furrowsofar

I need to change ISPs and need to find a new email provider. This time I want to move to my own domain which I purchased through Namecheap and I do not want to use another ISP's email system nor do I want to use Google, or Microsoft since I am Linux (and Android too) based. I would like this to be US based or at least have a strong US presence so obvious choices like Proton Mail, Mailfence, and Mailbox.org are out. I would prefer it interoperate well with FOSS software too, I use Thunderbird and K-9 Mail for example. Also so want them to be trustworthy, have good security, and have good OpSec with respect to their their servers and service.

After looking I find three I am considering and they are quite different:

• Fastmail. Long history. No PGP support but they do have their own domains one can use also.
• Namecheap Private Email. Uses Ox App Suite, may support PGP, and quite new. I think you have to have your own domain (not sure).
• Forward Email (forwardemail.net). A forwarder with IMAP support. You supply the webmail if you want webmail, but otherwise it should work fine with IMAP and normal clients.

So questions:

• Any thoughts and experience, pros and cons with the above 3.
• Other better ideas.

So thoughts? Thanks.

Well I finished my taxes this year and they are finally accepted. Every year, we look at the market and the issues and decide on what provider to use. So here is a summary of our experience. Happy to hear your experiences too.

Over the years I have used TaxCut/H&R Block, TaxAct, FreeTaxUSA, and now this year OLT. They all have done the job, but they have all had issues too. I left the PC version of TaxCut/H&R Block (often considered the #2 software out there) in 2003 primarily because I wanted to move to the Web and use Linux. It was also a huge cost savings at the time. My last H&R Block return was $61.30, and TaxAct was $17.90 in 2003. We used TaxAct (maybe the #4 tax provider, and #3 provider in the high-end market) for many years, but their price hikes over the years were way beyond simple inflation and sanity. By 2020, our last return cost $134.90. They also had issues with calculating underpayment penalties so we sometimes payed penalties when we did not have to. If they had just followed inflation that $17.90 in today's dollars would be $30.16. So I strongly believe that paying more then $30 regardless of how complex your taxes are is a rippoff. So in 2021 we moved to FreeTaxUSA (FTU) which was $21.98. As far as I know they are the #3 tax provider and the #1 value player. We actually like them quite a lot. The main issue we found was their treatment of MN Exempt income from mutual funds is a bit suspect though it can be worked around. The other issue we had was particular to this year. Turns out that we needed K1 support with certain boxes and codes, and the state part of that which for us is MN KF. FTU just could not do it. So we tried OLT. The cost of OLT was $15.90. What I really appreciate about OLT is support of a wider range of filing situations for a price under $30.00. Also like their lack of games including no price tiers based on your return, and being able to see your whole return before paying. What I am less sure of is thier MN state returns. My experience is that you may have to know what your doing and know to manually enter certain things, and manually override others for MN State returns. I had no particular issues with Federal though. So it seems like OLT is good for more complex returns for people that know what they are doing. Overall I liked OLT because of many added capabilities and I do hopefully know what I am doing.

I'll close with the list of tax providers I personally considered in the order of decreasing market share based on relative web traffic: TurboTax (60%), H&R Block (23%), FreeTaxUSA(7.4%), TaxAct (6.4%), TaxSlayer (2.3%), OLT (0.59%), 1040 dot com (0.48%). I did not seriously consider CashApp Taxes, FileYourTaxes, 1040Now, eFile Express, IRS Free Fillable Forms, or Sprintax for various reasons. I also did not consider TaxHawk or Express1040 or consider them in my web traffic estimates as they are from the same company as FreeTaxUSA which is more well known. I wanted a provider with fairly good support, that had some popularity, had a reasonable reputation, could file taxes of reasonable complexity, was focused on US residents, is web based and can use with Linux and Firefox, and could file my state return. I also wanted a provider for under $30 which left only FreeTaxUSA, OLT, and 1040 dot com on the list.

Anyway, hope someone finds this somewhat interesting or useful. Best to you all.

I have one mutual fund where cash dividends (there were no short gains this year) plus Box 7 (Foreign Tax Paid) is not equal to Box 1a (Ordinary Dividends). I have never seen such a thing before. Talked with the mutual fund company and they say it is correct. They claim in this case it includes and "interest adjustment" as well so that Box 1a = cash dividends and short term gains + foreign taxes + interest adjustment.

What exactly is this interest adjustment. I'd like to know for two reasons. One is an accounting one for my accounting program, and the other is tax and anything I should know about it for tax purposes.

Maybe I am just confused but if it appears as a Ordinary Dividend I would think it would it would either mean I get some value for it be it a pass through tax credit (like Foreign Tax paid), a basis change (like a reinvestment), or maybe something that has accrued (something earned but not yet paid). As it stands, it seems like I am paying tax on something I get no benefit from so it kind of blows my mind.

So I am confused. What is this thing. The fund is T. Rowe Price International Stock.

Thanks.

Any ideas for alternative US tax forums or discussion boards similar to say Reddit Tax? Ideas?

Wondering if anyone here has used and what their experience has been. They do not appear in the lists of commonly hyped providers most of the time.

Normally I use FreeTaxUSA, but this year after entering most everything I found out it did not handle Estate state pass-through withholding.

So I spent yesterday on OLT entering everything again. They seem to handle more stuff at the cost of more complexity. Anyway got it all in this time. Still waiting for some final source documents but may file with OLT this year.

Anyway, wondering if anyone has done a full prep and filing with them and their experience. Thanks.

Does anyone have thoughts or experience with the fundraising site: https://app.oath.vote .

The article talks about it but I have not tried.

Anyone having issues with Jerboa on Beehaw today? Mine just opens and crashes. Did the clear cashe and storage thing. No effect. Have not tried reinstall.

I have been noticing that Google Play is overrun with adware, trialware, and freemium kinds of apps. Really hard to find FOSS and truly free apps.

Curious about best strategies to sort though Google Pay. I typically start with F-Droid and AlternativeTo to find apps then try to find them on Play.

Ideas?

I've been looking at options for controlling my Ubuntu Media Center computer from Android. Mainly Mouse, but Keyboard is good too. Looked at a lot of stuff but the most interesting ones were:

• KDE Connect. This is the one I decided on because it is common, readily available and Ubuntu has the GSConnect package to work with Gnome. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kde.kdeconnect_tp . F-Droid also has a version that I have not tried.

• XMouse (In F-Droid, Not in Play). This actually was a dream to setup and worked well. The downside is that it is not in Play. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.stripe1.xmouse .

• remote-touchpad. A cool app that is server side only and uses the a browser on the Android side. The biggest issue is it is not that secure. Also only on Ubuntu as a snap and not on Debian.

• Bluetooth Keyboard & Mouse (serverless). Fremium and not FOSS. Should have been good but I could never get it to work. The Linux Bluetooth system sees the packets, and the USB, Input, and XInput subsystems see the keyboard and mouse but no data flow. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.appground.blek .

• WiFiMouse. Have not tried this one. It seems like another FOSS app. Just added for reference and if anyone has tried. https://alternativeto.net/software/wifimouse/about/ .

So in short I found KDE Connect was the most obvious but I really liked how XMouse worked in terms of ease of setup and simplicity. Frankly probably would have used it if it was in Play too.

I was thinking that BlueTooth would be better and more universal. The issue I found was FOSS apps seem to be missing and I could never get the one freemium app I found to actually work. This seems to be an area that needs a good FOSS alternative that actually works. Let me know if you have any idea of other options OR why I loose the data stream somewhere between the bluetooth stack and the Linux input subsystem.

Always love when self agrandized authorities act like idiots. Feels like the box wine wins wine competition article.

I have a friend that does photo competitions. They say winning is more about knowing the judges than anything else.

We are looking at new electric stoves. Does anyone understand the options?

Specifically wondering the types of surface units (burners). Are there various options or modes: constant current (constant heat flow), or temperature control (on/off cycling, or variable current). The old stoves were mostly constant current surface units. The new flat top stoves seem to cycle somehow (temperature controlled?). I have no idea how inductive works. We have gas now which is constant heat flow of course.

Why I ask is I'm not very interested in this cycling stuff at all, and temperature control only.

Thoughts, recommendations, or experiences?

Thanks.