depending on what happens and when, I may disappear for an extended period until I have time to figure out what I want to do.
@Bryan Huh, interesting, I'll have to find one over here on web/Linux world. Does answer a question, I'd seen a GoToSocial post with previews which was confusing as when I mentioned this in the past, I was told it was coming soon to GTS. Just reinforces my thought that a front end could vastly improve Friendica
It was created by the same guy as Friendica, and it's a descendent of Friendica. (Forked to Free-Friendika, then forked to Red, both in 2011, then largely rewritten against a brand-new protocol in 2012, then renamed Red Matrix, then greatly expanded in features and renamed Hubzilla in 2015.)
One could say it's Friendica
entirely running on its own protocol, Zot6
with nomadic identity that makes it possible to clone your channel across multiple servers and making it resilient against server outage
with multiple channel (identities, like complete Friendica accounts, but without separate logins) on one account/login, and you can switch between them without logging out and back in again (all with multiple profiles like on Friendica)
without Bluesky integration
with less pandering to Mastodon
with an even better permissions system
with full (client-side and server-side) OpenWebAuth support
with polls
with WebDAV access to your file space
with a built-in CalDAV calendar server
with an optional built-in CardDAV addressbook server
with optional articles, planning cards, wikis and webpages
with a very extensive, detailed and well-written built-in help system
with the ability to integrate git repositories with 3rd-party add-ons and themes that can even be upgraded with shell scripts as easily as the whole hub
with 3rd-party themes available that change the entire UI and UX instead of reskinning the existing UI, especially the Utsukta themes by @Saiwal
It does not provide any previews for links, though I'm sure something like this can be developed as a third-party addon.
If you want to try it, it's quite tricky to find a good hub with 3rd-party themes installed to start on. There aren't any in North America; don't go looking for them.
You may want to get in touch with @pepe about joining his Whoville hub. It's well-equipped, it's well-maintained, but keep in mind it's in Europe.
If you find Hubzilla to your liking, and you want to have your own hub hosted, there appear to be quite a few Hubzilla hosting services. Pick one you like, set up your own hub, activate the add-ons you need, install the third-party themes and add-ons you need, get it to run properly, and then clone your daily-driver production channel over from Whoville. Make the instance on your own hub the main one, and keep the one at Whoville as a clone in case your hoster is offline, or something else is wrong with your hub.
@Jupiter Rowland @Saiwal I've looked at that one, and not been sure what to make of it. Friendica I mostly like, its just that the interface is too cluttered and busy, I mean its great how many options you have, but for the average person, I think you could hide or eliminate 90% of them, and it'd be great.
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾 That's one nice thing about Hubzilla: You can customise the UI apart from theming. You can completely change the layout. (Not sure if you can do that with Saiwal's themes, but you can with Redbasic.)
By default, a new channel has barely got any icons in the navbar and not even that many in the app menu. The right-hand end of the navbar of a new channel only contains icons for search, HQ, help and the app menu. You can configure under Apps which icons shall appear where. Star them, and they're in the menu. Pin them, and they're on the navbar.
In fact, whereas (I think) Friendica has all its features on all the time, Hubzilla is very modular. Many of its features are optional and off by default; they're called "apps". If you don't need it, don't activate it, and you won't have UI elements for it.
Even the various pages can be rearranged in the PDL editor. You don't need something, throw it out. You only need one sidebar, choose a layout with only one sidebar instead of both. You can do without any sidebars, pick a layout without sidebars.
Saiwal's theme previews have to show what can be done with them. Hence, a lot of UI elements are in place that either can be configured away or have to be configured into place in the first place.
For example, if you look at the AdminLTE preview: You only have to pin the apps that you need all the time. If you want to, you can unpin them all, and they're gone. But then you'll have to go via the Featured Apps menu to get to them. You can slim that down as well, but then you have to open the Apps page to get to them.
The entire wide dark navigation bar on the left can be folded in if you don't need it. Fold it out when you need it.
Main Navigation looks like a homebrew element that doesn't necessarily have to be default. The Archives field can be configured away or has to be configured into place.
The buttons below the posts can't be reduced that much. The speech bubble unfolds the comments. Then come thumb up and (optional, off-by-default) thumb down. Next comes repeat (= share on Friendica). The smiley is for replying with nothing but one emoticon; I think this is actually an optional feature, too.
Now, when I look at the Solidified preview: Almost every other button on the left-hand bar is for an app that isn't even activated by default. Most of the rest are for features that are available right away, but their buttons usually aren't.
Most of what's on the right was probably configured in for the showcase. Even if it's there by default, it can be removed.
The centre only seems cluttered because the posts are arranged across three columns instead of all in one. Even there you can choose how to arrange the posts.
@Jupiter Rowland Set up an account on Zotum to try it out, so far bit of a mixed bag, figuring out how to add people took looking at the instructions, and the RSS feed I added for the test, a comic strip, is rarely showing images, just the link, but we'll give it time. Theming options are definitely better than Friendica, and has a lot of nice features, so, so far kinda lukewarm on it, but just starting out.
Kurdish-Syrian refugees are training AI models for object recognition. The same technology will later be used in combat drones that target precisely this population group. \ This isn’t a dystopia—it’s one of the works in “The World Through AI” at the Schirn in Frankfurt. Hito Steyerl’s installation “Mechanical Kurds” reveals what lies behind seemingly autonomous systems.
„Das wird heute keine Wohlfühlveranstaltung“ – so eröffnet unsere Führerin den Rundgang durch „The World Through AI“ in der Schirn. Sie behält recht: Zwischen kurdischen Gef…
As I think I mentioned, I really couldn't get motivated last week, so I'm working on catching up now. Working my way through Vik's iCloud, that was the hardest part of the estate, on the good side, Apple is very, very serious about your security, on the bad part, they really don't offer easy instructions on how to deal with a deceased person's account. That and once you get the court order, the only way you can gain access to the account, legal has to review the court order, then there are people that have to work on setting up the account access, however once they did that, they failed to give me instructions on how to access it, just letting me know that it was mine now and giving me a verification link. Oh, and that's just to the account, they don't provide links or information on how to access the individual services. There also doesn't seem to be a way to download the entire cloud (that really wouldn't work well), or whole folders, you just have to work with each file, which since there's around 5G of files, will take a while. I emailed the cremation company I used about prepaying for my own services as well as the balance I have over there. Prolly October I'll find a lawyer to prepare a will, the delay there, is I want to talk to my eldest cousin about being plan B on my will, as there's only a 9 month age difference between me and my sister, so if'n everything goes right, I'll simply talk to them while I'm down in Huntsville for my Grandmother's birthday (105, I swear that woman will outlive us all, she'll prolly be here to witness the heat death of the universe). Will need to find a lawyer for the will, recommendations in the STL area welcome. Need to contact the heating company as an inspection for the system they put in was never scheduled, that should be easy enough. Caught up with mom and sister, though I still need to RSVP for the party. Yesterday I took care of grocery shopping and finances, the former in St Chas as I hopped over there for breakfast at Waffle House. I'd grabbed take out there earlier in the week and forgot how good it is, so that might become a regular thing, dunno yet. Also replaced the blade on the mower, fueled up the skid steer ($40 for a 5 gallon can and 5 gallons of gas, ouch). Dug up some of the pavers, trimmed the front lawn (couldn't do that last week as I'd run out of string, fixed that Monday, but didn't get to doing it). Today was laundry as well as the stuff I've mentioned that I've done or will do shortly. Still gotta knock out a little cooking, I need a batch of rice, and gotta set up a cold brew. Sorting through a bit of mail right now, and will take a bit of a break before returning to the iCloud.
Also in October might be a yard sale/estate sale, one big three day blow out sale, although I'll be selling larger items on Marketplace and Craigslist before then. Here too if'n anyone wants to see what I have, three Ikea bookcases, an HON desk, some drills just to start. Oh, if'n you're in the STL area with a tiny library, we'll happily supply books for it, just give us a shout, free delivery in some areas even.
I dont know about the 1st & 2nd points (although see Nixon watergate) but re point #3, Congress has explicitily given very broad power to act unilateraly on tariffs
Earlier this month I noted that Elon Musk’s Starlink is giving very unsubtle indications that the company wants to jump into the wireless business. I also noted that there’s a very long…
H.G. Wells’ predictions for the “house of the future,” made in 1903, include: Chimneys will be obsolete, replaced by an electric heater in the center of each apartment. The absence of chimneys will also permit roof gardens. Air will be circulated by an electric fan “and will come in through a proper shaft and filter” communicating with the roof. No longer required for ventilation, windows may take any shape and will be positioned for lighting and for aesthetic effect. ...and more futilitycloset.com/2026/08/22/…
H.G. Wells’ predictions for the “house of the future,” made in 1903: Chimneys will be obsolete, replaced by an electric heater in the center of each apartment. The absence of chimneys will also permit roof gardens.
THOUSAND PALMS, CALIF. (KESQ)- Two dog food manufacturers have issued product recalls following reports of contamination risks. On Aug. 21, 2026, Fromm Family Foods LLC recalled Fromm wet canned dog food due to potential metal contamination.
Ugh, today… Bleah, I feel like crap, not sure why, I'm sure pigging out on Taco Bell last night didn't help. Plus I still got hungry before bed, so munchies on top of that. Oh and desert had, yes, desert between them, a candy bar and coffee. Ugh, this is going to be a rough day.
Andrew Pam
in reply to 🌴 Seph 💭 👾 • • •