Pseudo-monopolies are great at extinguishing imagination like that, and tbh Google search (as I understand its basic setup) was only as good as it was thanks to timing and few really good competitors.

  • @Elliott
    2•1 year ago

    I think based on your response I’m going to jump in. What other subscriptions you think are worth it?

    • @[email protected]English
      2•1 year ago

      Not the OP but currently have:

      • Kagi - Search…
      • Proton - Email, Calendar, VPN, Pass (I just use for aliases). Now that I’ve upped my privacy knowledge I need to reevaluate. I do like their products though from a useability perspective. VPN supporting port forwarding is a bonus.
      • Backblaze B2 - off site backups using rclone and Round Sync (android rclone) to sync files
      • Mullvad VPN - Just got based on the XMR payment option and RAM only servers. Still deciding where I have a VPN included with Proton. I don’t like putting my eggs all in one basket though as I did with Google so its attractive to keep.
      • Bitwarden - Password manager. May switch to self hosted in the future.
      • Standard Notes - May switch to self hosted if I don’t lose any features I use.
        • @[email protected]English
          1•1 year ago

          Thanks! Also trying out these just to evaluate this past week, lol.

          • EteSync - Contact sync since Proton won’t integrate natively with android (grr). Probably self host this one when I get time to rebuild my server also.
          • Jmp.chat - More of a curiosity, but thought it was cool I could get a number with voice/text over XMPP (native dialer integration, tex t in XMPP client) plus a data eSIM all with Monero and without giving any info. Not private due to the calls/text come in the clear. Could be anonymous if you get a phone not tied to your name. Obviously you can be narrowed down to a tower you’re connecting to also. Using a free xmpp server now but want to self host this one also.
          • Frugal Usenet / NZBgeek - Bought with crypto over VPN and no personal info. Working on rebuilding my mini-pc server as an *arr stack, then look into self hosting everything else.
    • UnlimitedRumination [he/him]English
      2•1 year ago

      Sorry, I forgot to check for replies til now. I’m using almost the exact set of services the other commenter is, minus mullvad (proton is fine for me), backblaze (I have a homelab with a lot of redundant storage capacity and have enough important stuff backed up to the cloud in other ways I’m fine with having to rebuild the rest if something big happens), and standard notes (but I have been considering switching to it just this week, just haven’t done the research).