dbpmail.net :: A Hacker's Replacement for GMail

dbpmail.net :: A Hacker's Replacement for GMail:

Motivation

I reluctantly switched to GMail about six months ago, after using many so-called “replacements for GMail” (the last of which was Fastmail). All of them were missing one or more features that I require of email:

1. Access to the same email on multiple machines (but, these can all be machines I control).
2. Access to important email on my phone (Android). Sophisticated access not important - just a high-tech pager.
3. Ability to organize messages by threads.
4. Ability to categorize messages by tags (folders are not sufficient).
5. Good search functionality.

But, while GMail has all of these things, there were nagging reasons why I still wanted an alternative: handing an advertising company most of my personal and professional correspondance seems like a bad idea, having no (meaningful) way to either sign or encrypt email is unfortunate, and while it isn’t a true deal-breaker, having lightweight programmatic access to my email is a really nice thing (you can get a really rough approximation of this with the RSS feeds GMail provides). Furthermore, I’d be happy if I only get important email on my phone (ie, I want a whitelist on the phone - unexpected email is not something that I need to respond to all the time, and this allows me to elevate the notification for these messages, as they truly are important).

Over the past several months, I gradually put together a mail system that provides all the required features, as well as the three bonuses (encryption, easy programmatic access, and phone whitelisting). I’m describing it as a “Hacker’s Replacement for GMail” as opposed to just a “Replacement for GMail” because it involves a good deal of familiarity with Unix (or at least, to set up and debug the whole system it did. Perhaps following along is easier). But, the end result is powerful enough that for me, it is worth it. I finally switched over to using it primarily recently, confirming that all works as expected. I wanted to share the instructions in case they prove useful to someone else setting up a similar system.

This is somewhere between an outline and a HOWTO.

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Major change to University of Calif tech transfer

UC privatized IP

Yet more privatization of public goods.

I bet the net effect will be negative :-(

UCSD connect was very successful. But why not capture more of the value for capital?

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"Natural gas" => "fracking"

Mineral rights


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How The American University was Killed, in Five Easy Steps | The Homeless Adjunct

How The American University was Killed, in Five Easy Steps | The Homeless Adjunct: "← What We Must Demand of Our Colleges"

This ruination has taken about a generation. Will we be able to undo this damage? Can we force refunding of our public educational system? Can we professionalize faculty, drive out the administrative glut and corporate hijackers? Can we provide free or low-cost tuition and high-quality education to our students in a way that does NOT focus only on job training, but on high-level personal and intellectual development? 

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How various countries deal with retirement funding

Retirement schemes around the world

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