Home 2019 August

How to Change the Default Search Engine in Various Browsers

While Google is the most popular search engine out there, that doesn’t mean you have to use it as the default search engine in your browser. There are plenty of good options out there when it comes to a good search engine. If you are looking to switch from Google, here is how you can change the default search engine in your browser. Change the Default Search Engine in Chrome To add a custom search engine in Chrome, click on the three dots at the top right.  Go to Settings and click on the “Search engine” option in… Read more

What Is Windows Core OS?

Windows 10 is now four years old, and Microsoft has begun to look towards the future. Flavors of it are available on everything from your PC to your Xbox. While they share the same name and some resources, they’re very different. The Windows Core OS Project is Microsoft’s plan to develop one single OS for the future. Here’s everything you need to know about it. Related: Latest Windows 10 Update Problems and How to Fix Them What Is Windows Core OS? Windows Core OS hasn’t been officially announced, but eagle-eyed watchers spotted this… Read more

Get Eufy Video Doorbell at $40 Off

Fancy a smart doorbell to look after your house when you are not around? Perhaps you want one that can send you notifications and video when someone is pressing the doorbell at the door. Eufy Video doorbell is a security Wi-Fi video doorbell that can send real-time responses. With a 2K resolution and no monthly fee, it is one of the more useful and affordable video doorbells you can get for your house. The original price is $159.99, which is already a much better deal than the Ring doorbell, and with the coupon code DBEEUFY9, you can get an additional $40 off. This is… Read more

How to Install a Dictionary for Use in Linux Terminal

Learning new words can be a pain when you’re pressed for time and the pages of a dictionary can only be flipped so fast. Thankfully, the Internet has placed a lot of powerful tools at your fingertips to help streamline such processes. After all, Google gives you word definitions right in its search results these days. However, even Google can’t help you when you’re stuck writing offline. A locally stored dictionary utility can really come in handy when no other dictionary is available (or even when there is!), and options abound in the world of Linux software. Among these, there is one that runs quite… Read more

F-Droid: A security-conscious repository for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) applications for Android

ARTICLE – F-Droid is an app store and repository for verified Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) applications for Android (F-Droid Docs page). I first heard about F-Droid from a CNET article in early August. According to CNET, “… 200 Android apps were found infected with malware [on Google Play] in March, followed by July’s discovery of 1,000-plus Android apps harvesting data even after you deny permissions …”. So, in the interest of security and privacy, perhaps places like F-Droid are a nice alternative to Google Play.

F-Droid is a non-profit volunteer open-source project (it is developed and run by the community) and was started by Ciaran Gultnieks in 2010 (F-Droid About page). Since the apps on F-Droid are open-source, it allows anyone to comb through an app’s code to see if there is any questionable activity going on. There are only about 2600 apps available through F-Droid according to CNET, so this may not have much of what you’re looking for. However, if you are curious about F-Droid and want to check out its security, you can peruse their Security Model and view their latest Security Audit Results.

If you want to try F-Droid, you’ll have to download the app from f-droid.org as it is not available through Google Play.



I downloaded the app from my phone’s Chrome browser. When I tapped on the “Download F-Droid” button on the f-droid.org website, I was prompted by my phone that “This type of file can harm your device. Do you want to keep FDroid.apk anyway? Cancel or Ok”. I tapped on “Ok”. Once the APK file was downloaded, I tapped on “Open” next to the downloaded file.



My phone then warned me that “For your security, your phone is not allowed to install unknown apps from this source [Chrome]. Cancel or Settings”. I tapped on “Settings”. I was taken to the “Install unknown apps” screen for Chrome where I toggled on the “Allow from this source” setting, then tapped on the back arrow at the top left of the screen. I was then asked “Do you want to install this application? It does not require any special access. Cancel or Install.” I tapped on “Install”. Once installed, it took a few seconds to update its repositories, then I was able to browse F-Droid for open source apps.

Here is what F-Droid looks like when looking at the Catagories tab.

When I installed my first app, I was prompted by my phone about installing unknown apps from F-Droid. I then had to go to the “Install unknown apps” settings and toggle on “Allow from this source” (in Android 9.0: phone settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > Special app access > Install unknown apps > F-Droid).

Because the people working on F-Droid are security and privacy-conscious, it piqued my interest, so I thought perhaps it may pique yours if you didn’t already know about it. If you are interested, go to f-droid.org to download it and give it a try!

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F-Droid: A security-conscious repository for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) applications for Android originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 30, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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