blog/archive/2018/08/08.rss

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   4                 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen - Entries from August 2018</title>
   5                 <description>Entries from August 2018</description>
   6                 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/</link>
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   9         <item>
  10                 <title>Software created using taxpayers’ money should be Free Software</title>
  11                 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_created_using_taxpayers__money_should_be_Free_Software.html</link>
  12                 <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Software_created_using_taxpayers__money_should_be_Free_Software.html</guid>
  13                 <pubDate>Thu, 30 Aug 2018 13:50:00 +0200</pubDate>
  14                 <description>&lt;p&gt;It might seem obvious that software created using tax money should
  15 be available for everyone to use and improve.  Free Software
  16 Foundation Europe recentlystarted a campaign to help get more people
  17 to understand this, and I just signed the petition on
  18 &lt;a href=&quot;https://publiccode.eu/&quot;&gt;Public Money, Public Code&lt;/a&gt; to help
  19 them. I hope you too will do the same.&lt;/p&gt;
  20 </description>
  21         </item>
  22
  23         <item>
  24                 <title>A bit more on privacy respecting health monitor / fitness tracker</title>
  25                 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_bit_more_on_privacy_respecting_health_monitor___fitness_tracker.html</link>
  26                 <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_bit_more_on_privacy_respecting_health_monitor___fitness_tracker.html</guid>
  27                 <pubDate>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
  28                 <description>&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, I wondered if there are any privacy respecting
  29 health monitors and/or fitness trackers available for sale these days.
  30 I would like to buy one, but do not want to share my personal data
  31 with strangers, nor be forced to have a mobile phone to get data out
  32 of the unit.  I&#39;ve received some ideas, and would like to share them
  33 with you.
  34
  35 One interesting data point was a pointer to a Free Software app for
  36 Android named
  37 &lt;a href=&quot;https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/&quot;&gt;Gadgetbridge&lt;/a&gt;.
  38 It provide cloudless collection and storing of data from a variety of
  39 trackers.  Its
  40 &lt;a href=&quot;https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/#supported-devices&quot;&gt;list
  41 of supported devices&lt;/a&gt; is a good indicator for units where the
  42 protocol is fairly open, as it is obviously being handled by Free
  43 Software.  Other units are reportedly encrypting the collected
  44 information with their own public key, making sure only the vendor
  45 cloud service is able to extract data from the unit.  The people
  46 contacting me about Gadgetbirde said they were using
  47 &lt;a href=&quot;https://us.amazfit.com/shop/bip?variant=336750&quot;&gt;Amazfit
  48 Bip&lt;/a&gt; and
  49 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.xiaomimi6phone.com/xiaomi-mi-band-3-features-release-date-rumors/&quot;&gt;Xiaomi
  50 Band 3&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  51
  52 &lt;p&gt;I also got a suggestion to look at some of the units from Garmin.
  53 I was told their GPS watches can be connected via USB and show up as a
  54 USB storage device with
  55 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-development/fmt_garmin_fit.html&quot;&gt;Garmin
  56 FIT files&lt;/a&gt; containing the collected measurements.  While
  57 proprietary, FIT files apparently can be read at least by
  58 &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gpsbabel.org&quot;&gt;GPSBabel&lt;/a&gt; and the
  59 &lt;a href=&quot;https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/gpxpod&quot;&gt;GpxPod&lt;/a&gt; Nextcloud
  60 app.  It is unclear to me if they can read step count and heart rate
  61 data.  The person I talked to was using a
  62 &lt;a href=&quot;https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/564291&quot;&gt;Garmin Forerunner
  63 935&lt;/a&gt;, which is a fairly expensive unit.  I doubt it is worth it for
  64 a unit where the vendor clearly is trying its best to move from open
  65 to closed systems.  I still remember when Garmin dropped NMEA support
  66 in its GPSes.&lt;/p&gt;
  67
  68 &lt;p&gt;A final idea was to build ones own unit, perhaps by basing it on a
  69 wearable hardware platforms like
  70 &lt;a href=&quot;https://learn.adafruit.com/flora-geo-watch&quot;&gt;the Flora Geo
  71 Watch&lt;/a&gt;.  Sound like fun, but I had more money than time to spend on
  72 the topic, so I suspect it will have to wait for another time.&lt;/p&gt;
  73
  74 &lt;p&gt;While I was working on tracking down links, I came across an
  75 inspiring TED talk by Dave Debronkart about
  76 &lt;a href=&quot;https://archive.org/details/DavedeBronkart_2010X&quot;&gt;being a
  77 e-patient&lt;/a&gt;, and discovered the web site
  78 &lt;a href=&quot;https://participatorymedicine.org/epatients/&quot;&gt;Participatory
  79 Medicine&lt;/a&gt;.  If you too want to track your own health and fitness
  80 without having information about your private life floating around on
  81 computers owned by others, I recommend checking it out.&lt;/p&gt;
  82
  83 &lt;p&gt;As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
  84 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
  85 &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&quot;&gt;15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  86 </description>
  87         </item>
  88
  89         <item>
  90                 <title>Privacy respecting health monitor / fitness tracker?</title>
  91                 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Privacy_respecting_health_monitor___fitness_tracker_.html</link>
  92                 <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Privacy_respecting_health_monitor___fitness_tracker_.html</guid>
  93                 <pubDate>Tue, 7 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
  94                 <description>&lt;p&gt;Dear lazyweb,&lt;/p&gt;
  95
  96 &lt;p&gt;I wonder, is there a fitness tracker / health monitor available for
  97 sale today that respect the users privacy?  With this I mean a
  98 watch/bracelet capable of measuring pulse rate and other
  99 fitness/health related values (and by all means, also the correct time
 100 and location if possible), which is &lt;strong&gt;only&lt;/strong&gt; provided for
 101 me to extract/read from the unit with computer without a radio beacon
 102 and Internet connection.  In other words, it do not depend on a cell
 103 phone app, and do make the measurements available via other peoples
 104 computer (aka &quot;the cloud&quot;).  The collected data should be available
 105 using only free software.  I&#39;m not interested in depending on some
 106 non-free software that will leave me high and dry some time in the
 107 future.  I&#39;ve been unable to find any such unit.  I would like to buy
 108 it.  The ones I have seen for sale here in Norway are proud to report
 109 that they share my health data with strangers (aka &quot;cloud enabled&quot;).
 110 Is there an alternative?  I&#39;m not interested in giving money to people
 111 requiring me to accept &quot;privacy terms&quot; to allow myself to measure my
 112 own health.&lt;/p&gt;
 113
 114 &lt;p&gt;As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
 115 activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
 116 &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&quot;&gt;15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
 117 </description>
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