Whether you call it corruption or conflict of interest, the U.S. government agreeing to spend $400 million on Musk’s Tesla vehicles is clearly inappropriate. All the more since he CLAIMS to be trying to root out corruption! 🙄
“The Trump administration is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a new State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
“After reports circulated Wednesday night of the State Department’s intent to purchase Tesla vehicles, the document was edited, at 9:12 p.m., and now says the federal contract is for $400 million worth of “armored electric vehicles,” but the word “Tesla” was removed.”
Google services include the search engine, web browser, email, Google Drive (docs/sheets/forms/etc.), Android, financial services, and more.
But many people are getting tired of the monopoly and the questionable algorithms and privacy, and are considering other free alternatives. I am at the point where I am considering alternatives now, especially free, open-source software.
Below are some reasons why people are ending their relationships with Google and what alternatives they are choosing. (Click the links to read more about them.)
Google donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration, and its CEO, Sundar Pichai, was in attendance at the ceremony with other technocrat wannabes.
Google Calendar also removed Holocaust Remembrance Day, Black History Month, Pride Month, and more from the calendar. And rushed to rename the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps. More examples of bowing to Trump and his right-wing extremists.
Here are just a few recommendations for alternatives.
Web Browsers
Firefox – open source browser that emphasizes privacy along with a high level of customization with extensions and add-ons. Generally considered to be a fast and efficient browser with good memory management.
Brave – faster browser that blocks most ads and trackers, has a built-in VPN, and uses the same open-source Chromium engine as Chrome. It uses “fingerprint randomization,” making your browser appear unique each time you start, so sites can’t link your behavior.
Opera – built-in features include a free VPN, ad blocker, and a focus on privacy and security. It uses less system resources while offering extensive customization options.
DuckDuckGo – does not track your search history, IP address, or any other personal information. Automatically blocks tracking cookies and other trackers.
Search Engines
DuckDuckGo – best for privacy and has a simple interface. DDG lets you search for images, videos, news, maps, and shopping results. DDG also adds more header options depending on the search term, such as Definition, Meanings, Nutrition, and Recipes. While Google tracks your search history and purchase history and bases its ads on that, DDG doesn’t track anything, so the ads are actually based on the search results you are viewing at the time.”Just duck it!” 😀
Brave – often considered one of the most private search engines that offers independent results. Completely open source and now offers a choice of AI-powered or standard web results which are free from bias or political agendas. Brave search engine is powered by its own independent index, free from “big tech,” while DDG’s index is powered by Bing.
Tor – uses relays to protect privacy & anonymity, hiding IP addresses and blocking tracking, and can access the dark web because it can find websites that might be blocked in your region. Monitored more heavily because of the potential for illegal use.
Bing – has more serious and academic results than Chrome, includes AI CoPilot, and is great for searching news, images, videos, and maps
Email
GMX – one of the most secure free email platforms. Offers 65 GB of email storage and attachments up to 50MB. Includes calendars, online office, and some additional cloud storage on top of the email storage.
Protonmail – Offers zero-access encryption: even ProtonMail cannot access the content of your emails. Also zero ads and includes calendar, 1GB mail storage, and 5GB ProtonDrive storage, but only 3 email folders. More storage and apps with a paid subscription.
Yahoo mail – 1 TB of free email/attachment storage. Lets you make 3 free disposable email addresses that redirect to your mail account without revealing your actual address. Attachments are organized and easier to find.
Outlook.com (was HotMail) – integrates with other Microsoft products.
Online Office
GMX – free open-source platform compatible with Word/Excel/PowerPoint that is totally cloud-based and connected with GMX email.
OpenOffice – free open-source platform compatible with Word/Excel/PowerPoint and more. Must be downloaded to use.
LibreOffice – free open-source platform compatible with Word/Excel/PowerPoint and Access. Online version is available, but they emphasize downloading the free app and using it on your computer.
File Storage
Mega – 20 GB for free with no file size limit. Privacy encryption means even THEY cannot give you your password. Don’t lose it! Free version may have slower download speeds.
Internxt – 10 GB for free. Separate area for photos. Free version may have slower download speeds.
pCloud – 10 GB for free. Share files with others using links. Free version may have slower download speeds.
OneDrive – 5 GB of cloud storage, 15 GB of mailbox storage. Interfaces with other Microsoft products. Free version may have slower download speeds.
Maps
OpenStreetMap – privacy-focused and open data and community contributions makes it a more flexible and customizable platform. It’s open-source, created by volunteers, and is constantly updated. Also customizable and includes data about roads, buildings, trails, points of interest, and more.
Maps.me – for offline navigation, turn-by-turn directions, and finding points of interest, especially when traveling without cell service. Open source on GitHub. Allows custom labeling and following trails for hiking & biking.
MapQuest – online mapping service that includes routes, traffic, accident rerouting, parking, and gas prices, with a progress bar, ETA, and compass.
MapBox – makes beautiful customized maps. Can save maps offline. Offers real-time data on traffic, weather, and other location-based information. The free tier includes 50,000 map loads per month.
News Apps
While Google News is pretty reliable and unbiased, if you’re trying to get away from everything Google, here are some other free aggregator options:
AP News – if you had to just pick one news source that is the most reliable, fact-based, and unbiased, that would be AP News!
BBC News – another reliable, fact-based news source that focuses on
Flipboard – has a magazine-style layout with diverse sources and you can personalize it based on your interests
Digg – a social news aggregator where users can submit stories and up/downvote them, which results in the main feed focusing on popular and trending stories that may not be covered by mainstream media
SmartNews – focuses on top trending stories around the world. Less customization is available, but you can choose topics and publishers
Many people have begun looking for alternatives to Meta, especially Facebook. After Meta (Facebook) made the change to end fact-checking, online searches for “how to delete my Facebook account” increased by over 5,000%! Below are some reasons why people are looking for something else, followed by some non-Meta and non-X platforms and apps that can replace or partially replace Facebook and/or Instagram.
Reasons for Leaving
1 – Privacy concerns: There have been some high-profile scandals and revelations about how user data is collected, stored, and shared, which have led to mistrust. There have been court cases regarding the sale of private Facebook information to Cambridge Analytica and similar companies. There have been some exposés that document Facebook is spying on you and profiling you. Even your private messages. In October 2024, Facebook began reviving their facial recognition system. Many people are now looking for platforms that emphasize transparency, data protection, and user control. It is understood that anything posted over the Internet cannot be be guaranteed private, but some platforms are much better at trying to protect your privacy.
2 – Tired of ads: Ads are so prevalent on Facebook that many people are really tired of them. Ads can become overwhelming to people and clutter up their feeds.
3 – Algorithm issues: Many people are tired of being fed information and posts based not on their friends and preferences, but by a nebulous algorithm that is controlled by Meta and is considered to be manipulative. Researchers also say that Twitter changed its algorithm to promote Elon Musk and Republican posts leading up to the election. And now that Meta has removed fact-checking, misinformation and disinformation will spread even more quickly.
4 – AI Issues: Facebook and Instagram have announced that they will be adding thousands of AI “users” in the attempt to create more engagement. “The AI characters will be created by users through Meta’s AI studio, with the idea being that you can interact with them almost like you would with a real human on the website. They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform… that’s where we see all of this going.” Most people I know on Facebook are there to connect with actual people.
5 – Conflict: Another problem is the generation of weird hostilities and the amplification of divisive narratives that happens on Facebook. It likely happens everywhere, but Facebook seems to encourage it. Facebook used to be a place for staying in touch with family and friends, but in recent years it has become just as much a place for combativeness, arguing, ads, and misinformation. As one online comment said, “Facebook has become a place for cowardly, agenda driven people & merchants to hide behind, chest beat, recruit, & troll for targets & victims.”
6 – Supporting Mark Zuckerberg: He stole the idea for Facebook from his friends and took full ownership of it. Early on in Facebook’s history, he covertly attempted to benefit from selling personal data without people’s consent. He uses the Facebook algorithm to control what people see and hear, and it is broadly accepted that his decisions about Facebook have focused on what would make him richer. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” He’s already a billionaire over 200 times. Many people no longer want to help make him richer by participating in Facebook. And he’s using his fortune to support Trump and maneuver himself to be part of the power behind the throne, one of the major players in the oligarchy.
“Summing up ‘The Facebook Files,’ the Wall StreetJournal notes: ‘Facebook’s own research lays out in detail how its rules favor elites; its platforms have negative effects on teen mental health; its algorithm fosters discord; and that drug cartels and human traffickers use its services openly.’ The newspaper adds, ‘The documents show that Facebook has often made minimal or ineffectual efforts to address the issues and plays them down in public.’
“The repeated pattern the documents show is that, in an attempt to assuage public anger, Facebook would make periodic gestures at reform, mainly by conducting internal research into the impact it was having on its users. The researchers would come back with extremely negative reports and suggestions for wholesale reform. Zuckerberg and other top executives would then reject those recommendations because they would dampen the company’s growth.” – The Nation
Seen mostly as an alternative to X, which has its own issues and reasons for leaving it, Bluesky is a decentralized social network that allows you to have more control over what you see and prioritize your specific interests rather than having a “rage-baiting” algorithm do it for you. It’s a kind of micro-blogging platform with posts limited to 300 characters. It is more focused on privacy and relies more on community moderation than a single company (or CEO). The blocking function actually works. There are no ads and a chat function is built in. Its number of users has soared, especially since the 2024 presidential election. Bluesky is also widely seen as an environment of accountability, diversity, and empathy that prioritizes free speech and democratic values over corporate interests.
Discord is a great replacement for Facebook Groups. It is an excellent platform for real-time and asynchronous communication with people in communities of shared interest including text, voice, and video chat. Private direct messaging is also available. You can create channels for different topics and easily share content like images, videos, and links. It is considered a more dynamic and interactive platform compared to traditional chat methods, with the ability to build customized communities around specific hobbies or topics.
Mastodon is a decentralized network with no single owner. It allows you to join independent servers that have their own custom moderation policies. Mastodon uses community-based moderation, where you choose the server you want. Each server can limit or filter out undesirable types of content, enabling you to find communities that align with your values. Each server can also set the character limit for posts, which defaults to 500. No central company collects user data.
Vero – https://vero.co/ (Mobile, with desktop in beta) Not Open Source
Vero is seen as more of a replacement for Instagram, allowing you to share original content with your community, like photos, links, videos, music, and more. The biggest selling points are the lack of ads and algorithms. Also, Vero supports high-resolution images and won’t crop the photos you upload, like Instagram sometimes does. Their goal is as follows: “In a world over-run with fakes, deep fakes, trolls, and bots, we commit to truth, transparency, and meaningful connections.” Vero recently added a “Discovery” page that allows you to explore new photographers and content creators or be discovered yourself.
Telegram is more of an instant messaging program that is especially popular in India. It is very private and anonymous if you like, and doesn’t even show your phone number to people you talk to, which is different from Facebook that collects just so much information. You can also create groups for discussions and chats have no limits on size of media or characters. “Secret” chats are even an option, so no eavesdropping is possible and the chats are not stored on their servers. On the negative side, there is minimal moderation and the absence of strict oversight makes it a safe space for criminals and scammers.
Reddit is a social media platform that offers a wide range of communities focused on specific interests like almost any hobby, interest, or profession. It is more text focused than media focused, with its most popular functions being entertainment, news, and discussion. It focuses heavily on user-submitted content and the upvote/downvote system helps highlight the most relevant and valuable content. Many subreddits aggregate news stories and provide detailed analysis from various viewpoints.
MeWe is a decentralized social network with no ads, targeting, or newsfeed manipulation. It is advertised as the most private social network with safeguards in place to protect your information. It also has interest groups you can join, based on your passions and interests. You also have complete control over who sees your posts and who can contact you. I have seen some articles saying it is more of a right-wing extremist site, group with Parler and TruthSocial.
Moving Forward
To see when your Facebook account was created, type “your information” in the search box in the top left, then click “access your information.” In the left sidebar, click on “personal information.” I’ve been on Facebook since July 15, 2005. That’s almost 20 years. Given all the issues above and my general feeling of a need to move on, I think I’ll be leaving Facebook soon. I’ve already started building a profile on Bluesky.
To download your Facebook data, go to your Facebook settings, click “See more in Accounts Center” then click “Your Information and permissions”. Select “Download your information” and click the “Download or transfer information” button to choose which data you want to download and initiate the process; you can select specific categories like posts (which includes photos), messages, and more, and you can choose the date range, including “All time”.
Facebook and Instagram have announced that they will be adding thousands of AI “users” in the attempt to create more engagement.
“The AI characters will be created by users through Meta’s AI studio, with the idea being that you can interact with them almost like you would with a real human on the website.”
“They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform… that’s where we see all of this going.”
While messaging Android to Android or iPhone to iPhone is secure, messaging from one to the other is not.
Now even the FBI and CISA, the US cyber defense agency, are warning Americans to use responsibly encrypted messaging and phone calls where they can. The backdrop is the Chinese hacking of US networks that is reportedly “ongoing and likely larger in scale than previously understood.”
Fully encrypted comms is the best defense against this compromise, and Americans are being urged to use that wherever possible.
You can buy MS Office again! No subscription needed!
“Earlier this month, Microsoft finally released the latest version of Microsoft Office that isn’t tied to Microsoft 365, meaning you can now buy access to the latest versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with a one-time payment instead of shelling out cash on a subscription.”
“Is your boss texting you on the weekend? Work email pinging long after you’ve left for home?
“Australian employees can now ignore those and other intrusions into home life thanks to a new “right to disconnect” law designed to curb the creep of work emails and calls into personal lives.
“The new rule, which came into force on Monday, means employees, in most cases, cannot be punished for refusing to read or respond to contacts from their employers outside work hours.”
“India’s largest budget carrier, IndiGo, is the first airline to trial a feature that lets female passengers book seats next to other women to avoid sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a man in a move designed to make flying more comfortable for female passengers.”
“The airline’s booking process is fairly standard except for the seat map which highlights seats occupied by women with the color pink. This information is not visible to male passengers, according to the airline.”
“‘We have a significant share of female travelers. And, basically, technology is now enabling some things which were not able in the past … We brought it up as a test for female travelers to check in and see where they can sit next to another female traveler, and actually it has resounded very, very well of course with our customers, but also internationally,’ CEO Pieter Elbers said in an interview with CNBC.”
You probably know that ChatGPT isn’t just limited to typing and reading, but it also has a voice mode. It is conversational, where you can talk to it and it talks back to you (rather than putting text on a screen).
This video is, well, an interview with ChatGPT, and Alex O’Connor, the host of this YouTube channel, tries to get ChatGPT to admit that it is conscious, mostly based on the words that it uses.
“The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, typically lives in the streams and ponds of sub-Saharan Africa, scavenging for food that it rips apart with its feet. In January, researchers at the University of Vermont and Tufts University published a report that gave the amphibian a different lot in life. They harvested its embryonic skin and heart cells and reassembled the living matter into robotic devices — transforming Xenopus into xenobot.
“Xenobots are the first robots made completely of living materials. They’re designed on a supercomputer running software that emulates natural selection: Algorithms determine possible effective tissue configurations for a xenobot to perform a specified task, such as moving through fluids or carrying a payload. The most promising designs are sculpted with tiny forceps and cauterizing irons, then set free in petri dishes, where the specks of amphibian flesh live for about a week before decomposing. There are no electronics involved. Behaviors are programmed entirely through the structural arrangement of the pulsating heart cells held in a matrix of rigid skin cells.
“Although xenobots can’t yet do much more than crawl or swim, the researchers see great potential for them to aid in fields like medicine and environmental remediation. In the future, xenobots could be engineered to deliver drugs through the human body or to gather up microplastics in oceans, politely biodegrading when the job is done.”
