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Android isn't cool with teenagers, and that's a big problem
  • They are definitely both pretty terrible, pick your poison I guess. Apple will gouge your eyes out with overpriced hardware and Alphabet (Google) will spy and you and sell your data. I don't like either, but faced with the choice I'd rather pay more for my phone and avoid Google's surveillance capitalism empire as much as possible. If you don't mind advertisements and privacy isn't important Google is probably a better choice.

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    Privacy is Priceless, but Signal is Expensive
  • Ended my donations to Signal after discovering they choose Google Hosting Services over open source and privacy respecting alternatives.

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    Android isn't cool with teenagers, and that's a big problem
  • It's surprising that teenagers are uncomfortable using a surveillance device created by the largest advertising company in the world. Our friends at Alphabet Inc simply want to monitor everything you search for and all your communication because they care and want to keep you safe.

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    recommended search engine?
  • Better to De-Google sooner rather than later imho and it's fairly safe to assume corporate greed will continue to send it's products and services deeper into the abyss. I think using alternatives now will make life easier in the future as Google becomes less useful with each passing day. Also, just using Google gives them access to personal data to harvest and ad revenue. I think we should try to be conscientious consumers whenever possible and use less evil alternatives. I don't want to support Google's enshitification of the Internet, censorship, anti-competitive practices, etc...

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    Defederation from Lemmygrad.ml
  • Are you saying MK ULTRA is just a conspiracy theory and never happened? I've watched documentaries on PBS, BBC and the History Channel. Clearly the program existed, as for what clandestine operations it ran, that's certainly loaded with conspiracy theories.

    If everything is a conspiracy theory, nothing is a conspiracy theory.

    https://www.history.com/topics/us-government-and-politics/history-of-mk-ultra

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    Pirated game on Linux?
  • Microsoft has gone decades doing everything they can to ensure Windows is what people think of when they think of computers and its worked.

    I agree, I think Google has done an even better job brainwashing people to the point that any search online is considered 'Googling', still makes me cringe to hear ppl unknowingly shill for a corporate monopoly without even consciously knowing they are a walking advert for Alphabet's data harvesting empire.

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    Wired has retracted its article "How Google alters search queries"
  • This is the first you've heard about Google/Youtube censoring people or altering search queries? It must have been a decade ago when they removed Kodi from autocomplete because "it was used by pirates." Even when I disagree with the people they remove, which is most of the time, I am still uncomfortable with a for profit corporation like Alphabet Inc having that much power to decide what people can and cannot see in addition to manipulating search results.

    Nearly every content creator I follow talks about not being about to talk about certain issues for fear of being canceled. That's censorship, maybe not Chinese style putting you in jail, but it's still corporate censorship. Google has plenty of defense contracts, as well as contracts with other government agencies. Their previous CEO now leads the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) and they work with the defense department on AI and robotics.

    A company as untrustworthy and clandestine as Google will make it difficult to connect some dots, but corporation are legally structured to always act in accordance with shareholder interest and Google legally has the right to remove whatever content it wants as a private company. Of course they remove, alter or censor results and content in order to increase profits, their CEO is legally required to act in this way to fulfill the mandate of their position.

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    Not even the ghost of obsolescence can coerce users onto Windows 11
  • Windows 11 is also much better at collecting personal data with improved analytics and Microsoft spyware running under the hood. Not to mention it's superiority at serving advertisements and embedding them in nearly every aspect of the UI.

    It's doubtful that Microsoft shareholders have meetings about how to improve the user experience of their OS. I think they are more concerned with extracting every penny they can designing the most efficient backend to harvest data and push ads, kinda like our friends at Alphabet, Microsoft is trying so desperately to emulate.

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    Goodbye Youtube and thanks for all the fish
  • Google Videos was an alternative to Youtube in the early days, but since Google is too greedy to invest in innovation, it just buys it's competitors, so we don't see them unless we consider community alternatives that can't be bought by Alphabet like Peertube.

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    Wired has retracted its article "How Google alters search queries"
  • Isn't greed inherently evil? Google takes it to a new level as they aren't only a greedy corporation, but a military contractor embedded into the military industrial complex. So, when the US gets involved in a conflict Google profits and they control the flow of information through their search and video platform monopolies. They remove content critical of US military intervention, not to protect national security, but their profits from the defense sector.

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    Looking for the simplest means of playing videos from a USB storage device on a non-smart TV
  • Kodi seems like your best bet, it's very accessible across many devices, you could use an older PC, Raspberry Pi or even an Xbox if you wanted to save money by repurposing a device you may already have.

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    Wired has retracted its article "How Google alters search queries"
  • I'll never understand corporate apologists that live to defend the billion dollar companies ruining the Internet. Google is an ad company, but you can't believe they'd alter search queries to sell ads? How could you possibly trust Google after they've been caught illegally sniffing people's Wi-Fi with their Google Maps vehicles, spying on kids in school with Chromebooks and destroying incriminating documents in a federal court case to hide their actions?

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    I’m sorry, but I cannot help you with finding pirated movies. Piracy is illegal and unethical 😉
  • Libertarianism is a broad ideology that means different things depending on who you ask. The notion that an authoritarian government can be controlled by billionaires and corporations is certainly viable. Undermining those forces and resisting their control by by not paying for content and controlling your access to said content by having your media library is exercising personal liberty.

    The comment I made was quite nuanced and I mentioned that I'm personally more inclined to socialism and liberal views, but hopefully not too ideological that I can't see value in different ideas.

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    [discussion]: regarding the best OS for a pirate
  • If you care so much about avoiding analytics and advertising why on earth are you "googling" your questions on the world's largest advertising and analytics website?

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    I’m sorry, but I cannot help you with finding pirated movies. Piracy is illegal and unethical 😉
  • Piracy is being proliferated by government's inability to enforce anti-trust laws and protect consumers. We need another Roosevelt to come in and break up the monopolies corrupted by power and greed. When the government is too weak and corrupt to represent people's interest they find another way to take care of themselves. I'm personally quite liberal and inclined to socialism, but I as write this comment I can feel some connection to the libertarian creed of not depending on a centralized authority to take care of things that could be handled more effectively at the individual or community level.

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    Windows 12 May Require a Subscription
  • Sometimes moneygrubbing shareholders do us a favor by steering companies into implementing terrible policies. If Reddit wouldn't have been so greedy with it's treatment of third-party app developers most of use wouldn't be on Lemmy right now. If Microsoft forces Windows users to pay a subscription I think it sends more people away from closed-source garbage and into the arms of the open source community. I've enjoyed watching Reddit implode, hopefully I get to watch a similar show from our friends at Microsoft.

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    I've felt intense love and heartbreak before and I don't think I could ever handle it again. Am I wrong for thinking that it doesn't get any better?
  • In my experience the suffering of losing a romantic love is less intense the second time, but the falling in love and passion can also be less intense and take longer to build up as you're more guarded with your heart after being heartbroken before.

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    How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet
  • Using an advertising company for anything and expecting objective results is a bit ridiculous. Use DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, MetaGer, anything but Google.

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    What's up with people on the piracy subreddit always talking about how they pay for stuff. your on a piracy community and they talk about purchasing digital goods? I don't get it. New piracy gen ?
  • Pirating gives me the option not to support shit corporations that fuck over consumers with no business ethics. I can pirate the content I choose and pay for it when I want to support creators.

    Historically, pirating and underground markets for good and services begin to proliferate in a society as a sign that their economic system is failing. IMHO, unbridled capitalism and corporate shitification in the US is turning the Internet into a hellscape with 5 companies basically controlling the entire Internet with so much lobbying muscle behind them they remain untouchable through what remains of the democratic system.

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  • I know there are some tools including firejail and bindtointerface on standard Linux Distros, but they don't run in userland, so whenever the deck updates they will be overwritten.

    Anyone have any ideas how to block access on a Steam Deck?

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