Published
Looking ahead to 2026
I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished these last few years. My relationship to technology has changed a lot. I’m carrying a non-smartphone full time, I’m primarily using Linux for personal use, and I’ve turned cast-off and second-hand electronics into stuff I actually use. And all while working full time, cooking all my family’s meals, and being a walking jungle gym for a high-energy baby and toddler. Oh, and I write for this website to collect my thoughts and document them.
With all my lifestyle changes around technology, I want to keep the momentum going. Here are some tech projects that I’m looking forward to in 2026.
Confabulator updates
Confabulator is more than just geeky side projects (not that there’s anything wrong with those!). Everything that I’m doing is really about the future. I’m picking and choosing the future I want based on readily available technologies and the relationship I want to have to them. Much of what is said about the (capital-F) Future is influenced by, or directly broadcast by, hedonistic ends-justify-the-means plutocrats who call themselves futurists or techno-optimists. The influence of plutocrats has skewed the internet discourse into a false dichotomy. When the Future is framed as block chain and cryptocurrency or generative AI, any substantive criticism, or y’know, different interests and preferences, naturally gets framed as a regressive view of technology. Futurist plutocrats have granted themselves a monopoly on, among other things, optimism itself. I reject that. This next year I want to focus my writing on the future. I believe managing e-waste, promoting digital ownership, and protecting against internet media is part of a vision for an optimistic, human-focused, future rather than a condemnation of it.
In the short term, I’ve made some updates to the look of the site. I want to arrive at a design that I’ll keep for at least a few years. I feel like I’m close.
In the long term, I’m thinking about changing web hosts. This website is hosted with GitHub Pages which has been great for how easy it is to publish and it’s no maintenance. But I assume that one day GitHub will betray us. They have to. It’s practically their fiduciary responsibility to make user-hostile changes. I’d like to evaluate some alternatives so that when the day comes that GitHub steps in the poop, I’ll already be halfway out the door.
The big project: A family computer / computer for my kid
As a parent, it’s not really up to me what kid absorbs from the world around them. Despite my best efforts, and rarely carrying a smartphone, my kid has internalized that all screens are touch screens. My goal with a family computer is that I’m giving my kid something to play around with, but on my terms with built-in guardrails. Something that is attractive enough to want to use, but that isn’t quite as addictive as an iPad. This project is largely a thought experiment about what sorts of applications a small child might use and enjoy and what I can do to make the computer more usable.
Long term project: Owning my movies, TV, and music
Admittedly this is a couple projects in one. It’s not about replacing music and video streaming services today. I want to have a baseline of media services that I own and run. Over time these will improve. I’ll keep them maintained and ready. They’ll serve as a commercial-free alternative in the face of increasing prices and changes in terms of service. Similar to the family computer, the measure of success is if my alternatives are attractive and usable enough for my family. I’m not shutting off even a single streaming services until I have comparable alternatives in place that my family uses voluntarily. Since streaming services are just icons on our Apple TV set-top box, the scene it set for something like Plex, Jellyfin, or others to rotate in over time.
Nice to have: Wallabag on Kindle
I got pushed off of Pocket when it reached end-of-life this summer and I installed Wallabag on my Raspberry Pi. So far, so good. But what I really want is to read my saved articles on my Kindle. That would cut down my internet consumption and dovetail nicely with my curated RSS feeds. A Wallabag client exists for Jailbroken Kindles (which I have), but getting it is more involved than downloading a binary. I need to compile it and whatnot. So I’ve queued this up as a project when I have the time and mental energy for that sort of thing.
Nice to have: Dumb phone alternative
I love my Light Phone 2, but the battery is not replaceable and the micro-USB port is wearing down, so unfortunately it is future garbage. I should get at least another year or two out of it, but if it broke irreparably, I don’t know what my best alternative is. I wouldn’t buy another Light Phone 2 because of its age and lack of repairability. I didn’t care for the Light Phone 3 which I pre-ordered last year and promptly sold on eBay. My goal for the year is to evaluate my options and have a front-runner even if I don’t buy anything.
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