It’s impressive how duckduckgo manages to be so much better than bing despite being a frontend for bing

  • Scrubbles
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    2567 days ago

    Oh my god that’s amazing. Instructions on how to do what you’re literally doing, dead internet theory is so correct. Instructions for robots by robots

    • @renzevOP
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      7 days ago

      Unpopular opinion: dead internet is not only real, but GOOD. Once robots get good enough to autonomously sign up for websites and make convincing posts, this will force us humans to go actually outside, make friends, form deep social relationship, and build lasting, resilient communities. Meanwhile on the internet, websites that are willing to allow AI content for money will eventually die out due to lack of actual users. The only remaining websites will be run by individuals and organizations with non-profit motives, and a strict human-only policy with verification based on word-of-mouth / invite system.

      • Scrubbles
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        317 days ago

        The economy was always bots buying from other bots…

      • @[email protected]
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        197 days ago

        this will force us humans to go actually outside, make friends, form deep social relationship, and build lasting, resilient communities

        There is no chance it goes that way, how is talking to people outside even an option for someone used to just being on the internet? Even if the content gets worse, the basic mechanisms to keep people scrolling still function, while the physical and social infrastructure necessary for in person community building is nonexistent.

      • JackbyDev
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        24 days ago

        Boooo, this is just diet accelerationism! Let me have genuine online connections in addition to my IRL ones.

      • @Matriks404
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        106 days ago

        Enshittified internet and software made me no longer obsessed with technology, and instead I focused on other hobbies. And it also made my socialize more.

      • @[email protected]
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        66 days ago

        I’m a geek, always around computers, gaming, tinkering, etc.

        Once I moved for work, to Spain, didn’t know the language. My laptop broke, like, when opening it, the plastic was fatigued and the screen just bent.

        I was broke, expensive training… Couldn’t replace it before a few months.

        So I went to the bar of the inn I was starting at. And just, tried to pick up some words.

        Long story short, after a while I knew everyone in town, had many friends, and after work, laptop or not, I would go to the bar. I got fluent in Spanish too.

        Happiest time of my life. I don’t think my mental health has ever been as good as back then.

      • @makyo
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        47 days ago

        I’m extremely wary and nervous about how disruptive LLMs can/will be but one relief is just getting an answer directly for things instead of wading through page after page of SEO optimized BS. Just really nice when you can get a quick answer and get back to the things you want to be doing.

        I suppose the AI overlords will screw that up somehow too but IMO it’s at a brief moment of usefulness.

        • @[email protected]
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          157 days ago

          If the answer is even correct. Friend tried to use it to see what laptops with 4k screens cost and all 3 options were in fact, not 4k at all because the AI is dog shit :)

          • @makyo
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            97 days ago

            No that’s very true, I had it look up leather repair shops not too long ago and it listed six completely fictional shops with fully fleshed out trip-advisor style blurbs for each one. It was hilariously convincing and a complete waste of my time. But it does seem like that happens less and less lately.

            • skulblaka
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              97 days ago

              Thing is, you never have any clue whether the AI is telling you something even remotely true unless you go behind it and trawl through six pages of shitty SEO-optimized bullshit anyway. So you can either take its word at face value and potentially be completely wrong, or else just do the research yourself anyway and ignore the AI answer.

              Personally, I choose the second. I find it to be less frustrating if I just assume the AI is wrong.

              • @tux7350
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                47 days ago

                This is kinda how I’ve come to look at it. You cannot ask questions of fact to a machine that works in probabilities.

  • @Katana314
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    1117 days ago

    Okay, totally off topic…what is it with this annoying trend of censoring a company/name with an asterisk when it’s a subject of ire? It just bugs me - and not in a way that focuses my anger to Microsoft.

    • @ilinamorato
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      537 days ago

      With stuff like Tesla and Twitter, it can keep away the weird nerds who search those terms in hopes of white-knight-sealioning a conversation into oblivion. I think it just became part of the lexicon.

      • 2001aCentenaryofFederation
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        417 days ago

        The inverse of this is that people who filter out specific words in their feeds will be tricked into seeing it. You get to piss off 2 groups of people by doing it!

        • @renzevOP
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          56 days ago

          Get two birds stoned at once!!

        • @UnderpantsWeevil
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          7 days ago

          https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/sea-lioning

          Sea-Lioning is an Internet slang term referring to intrusive attempts at engaging an unwilling debate opponent by feigning civility and incessantly requesting evidence to back up their claims. The term was coined in September 2014 by anti-GamerGate Internet users to mock perceived online discussion tactics employed by GamerGate supporters.

          • @ilinamorato
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            36 days ago

            Dang, that comic will be ten years old next week.

          • @[email protected]
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            6 days ago

            I gotta be honest, the sea lion is not the bad guy in this comic. Lady randomly says some racist shit, and a member of the group she’s being racist against calls her out for being racist. And then the fact that the sea lion called the racist out is apparently justification for the initial racist statement.

            • @michaelmrose
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              46 days ago

              Sea lion is slang for a type of behavior a person exhibits not an immutable characteristic of the person like the color of their skin. They didn’t have to prove the behavior because the behavior expressed IS the behavior.

            • JackbyDev
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              14 days ago

              It’s mocking the type of people that try to turn anything and everything into some sort of formal debate when it was just a casual conversation then act like they’ve won some sort of argument when you don’t engage.

            • @ilinamorato
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              6 days ago

              Racism justifies harassment and home invasion? I don’t think I can necessarily agree with that. Consequences, yes. But harassment? I’ll have to think about it.

              The point Malki was making, I think (and the way I take it) is less about the purpose or content of the discourse and more about the harassment veiled in false civility as a means of silencing discussion.

              There’s also an element of Person C inserting themselves into a private conversation between Person A and Person B, even if that conversation is being held in a public place.

              Pretend he’s not a sea lion, but a conservative, and you’ll get the intended effect.

              • @Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In
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                16 days ago

                Racism justifies harassment and home invasion?

                You realize internet sealions don’t actually invade homes?

                You realise the harassment stops if you don’t respond?

                • @ilinamorato
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                  35 days ago

                  I realize that. The person above seemed to think that everything in this clearly allegorical comic is somehow intended to be taken literally.

              • @[email protected]
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                6 days ago

                Racism justifies harassment and home invasion?

                Yeah. Not gonna cry over what the victims of racism do to racists.

                and more about the harassment veiled in false civility as a means of silencing discussion.

                How is the sea lion silencing discussion? They weren’t discussing anything, they were having a racist circlejerk. The racist lady said a racist thing and the sea lion invited discussion by asking, “Why did you say that racist thing?” and then they refused to actually explain why they’re racist against sea lions, treating it as self-evident that being racist against sea lions is correct and thus that it is unreasonable to question it.

                Pretend he’s not a sea lion, but a conservative

                He can’t choose not to be a sea lion. This is kind of incoherent. “Pretend he’s not black, but a conservative.” This sea lion could also be conservative, that doesn’t really have anything to do with the fact that he’s being criticized for immutable properties he was born with, not for anything of substance.

                • @michaelmrose
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                  56 days ago

                  Again sea lioning is a type of behavior not a type of person or being. As a form of humor they rather than have a person embody the behavior be a literal sea lion because whimsical tension between the metaphorical sea lion also being an actual sea lion is funny.

                • @ilinamorato
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                  06 days ago

                  Not gonna cry over what the victims of racism do to racists.

                  Eh…I dunno. I’m not going to tone police anyone, and consequences for bad actions are definitely good, but do two very-wrongs make a kinda-right? I’m not sold.

                  [the rest]

                  Look…if you don’t vibe with the comic, that’s fine. It’s just obviously not about all the stuff that you seem to think it’s about.

    • @andros_rex
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      337 days ago

      I like the classic Usenet “Micro$oft.” Producers of Microshaft Wind-blows.

      • @renzevOP
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        106 days ago

        Don’t forget Microshit’s renowned Orifice software suite!

      • Lev_Astov
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        56 days ago

        $

        I only ever use Michaelsoft Binbows.

    • Lvxferre
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      227 days ago

      It conveys “I have such a disdain for that thing that I’m asterisking its name like it was a slur or swear word”.

      I’m not a big fan either, even if you can find some secondary roles for that (as keeping someone from finding it, like ilinamorato exemplified). It distracts the reader from what is being said to the author’s personal opinion about what is being said.

    • ✺roguetrick✺
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      187 days ago

      It’s ironic, except for when we’re talking about the Fr*nch. It’s self aware humor that you’re being ridiculous. The tone it’s supposed to convey in situations like thisis that you’re being hyperbolically obtuse.

      • @spongebue
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        46 days ago

        Yeah, that Franch dipping sauce in Breaking Bad was crazy!

    • @GrammarPolice
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      7 days ago

      Honestly, it’s better than: fck, blly and s*icide

      • @yogurtwrong
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        26 days ago

        Those are generally used for bypassing filters on TikTok and Instagram

        But like, come on man, no matter how much you censor it I know the word and I get the message. Because that’s why you wrote it, you want me to read and understand it

        • @spongebue
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          16 days ago

          And here we are, not on TikTok or Instagram, and still seeing it

  • Billiam
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    747 days ago

    And to add insult to injury…

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️
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      44 days ago

      People are going to see this, so here’s the answer.

      Logitech’s web UI is crap. See that tiny, unlabled triangle on the list on the left?

      Click it and pick your OS version.

      Then you get the download.

      • Billiam
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        4 days ago

        …huh. TIL.

        The last time I had to download the unifying software it was more obvious than that.

  • @Linkerbaan
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    486 days ago

    How is Softonic still allowed to advertise it’s literally Malware

    • @[email protected]
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      36 days ago

      Just so I understand. I should not be downloading anything from there?

      I clicked a link just yesterday, but something felt off so I backed out and went to the MSI page to download afterburner.

      • @Linkerbaan
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        46 days ago

        No never. Softonic repackages existing programs with a malware bundle.

        • @[email protected]
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          6 days ago

          Why is that even allowed and why are search engines not held accountable.

          Like piracy bad, but this is cool I guess.

          • @Ledivin
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            6 days ago

            It’s all free software, so nobody cares because they don’t stand to gain any money from fixing it. #CapitalismRocks

  • @Smokeydope
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    Wow reading through these comments makes me a little sad. Most people still don’t know jack about search engines or how they differ under the hood, or eve just how to add them into your browser search bar. Looks like all the effort I put into that that simple search engine guide was in vain.

    • @niktemadur
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      76 days ago

      Well that was a spectacular read in your link, keep calling attention to it, 'cause it’s gonna be a constant drip-drip-drip of people finding out. I didn’t know, but starting today, I’m gonna experiment with SearXNG as my primary search engine, see how that goes!

    • @[email protected]
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      26 days ago

      Thanks

      Yacy seems to be what I want but I am worried about the content that would get indexed

    • soapyplasm
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      16 days ago

      Thanks for making such an interesting guide! I’ll read through this and hopefully learn more about search engines and what would work the best for me.

  • @devilish666
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    386 days ago

    Softonic be like every app you want we have it, even the non exist ones. But once you installed our apps you already have made a pact with the devil

    • Possibly linux
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      56 days ago

      Does anyone know exactly what malware they are serving? I’m tempted to run it though virustotal.

      • @dandu3
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        76 days ago

        It’s not malware it’s more adware. At least it used to be

  • @[email protected]
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    426 days ago

    Softonic has to have made a deal with the SEO devil.

    Non idea how their disgusting malware is always on top.

  • @BlameTheAntifa
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    256 days ago

    Borderline?

    There’s still DuckDuckGo, or Kagi if you are rich.

      • dantheclamman
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        146 days ago

        Yes, and DDG has really been degrading over the last few months in quality of results imo.

        • JackbyDev
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          14 days ago

          I’ll be honest, DDG has never blown me away and I’ve been using it for roughly 5 years. It’s not awful or anything, but maybe once every month or two I need to resort to Google because it can’t find something. I’m absolutely willing to sacrifice some quality for privacy in the general case, though.

          • dantheclamman
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            14 days ago

            Yes, it has never been the best in terms of relevance or depth of index. But lately when I do searches for something like “cherry shrimp aquarium water quality requirements” I’ve been overwhelmed by AI-written SEO blogs. Where google still pulls up results from forums, reddit, other relevant actual humans talking.

  • @[email protected]
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    567 days ago

    Is softonic actually malware or an unreliable repository that may contain malware? I’ve never actually clicked in lol

    • @renzevOP
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      677 days ago

      I unknowingly downloaded some software from there when I was a kid, and, from what I remember, it came bundled with some sort of update manager or something. Even if it’s not outright malware, I would wager most people who are looking to download logitech’s utility don’t want some irrelevant third-party garbage on their system. So AT BEST it’s crapware / bloatware

      • DarkThoughts
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        207 days ago

        They had some issues with their downloader in the past but that thing has been canned a long time ago. It’s not a great site but it isn’t malware.

        • flicker
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          157 days ago

          That’s the beauty of the internet. There’s always a competitor. I don’t have to use someone who had a bad reputation at one point but is fine now. I can just use someone else.

    • @xpinchx
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      217 days ago

      My elderly dad fell for something similar trying to call HP support, he googled the number and the top result was some bullshit. They had him set up remote access and compromised all his data. Old man had to reset everything.

      He called me saying what happened, I had him shut down and unplug. I recovered what I could but he lost a lot of data.

      This shit should be illegal. Like, I’m sure it is technically but there shouldnt be unofficial sponsored results above legitimate sources.

      • @Crashumbc
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        127 days ago

        In a perfect world, they’d be legally/financially responsible for any ads they serve up like that.

      • @[email protected]
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        127 days ago

        Yeah… I get that you pay for ads, but ads should never masquerade themselves as legitimate content.

    • It’s just a mirror for software that is or was free. Though it’s been around for years, and hasn’t been relevant or needed by most people for a long time now so it very well could contain viruses and shit these days.

  • @[email protected]
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    216 days ago

    It’s gone really downhill ever since co-pilot

    It’s hard to call it better than Google now

  • @pyre
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    276 days ago

    still looks better than the average Google search

  • @[email protected]
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    226 days ago

    Stract.com open search engine a guy built in his basement. It is not perfect but feels like Google used to in the late 90s, when you had real results

  • @GeneralInterest
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    6 days ago

    I just use Google with uBlock Origin to get rid of adverts

  • @Brkdncr
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    95 days ago

    it’s Microsoft. You don’t need to edgelord censor yourself.