// MIKE D. | PITHY CYBORG //

MY TECH STACK

I've spent most of my life studying computer science, from low-level systems to modern AI. This is the stack I actually run. Every tool here was chosen for performance, privacy, and longevity. About 90% are free and open source. A handful are premium picks I recommend as an affiliate to keep this page online. Use it well. 🩵

🔒
Privacy Tools
ToolWhy It's Here
Tuta My primary encrypted email provider. Clean, sovereign, and uncompromising on privacy.↗
Proton Suite Battle-tested Swiss privacy suite. The full stack includes encrypted email, calendar, password manager, VPN, secure cloud storage, and a private LLM chatbot.↗
Firefox My favorite web browser. I'll ride with it for life.↗
uBlock Origin The undisputed champion of ad and tracker blocking. Essential on Firefox.↗
Tor Project Overkill for most situations, but unbeatable when you need maximum anonymity and censorship resistance.↗
🤖
AI Tools
ToolWhy It's Here
Duck.AI Anonymous, no-login access to the best frontier models. Pure signal, zero surveillance.↗
Apertus Free, open-source Swiss AI. Fast, ethical, and refreshingly unfiltered.↗
Perplexity My go-to all-in-one AI research and reasoning engine.↗
Ollama The easiest way to run local LLMs offline. Fast, lightweight, and completely private.↗
Magica Access over a dozen popular AI bots from one central hub for around $15 per month. (Includes chatbots, video, audio, and AI agents.)↗
📡
Marketing & Business
ToolWhy It's Here
Substack The premier platform for newsletters, podcasts, and independent publishing.↗
5-Day AI Challenge Free, high-signal workshop to master AI-powered business promotion.↗
HighLevel All-in-one marketing, CRM, and automation that replaces bloated enterprise tools at a fraction of the cost.↗
NameCheap Reliable domain registrar and WordPress hosting I've trusted for over a decade.↗
🐧
Operating Systems
OSWhy It's Here
Ubuntu The most elegant and reliable Linux distribution. Beautiful, stable, and built for daily sovereignty.↗
Raspberry Pi OS Perfect lightweight Linux for ARM devices and portable projects.↗
Tails The gold standard for paranoid-level operational security. Hacker and sysadmin approved.↗
🛠️
Free & Open-Source Tools I Love
ToolWhy It's Here
Audacity Industry-standard for professional audio recording, editing, podcasts, and narration.↗
KeePassXC Rock-solid, offline, portable password vault. No compromises.↗
Ghostwriter Clean, distraction-free Markdown editor built for serious writers.↗
Obsidian Powerful knowledge base and networked note-taking. Use selectively, it can become overkill.↗
VLC The only media player you will ever need. Plays everything, asks for nothing.↗
Krita Elite open-source digital painting and illustration tool.↗
Pinta Lightweight, delightful image editor. The spiritual successor to classic Paint.↗

THIS IS HOW I RUN PITHY CYBORG.
SOVEREIGN AND PARANOID.

WANT MORE SIGNAL?

The tools above come from a newsletter obsessed with AI, privacy, and cutting through the noise. No fluff. No filler. Just the stuff that matters.

JOIN PITHY CYBORG. IT'S FREE!

Thousands of nerds already inside. You'd fit right in.

Affiliate Disclosure

90% of the tools on this page are free and open source. I also promote a few of my favorite premium apps as an affiliate to help cover the cost of running Pithy Cyborg. If you make a purchase through my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support independent, ad-free AI news. Win-win.

Newsletter Podcast All My Links Privacy Policy Contact