1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,040 have you ever like, uh, found something really cool online, you know, 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,720 like a super insightful article or something. And then you're like, Oh man, 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,000 I wish I could save this, you know, 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,280 cause it feels like it's going to disappear tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. 5 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:18,720 It's tough, right? I mean, so much is out there. 6 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,760 It is. And it's like, you can't just grab it. You know what I mean? 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,320 It was like trying to hold on to smoke or something. But, uh, today, 8 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,480 we're going to look at ways that we can actually kind of save these bits of the 9 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,600 internet that are important to us. Oh, and by the way, 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,560 big thanks to safe server for making this whole deep dive possible. 11 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:37,240 They're great. They are safe. 12 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,760 Server takes care of hosting for tools like this and also offer some awesome 13 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,360 advice on digital transformation. 14 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,800 You can find out more at www.safeserver.dg. 15 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:51,200 Yeah. And you know that feeling you mentioned about content just vanishing. 16 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:52,800 That's something a lot of people struggle with. 17 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:57,560 What we're talking about today is we'll think of it as building your own digital 18 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,800 arc right for all that information. So it doesn't just disappear. 19 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,760 It's the perfect metaphor and the tool we're focusing on today is called archive 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,760 box. Catchy name. It is right now. 21 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:09,680 It might sound kind of like, I don't know, 22 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,560 something someone would use in their basement, super techie. 23 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:17,200 And this whole idea of self-hosting might sound a bit intimidating, but trust me, 24 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:22,600 the basic idea is really simple and super helpful, especially if you are, 25 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,120 you know, someone who wants to learn, stay informed, 26 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,560 all that without getting lost in like the endless sea of the internet. 27 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:31,720 It can be overwhelming. Oh, totally. I mean, 28 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,880 think of archive box, like your own personal library for web 29 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,480 pages. That's a good way to put it. It's like that save as button, you know, 30 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,080 but for the whole internet. And the best part is you control it. 31 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,440 You're in charge. Exactly. And it's what's known as open source. 32 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,440 That means it's free and people are constantly improving it. 33 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,840 Like a community effort. Cool. It is. And the self-hosted part, 34 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,000 that just means you decide where it all lives, your computer, a home server, 35 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,640 wherever you own your stuff. 36 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:04,080 So instead of just bookmarking something and hoping for the best archive box 37 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,840 actually makes a copy. Copies actually, sometimes a bunch of different kinds. 38 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,480 Oh wow. Yeah. It's like super safe keeping for the stuff you care about. 39 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,720 So how is this different from say archive.org? 40 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,600 They're saving tons of web pages already. Sure. 41 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:22,560 Think of archive.org like a huge public library open to everyone. 42 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,440 Archive box is more like your own personal collection. 43 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,200 You can save public stuff. Sure. But also private stuff, 44 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,320 things behind a login or just things you want to keep to yourself. 45 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,760 Makes sense. So it's not just the big public stuff. 46 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,160 It's the things I find valuable, even if they're niche or personal. 47 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,760 Now you keep mentioning open source. What's the big deal with that for, 48 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:43,440 you know, regular people? Okay. 49 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,760 So imagine you have a recipe and it's open source. 50 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,960 Anyone can look at it, use it, change it. Even that's archive box. 51 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,600 It's constantly evolving because a community of developers are working on it. 52 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,720 You get to use all that for free. So it's like always getting better. Yeah. Okay. 53 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,480 So we've got a good idea of what archive box is, but why is this good for you? 54 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,640 You know, our listeners, you guys are all about learning, 55 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:09,080 getting the info quickly, but thoroughly seeing different sides of things and 56 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,480 having those aha moments. How does archive box help with all that? 57 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,800 It's all about efficiency. Totally. It's like, 58 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,120 instead of relying on like scattered bookmarks, 59 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:24,280 you're actually saving the source. You're curating your own library of knowledge. 60 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:26,120 Okay. Give me some examples. 61 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,600 What could someone actually save using archive box? 62 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:34,080 So many things, research papers, code examples. 63 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,560 Say you find a really good thread on social media packed with insights. 64 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:41,100 Archive box can grab that or you're researching something and you find a bunch 65 00:03:41,100 --> 00:03:44,080 of articles, you know, you'll want to reference later archive box. 66 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,960 So it's not just like log posts. Nope. It's super versatile. 67 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,320 You can give it specific web addresses. You can import your browser bookmarks, 68 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:53,240 even stuff you've saved in apps like pocket. 69 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,240 If you follow people on social media or use RSS feeds, 70 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,160 it can even automatically save new content from those pretty neat, right? 71 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,680 Very cool. So that's the quickly gained knowledge part, right? 72 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:03,840 You've got it all in one place, 73 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:09,480 but how do you avoid being overwhelmed by like a mountain of digital stuff? 74 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,280 Here's where it gets really clever. Archive box doesn't just save a link. 75 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,280 It goes into the webpage and it pulls out the content. 76 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,840 So it saves the text, downloads videos and images, even grabs code. 77 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:24,880 So when you revisit something, the key stuff is right there. 78 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,760 You can even search through your archive by keyword. It's powerful. Wow. 79 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,360 So no more endless scrolling, 80 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,040 trying to remember where you saw that one thing. Exactly. And it gets better. 81 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,000 To make sure your stuff doesn't become unusable later on. 82 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,240 It saves everything in standard format. So you've got HTML pages, PDFs, images, 83 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,760 video files, plain text files, even special archive files called WRC. 84 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,080 Those are like time capsules for a webpage. 85 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,520 You can open all this stuff with tons different programs, 86 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:53,160 even if you're not using archive box anymore. 87 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,520 So this is all about building like a personal, well organized, 88 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,480 future proof library of the internet. You got it. Okay. Let's get a little 89 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:01,040 technical. 90 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,560 How does archive box actually do all this like step by step? Okay. 91 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,680 So you give archive box a URL. It takes a snapshot of that page, 92 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:09,840 but not just a photo. 93 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:13,400 It saves it in all those different formats we talked about just in case one 94 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,200 format becomes obsolete down the road, like multiple backups. 95 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,720 So like extra careful. Totally. So it grabs the website code, the HTML, 96 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:25,400 the CSS, sometimes even the JavaScript creates a single HTML file for offline 97 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,760 viewing. Super handy. Then a screenshot for visuals, a PDF, 98 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,680 good for reading. And those war are C files, 99 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:34,960 bundle everything together and for articles, 100 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,680 it can strip away everything except the text. So it's really clean. 101 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,800 If there's video or audio, it downloads those files. 102 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,760 If it's a software project like on GitHub, it can save the code itself. 103 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:49,560 Wow. That's a lot. So in everyday use, do I need to be like a coding expert? 104 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:53,360 Not at all. One of the coolest things is there are options for everyone. 105 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,560 If you like the command line, you can use it that way. 106 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,440 But there's also a web interface, like a website you access in your browser, 107 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:03,200 click buttons, manager stuff, easy peasy. And if you're a developer, 108 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,080 you can use it within other software. Cool. So there's a user friendly way, 109 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,080 even if you're not into coding. Absolutely. 110 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,640 And to make things even easier, there's a scheduling feature. 111 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,160 You can set it to check your favorite sites, social media feeds, RSS fees, 112 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,680 whatever automatically at set times. It grabs new content. 113 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:21,840 So you don't have to, that's a game changer. 114 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:25,120 And you mentioned that it uses familiar tools. Yeah. Under the hood, 115 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,000 it's using things like Chrome, W get for downloading, 116 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,040 YT DLP for videos. 117 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:36,160 And remember your data is stored in regular files and folders, nothing fancy, 118 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,080 nothing locked away. That makes me feel better. Okay. 119 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,760 So how do we actually get started with archive box? What's the easiest way? 120 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:46,360 So installing software can be scary, but they've made it really easy. 121 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,920 One of the simplest ways is using something called Docker Docker. 122 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,680 Think of it as a package. It has archive box plus everything else. 123 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,320 It needs to run all in one. You don't have to install a bunch of separate things. 124 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,840 Docker takes care of it. Like a pre-assembled kit. Precisely. 125 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:05,200 The archive box docs have a quick start guide. They recommend Docker compose. 126 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:06,840 That's how you manage these Docker packages. 127 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:11,240 Easiest way to get going on pretty much any computer. Mac, Windows, Linux, 128 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,880 you name it. You download a file, run a couple of commands. That's it. 129 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,160 The docs tell you exactly what to do. 130 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,440 That sounds doable. And once it's set up, how do I save a webpage? 131 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,000 Easy. Once archive box is running, you just type a single command, 132 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,200 include the website address and that's it. Again, 133 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,000 the docs show you exactly how to do it. 134 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,800 What about that web interface? Once archive box is going, 135 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,400 you can usually get to it by typing a specific address into your web browser, 136 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:41,000 something like HTTP dot one two seven dot zero dot one point eight zero zero 137 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,920 zero usually. And that's it. You'll see the archive box interface, 138 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:49,400 add new URLs, browse your archive, change settings, all with your mouse. Nice. 139 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,440 So it really does offer like power and simplicity at the same time. 140 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,560 And then we can use it. So to wrap things up for our listeners, 141 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,800 it sounds like archive box is a really amazing way to like create your own 142 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,720 personally controlled archive of internet stuff. That's important to you. 143 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,240 And it's built to last. Yeah. It's about giving you the power you curate, 144 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:09,640 you preserve, and you do it on your terms. 145 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:11,840 And even though it might seem a little techie at first, 146 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:13,320 the main goal is simple, 147 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,200 making sure you can access the stuff you need for years to come. 148 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,560 If you're curious or you want to try it out, check out the archive box website. 149 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:23,280 It's archive box.io. 150 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,960 They're also on GitHub where all the code is available. 151 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:27,080 Makes you wonder, doesn't it? 152 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:31,280 What if you had a reliable archive of like all the important info you found 153 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:32,960 online? What could you do with that? 154 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,320 That's an interesting thought, something to think about. 155 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:40,280 And a huge thanks to Safe Server once again for supporting this deep dive. 156 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:42,880 They provide hosting for software like this, 157 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,520 and they also offer some really cool consulting on all kinds of digital 158 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,960 transformation stuff. Find out more at www.safeserver.de. 159 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:51,920 They're awesome.