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What I use instead of Google services

gabrielweinberg.com

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Re: What I use instead of Google services

#21

Post by ankitml »

pavlov wrote: post #17
napoleond wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm sure that Apple adding DDG to Safari is the reason for this thinly veiled reciprocity. It seems unlikely that anyone other than Gabe could be sure of his intentions. At any rate, I assume he also uses Apple Maps for directions... if you know of any good non-Google/Apple competitors for that I would be very interested to hear about them.

Here by Nokia (the independent company, not the division sold to Microsoft): http://here.com Excellent maps and navigation in my experience.

I find them far superior to google maps (for cities in India)

Re: What I use instead of Google services

#22

Post by dannysu »

napoleond wrote: post #7

Another Fastmail endorsement--they really are fantastic. I confess to still using Gmail for some things but it's mostly just because I've been too lazy to switch over all of my accounts. Fastmail is truly a better service. As for calendar, I've heard good things about https://fruux.com/ although I haven't tried that myself yet. (And apparently Fastmail does calendar too--again, haven't tried.)

Another vote for FastMail calendar. Give it a shot.

I find that it integrates really well with Gmail. I've had experience before where invites from different email providers don't play well, but FastMail sending invite to Gmail works just fine.

Re: What I use instead of Google services

#24

Post by yegg »

dhragoon wrote: post #3

"Apple Maps"? This is shameless. Not sure how to reconcile that with the seemingly mandatory PRISM invocations, the post was almost stomachable up until the Apple cameo especially with the recent privacy headlines. At Least recommend something that isn't a huge downgrade in functionality, an OSM client or something. I'm sure that Apple adding DDG to Safari is the reason for this thinly veiled reciprocity. Privacy or…

I updated the post to clarify I use OSM via DuckDuckGo for places. On mobile, I use iOS over Android and for turn-by-turn directions I've found Apple maps to be the best alternative to Google maps. That's the long and the short of it. No conspiracy.

Re: What I use instead of Google services

#25

Post by awhitty »

acheron wrote: post #23

One thing I've been looking to replace is Google News. Anyone know of another similar news aggregator? (Don't say "reddit".)

SkimFeed[0] aggregates mostly tech news, but it's not nearly as feature-heavy as Google News. Maybe check it out?

0 - http://skimfeed.com/

Re: What I use instead of Google services

#27

Post by jfuhrman »

dhragoon wrote: post #3

"Apple Maps"? This is shameless. Not sure how to reconcile that with the seemingly mandatory PRISM invocations, the post was almost stomachable up until the Apple cameo especially with the recent privacy headlines. At Least recommend something that isn't a huge downgrade in functionality, an OSM client or something. I'm sure that Apple adding DDG to Safari is the reason for this thinly veiled reciprocity. Privacy or…

If you use Google maps on iOS, the location information can be used to track what stores you visit for ad tracking purposes. Does Apple Maps do anything like this? Apple makes most of its money from product sales rather than advertising.

http://digiday.com/platforms/google-tracking/

>But Google can also constantly track the location of iPhone users by way of Google apps for iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system. IOS is just behind Android in U.S. market share with 38.3 percent of users, per eMarketer. Nearly 17 percent of the American populace uses an iOS smartphone.

>When an iPhone user stops using an app, it continues running “in the background.” The user might not realize it, but the app continues working, much in the same way tabs function on a Web browser.

>Google’s namesake iOS app — commonly referred to as Google mobile search — continues collecting a user’s location information when it runs in the background. This information is then used to determine if that user visited a store and whether that store visit can be attributed to a search conducted in the app. Store visits can also be tracked via Google’s other iOS apps that use location services. If iOS users open their Chrome, Gmail or Google Maps app in a store, their location can be deemed a store visit

Re: What I use instead of Google services

#28

Post by oconnore »

spindritf wrote: post #10

OK, there's some value in diversifying instead of using one provider for everything but mostly he just swapped Apple, Fastmail, or Clicky in place of Google. They can still track him, read his email, know his calendar... The benefit here is marginal. And how do those companies stack up against Google when it comes to security? It's one thing to protect the data against snooping by the provider, it's anoter to protect…

The difference between data privacy now, and data privacy 10 or 20 years ago has little to do with how many people have access to it, or how secure it is. It mostly has to do with who can analyze it.

An example: where you walk in public is public information, but for most of human history, no one has had the capability to keep a database of that information and query it retroactively. Your location information is therefore less private now than it was before, because that information used to be impossible to reference meaningfully.

The same concept goes for email, calendars, contact graphs, etc. Using providers that don't have, or consciously avoid the capability to aggregate, analyze, and query it improves your privacy. Google is not one of those providers.

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