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What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

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Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#121

Post by rapnie »

conception wrote: post #94
enumjorge wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s interesting because capitalism is all about choice and competition. But what if a player is so successful that it can pay to absorb any competitor that poses a serious threat? I don’t know how capitalism self heals from that.

Capitalism isn't all about choice and competition. Free Markets are. Capitalism is about the means of production being held in private hands - but those private hands still do their best to own all of the means of production and to lock out potential competitors. The two get conflated (free markets and capitalism) but they are different beasts. In fact, you can have a free market socialism (tried semi-successfully by…

Do you have a good read of free markets? I often see them pop up in discussions defending capitalism, and always got the idea they are some kind of utopia in the way they were presented.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#122

Post by LegitShady »

chx wrote: post #76
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #2

DuckDuckGo is really changing my world. It’s like I’m seeing a whole other internet I was missing before with Google search results. I get much more relevant answers and less SEO targeted garbage that says all the right words usually while saying nothing at all. I was skeptical, but I encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t before.

So I need a 1m long C7-C8 extension cord. Not a 30cm, not a 50cm, not a 1.8m, I need 1m long. Let's search: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=c7+c8+extension+cord+%221m%22&t=h_... let's force the titles: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=intitle%3Ac7+intitle%3Ac8+extensio... That's completely broken, the titles contain none of the three things asked for. yeah, I am not hopeful with duckduckgo either. I mean, Google is just as bad bu…

if you put a space between 1 and m your results get better.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#123

Post by gravitas »

prophesi wrote: post #111
suyash wrote: post #29

what's a good alternative to gmail?

For email clients, Thunderbird on desktop, FairEmail on Android. All open-source. It should be pretty straightforward for them to deduce what your Gmail SMTP settings are, and you'll be able to add your emails from other providers as well. If you mean actual email providers, that'll be a bit harder to find. Most of the good ones don't have a free tier. FastMail is solid. ProtonMail has a free tier, but you have to pa…

One thing that many don't talk about - what about Contacts, presuming we're using the Google Contacts integration? Email for me is kind of useless without being able to manage Contacts right alongside it, which Google integrates extremely well on Android.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#124

Post by dnpp123 »

anderspitman wrote: post #113
dnpp123 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For messaging, I highly encourage people to use matrix.org. For tech savvy people it's really easy to self-host https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy and the good part is that you can set up bridges to telegram, whatsapp, facebook, irc, discord, slack... So you can use those apps privately while waiting for people to switch to better alternatives (which may never happens sadly). Bonus: the deskto…

I tried, I really did. Got my close group of ~8 friends on the public Matrix server. People would miss messages because they only use Matrix for that one thing, and would forget to login/check/etc. That and a few choice little bugs pushed them back to FB messenger. That said, I'm hopeful for the future of the protocol.

Yes, things are still moving fast. AFAIK the final 1.0 version of the protocol spec was only released last Summer.

The "I missed message because I only use xxx for that one thing" is valid for every app as long as you have fragmentation in the messaging space I think. That's why I like the idea of using the same client for a multitude of services through bridges, and not forcing people to necessarily use your network (even if they should :p)

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#125

Post by tudelo »

fredley wrote: post #61
annadane wrote: post #36

It's not fair to the public that FB bought up Insta/Whatsapp. That is a true lack of choice. If it were just FB, fine, ignore it, don't use it, use Whatsapp. But no, they get to buy up competition whilst telling us how much our privacy and integrity is taken seriously

Facebook and Insta I can (and do!) live without. Whatsapp though, is the main method of communication, and particularly group communication for all of my friends. It's almost impossible to leave.

I wonder if its possible to mirror messaging apps in some way... like to use messenger/whatsapp/{insert better app here} as 'clients' and sync messages in a non annoying way (of course, im sure this would be actively undermined)

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#126

Post by [deleted] »

conception wrote: post #86
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #2

DuckDuckGo is really changing my world. It’s like I’m seeing a whole other internet I was missing before with Google search results. I get much more relevant answers and less SEO targeted garbage that says all the right words usually while saying nothing at all. I was skeptical, but I encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t before.

If you do need google Startpage.com is anonymized google.

[deleted]

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#127

Post by thrwaway69 »

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #87
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #2

DuckDuckGo is really changing my world. It’s like I’m seeing a whole other internet I was missing before with Google search results. I get much more relevant answers and less SEO targeted garbage that says all the right words usually while saying nothing at all. I was skeptical, but I encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t before.

I'm consistently surprised that this comment comes up here so often. I've tried DDG at length, many times, and I always go back to Google because I find it SO much better for programming-related questions. Maybe the denizens of HN are accustomed to using SO's built-in search? But that's still only a piece of the larger puzzle. I get a lot of mileage from blog posts as well.

You are not alone. It highly depends on what you search for even if it's programming related.

Google provides great results for common old-ish and repeated questions but you will notice less diversity - which can be pretty frustrating when you aren't looking for a definite answer.

You will find that it will give you old results from w3schools, codeacademy, SO, etc. Some of which shouldn't go into production...

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#128

Post by prophesi »

senthil_rajasek wrote: post #44
prophesi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically speaking, Google is the one who innovates ground-breaking privacy-violating technology, and Facebook copies them a year or two later with much less tact.

Name the privacy violating technology. How and please be specific. I can give examples of FB violating user privacy. Cambridge Analytica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_concerns_regarding_Goo...

They are the pioneers of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism

For specific technologies: Their search engine. Their Ad network. Google Maps / StreetView. Android OS. Google Home. Google Nest. Google Chrome. Chromebooks.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#129

Post by kodt »

When 90% of the people you email are on Gmail or GSuite does Proton mail really help? Yeah you get end to end encryption for other Proton mail users, but I don't know a single one. Google is going to have all of my emails anyway.

As for Facebook it is best just to quit. I don't even use Facebook to keep in touch with friends anymore. The value in Facebook is some of the groups. Local neighborhood groups seem to be the best source of information or things happening around your area if you care to know about it. Also different hobbies/interests have local FB groups that are the most active place for discussion with far more users than a small subreddit or dying forum community.

Perhaps I am old but I don't know a single person that uses Whatsapp or Signal. Everyone just uses old fashioned SMS or iMessage if they have iPhones.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#130

Post by have_faith »

msftie wrote: post #118
have_faith wrote: post #24

I'm actually building an alternative to Facebook for people fed up with Facebook and just want to stay in touch with people and not much more. I would go as far as calling it a glorified address book with some extra features for having up-to-date contact details for everyone that has granted you the privilege of having them and a very cut down version of the feed. Which brings me to the question of monetisation. I do…

Is an(other) alternative to Facebook the solution? Can we evolve beyond this? It seems to me like we all have what you’re building in our pocket already.

I think so. Facebook provides a lot of value to a lot of people but their monetisation model and general practices don't sit well with a lot of people so an "ethical" for lack of a better word alternative I think could be very desirable.
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