Ademcan's blog

I recently switched again to Android. I was getting very limited in iOS, it was a pain to do simple things that you would do easily with Android (file transfert, syncing with multiple computers, real Bluetooth…). However, there is a big problem with Android : Google…
After receiving my second Androphone I realised that all the apps I installed in my first one were saved online on the Play Store. I knew the equation “Google != Privacy” and this was decisions’ time for me. I will explain in this article how to use Android without getting annoyed even by the G of Google.
I already stopped using any service from Google a few months ago. I am using owncloud for my contacts and calendars, Leed for my RSS feeds and Shaarli for my links (only private links). The biggest problem for me was to get rid of the Play Store. Luckily on Android it is possible to install third party apps without “jailbreaking” and many alternative app-stores exist.

The first step when you get your Androphone is to install Cyanogenmod (a.k.a CM, or any other alternative ROM respecting your privacy). It is a very nice ROM running on multiple devices and always up-to-date with the latest version of Android. Although my device is a Nexus (and thus get all the latest version of Android), I still decided to install Cyanogenmod to get completely rid of Google. The installation is straightforward, everything is clearly described on the wiki page of your device. The idea of installing CM is to use a stock version of Android, even without the Google Apps, thus do not install the additional Google Apps package for CM, I will show you how to survive without them.

First of all let’s look at the Play Store alternatives, as we need somewhere to download interesting apps.
There are many options, I tried the following ones.
– F-Droid, an appstore containing only free and open-source softwares (FOSS) – F-Droid.apk –
– 1 Mobile Market, where you can find the majority of the Play Store apps – 1mobile.apk –
– SlideMe
– Amazon Android Appstore
– PandaApp – PandaApp.apk –
– GetJar
– Opera mobile store
– Firefox marketplace

For some of the stores you will need to create an account. I recommend to use junk/fake email services such as yopmail which works very well. Discodog.fr presents a list of junk email alternatives, I didn’t try all of them, be prudent and check by yourself first.

You can also use the google play downloader app from Tuxicoman. It is a graphical interface written in Python which connects to the Play store and downloads all the apps you want to your computer. If you need and Android ID, you can use the android-checkin script to create one (using a fake gmail address). (thank you Tuxicoman for the tip)
Another option is the APK Downloader pugin, which is unfortunately only available for the Google Chrome browser.

IDEA: Why not create a web-app accessible from your Androphone to be able to download the .apk files directly in your smartphone instead of dealing with your computer? If someone else is interested, please let me know, we can do that 😉

As we now have many Play Store alternatives, here are some alternatives for the original Google Apps.
First, try to get your own domain name, it is really cheap and very nice to have your email address like firstname@name.com. In this situation you also have all the control over your Privacy.
– K9-mail, this app is a must-have.
– Firefox, the Android app is very nice, I really enjoy using it (you can also access your apps downloaded from the Firefox Marketplace)
– Navit (I recently discovered OsmAnd which is better and work the same way with offline maps) as a Navigation system, it runs on multiple platforms and is based on OpenStreetMap maps. It works offline, the map is saved on your Smartphone and you won’t need any data connection to use it. Please consider improving OSM maps, it is a very interesting experiment, start by reading the beginners’ guide.
– Owncloud
– MuPDF a simple document viewer
– DuckDuckGo as your favorite search engine (.apk file link on the top of the page).
– Gibberbot, a chat client supporting the open XMPP protocol and OTR encryption. In addition, I recommend to install your personal XMPP server.

So far so good, but I still miss the following features of iOS : by default support of calDAV and cardDAV, a nice reminders app (with calDAV support). There are some calDAV and cardDAV sync app but they are mainly not open-source (except caldav sync adapter) and they don’t work as expected (automatic sync, two-ways sync…) — I found DavDroid (carDAV and calDAV support) and Mirakel (task manager with calDAV sync) — Google is unfortunately trying to force you to use your Google account, then everything is easier.

Interesting links :
– Me & My shadow
– Security in-a-box : How to use smartphones as securely as possible

Images :
– Google
– Android
– Peace Love and Happyness
Source: New feed

sebsauvage effect (SE)   [Ṧȅƃsọṿåij]
noun
1. Increase of Piwik’s “Visits over time” counter
2. High score of sebsauvage.net in “Refferer Websites”
3. Suspect slow down on affected website

Origin :
This effect started approximately in the early 2012. It affected a very large number of blogs. The effect takes place once the affected blog/website is mentioned at Sebsauvage’s Shaarli. Do not try to prevent the Sebsauvage effect, it is under no control. Simply enjoy it…

Representation :

Synonyms :
– There is no known synonym yet.

Idioms and Phrases :
– I have been sebsauvage’d.
– I got the SE !
– SE’d or not yet SE’d ?
Source: New feed

Do you want to get rid of Whatsapp, Viber & co? Do you want to use an open protocol to communicate with your friends and family? Are you interested in encrypted communication? If yes, XMPP is what you are looking for.
XMPP (or Jabber) is an open-source protocol for communication (a.k.a. chat). Many XMPP servers already exist, if you want to start using XMPP right now, you can register an account at dukgo.com. Otherwise, you can also install your own XMPP server and use it with your personal domain name, which is very nice and let you a complete control over your communication. You can even create XMPP accounts for your friends and family using your domain name. To do so, I will introduce you to the different steps to install ejabberd. Ejabberd is an open-source XMPP server written in Erlang and very well supported in Unix systems. I installed ejabberd on my server running Xubuntu and it is working very well.

1- Install ejabberd

2- Once installed, you need to modify the configuration file:

modify the line 58 to

and line 61 to

3- Finally, you need to add an admin user from the command line

restart your ejabberd server by typing

You also need to open the ports 5222, 5280 and 5269 of your server to be able to access your account from outside.
To access the admin interface of your account go to
http://[DOMAIN]:5280/admin/

4- You can then use any chat client supporting the XMPP protocol to enjoy your new account 😉

For Desktop environment you can use Adium, Pidgin or Jitsi.
For mobile platforms, I recommend GibberBot and Beem (Android, available on F-Droid) or ChatSecure (iOS) both supporting OTR.

Useful link : JabberFr wiki (in French)
Image source : XMPP logo Wikimedia Commons

Source: New feed

[FR] Ce blog est non-fumeur

    Quel est le problème de notre société avec la cigarette ? Je me demande toujours ce qui pousse autant de personnes à se “suicider” lentement. Oui, je pense que la cigarette est une sorte de suicide, un suicide “lent et doux”.

    Pour les nerveux accros de la tétée nicotinisée qui me diront “Qu’est-ce ça peut te foutre espèce de puceaux de la cigarette ? Si je fume, je fume pour moi, et alors…” 😳
Je ne peux pas vous empêcher de faire ce que vous voulez de votre corps, de votre âme… c’est votre vie, faites-en ce que vous voulez. Mais ayez au moins la gentillesse, la politesse et le respect de laisser les non-fumeurs tranquille. Pourquoi suis-je obligé d’encaisser la fumée de votre cigarette, tous ces poisons que vous m’envoyez en plein dans la face, sans parler de l’odeur insupportable alors que je n’ai rien demandé.

— Pour tous les autres fumeurs —
Je prends le train tous les jours pour me rendre au travail. Pourquoi attendez-vous devant la porte avec le briquet et la cigarette à la main l’ouverture de la porte pour vous empoisonner si impatiemment dès le prochain arrêt ?
Pourquoi en plein hiver, il faut impérativement que vous sortiez dehors vous gelez les coui…s pour pouvoir fumer ?
Pourquoi payez-vous autant d’argent pour mourir lentement ? N’y as-t-il pas d’autres moyens plus économiques (ceci est une blague bien évidemment) ?
Pourquoi empoisonnez-vous vos propres enfants ? Tous ces pauvres bébés qui naissent accro/toxicoman à cause de leur mère fumeuses (mon épouse étant infirmière en maternité je sais de quoi je parle). Et que dire des grands-parents qui dégoûtent leurs petits enfants avec leur odeur de cigarette (là aussi je sais de quoi je parle…)
Et vous les jeunes, est-ce vraiment un signe d’acceptation sociale que de fumer le plus tôt possible ? Bon j’arrête avec les jeunes, ça ne sert à rien, le problème venant de la source.
Des parents qui fument ne peuvent pas empêcher leurs enfants de fumer, ils n’en ont tout simplement pas le “droit”. L’enfant aura simplement à dire : “Si fumer est si mauvais, pourquoi toi tu fumes alors ?”

    Est-ce si difficile d’arrêter ? Avez-vous déjà essayé ? Je veux dire essayer pour de vrai ? Pas comme ce camarade qui dit qu’il ne peut pas s’en passer plus de 2-3 heures et que quand le mois de ramadan arrive il est capable de ne pas fumer pendant toute une journée ? Peut-être n’avez-vous pas assez de convictions ? Je vais vous donner une bonne raison d’arrêter de fumer: la santé.
Ne vous gâchez pas la vie si vous avez la chance d’être en bonne santé. Dites-vous que d’autres personnes n’ont même pas cette chance et que si ces personnes étaient à votre place elles ne fumeraient pas de leur vie.

    Faites savoir à vos proches que vous voulez qu’elles arrêtent de fumer, dites-leur en insistant, encore et encore, sans en avoir marre, ne laissez pas tomber. Ne vous dites pas que c’est leur vie à eux et qu’ils en font ce qu’ils veulent (comme je le fais un peu plus haut pour me défendre des nerveux de la cigarette). Si les personnes que vous aimez sont mal, vous le serez aussi, tôt ou tard.

A.
Source: New feed