Batocera works really well, has a 10ft UI, and includes:

• Kodi to stream local media and can act as an Airplay receiver. I use Jellyfin as a server but I bet Emby would work just as well.
• the ability to run Flatpaks
• a nice 10 ft UI as the default and allows for customization
• emulation backends and moonlight game streaming
• the ability to pair Xbox, PlayStation, or any other Bluetooth controllers

Get a usb IR receiver like FLIRC or something similar with HDMI CEC to control everything via standard remote.

This is the first time I’ve heard anyone say Kodi has a learning curve. I’m curious what you found difficult?

The mini pc is the most flexible. Batocera works really well and includes:

• Kodi to stream local media and can act as an Airplay receiver
• the ability to run Flatpaks
• a nice 10 ft UI
• emulation backends and moonlight game streaming
• the ability to pair Xbox and PlayStation controllers

Get a usb IR receiver like FLIRC or something similar with HDMI CEC to control everything via standard remote.

Vote. Shit won’t change if you don’t make yourself heard.

Firefox + uBlock Origin + arkenfox user.js gives you privacy, security and anti-tracking. The only way to fly IMO.

I like Miniflux and there are several apps you can use to interface.

Scoop is preferred as it provides versioning and user installs compared to winget which are typically machine wide and require administrative roles.

Bitwarden for password management and Raivo OTP for 2FA\MFA.

Fantastic, lightweight, open source, and secure.

Per one of the Arkenfox maintainers: “There's nothing wrong with mozilla's telemetry - it uses PRIO, and it uses GLEAN, and it doesn't collect any PII, and it helps decisions upstream (and I'm not talking pedantic UI changes) that benefit everyone. Opt-in doesn't work. I'm sure you can google why. There is no reason to distrust Mozilla here - you're using their product” https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/issues/1659#issuecomment-1518353397

That being said, if anyone wishes to block the telemetry you can do so by following the Arkenfox recommendations and setting up uBO: https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wiki/4.1-Extensions And/or a network wide DNS blocker (which OP did).

Do yourself a favor and check out https://raivo-otp.com It’s FOSS, extremely easy to use, native, and customizable.

This article sums up what has happened a few times already: https://ploum.net/2023-06-23-how-to-kill-decentralised-networks.html

This isn’t any different.