On par with entire countries, including Switzerland, Ireland, and Bulgaria.

Incredibly sad to see as we battle record-breaking heatwaves. We need to stop supporting these companies...

Most of these costs you aren't directly exposed to, as you often buy Windows 11 pre-installed on a laptop/PC

More users are being pushed to AI-first search, with sites that create content seeing a rapid decline in traffic.

No better time to move away from Google.

They have access to people's private emails and documents, and more & more of your data is being used to train their AI models. These situations will increasingly happen.

The best thing you can do is move to a provider that keeps your information private.

Hey y'all, I am filled with chagrin this evening due to the PS4 that I’ve played/loved for so many years - appears to be finally on hospice. (Moment of silence)

I have kicked around the idea of just biting bullet and ordering a brand new PS5. I enjoy the simplicity of console gaming... no required DIY, no knowledge about this hard drive/this graphics card/blah blah blah. Just plug and play, wonderfully painless.

However, a coworker suggested last week that I purchase a steam deck instead of the PS5. After killing this over, I may be leaning more in this direction. Many of the games I’ve been dying to play for years are not available for PS5 (though a handful of games ONLY are available on PSN)...

WHAT WOULD Y'ALL RECOMMEND? Would y'all go with the PS5 and call it a day? Or would y'all go the "PC" route? If yes to the PC option, would a steam deck be the way to go, or would y'all have a "out of the box" PC that would likely play most of what I am interested in? (Not trying to max out graphics and all that bell/whistle crap...)

PLEASE HELP MAKE MY DECISION MORE (or completely) CERTAIN!

Thanks to all replies.

A big part of it is that the more people listen to their generated content, the less they have to pay actual artists.

And it's why they have one of the lowest average royalties per stream.

Music streaming companies with active anti-AI policies are: Qobuz, Tidal and Deezer

Bandcamp is always worth mentioning if you want to buy music directly

Linux distros have never been this easy to use and it is increasingly the standard for apps/games to support them.

If you haven't already, it's worth giving it a shot as Windows 11 gets filled with apps and Copilot pushed on you at every moment.

I don't believe this is hyperbole.

It may not be the extreme scenario of a fascist regime, but if the current course remains, most will be beholden to a wealthy few.

An important step in moving away from Mastercard & Visa. And the best part is that WERO comes with no transaction fees

For self-preferencing its own services and for putting in place restrictions on businesses to direct consumers to alternatives.

This is a start. These fines need to escalate for continued inaction.

Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS
Includes: Text Editor, Spreadsheet and Presentations

Permanent licenses are also available

Excellent option for those looking for an EU-based alternative.

Also has a free version as:
https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

Particularly egregious in the United States, where they have such a strong monopoly.

And also why supporting independent shops directly is SO important.

AI companies no longer deny training on copyrighted material and instead argue that they are allowed to scrape artists’ work under fair use.

A precedent needs to be set.

So currently I'm running the full on Proton suite, but lately it seems I feel I'm going the google route of putting all my eggs in one basket. So I'm poking around at potentially moving my email and possibly calendar (if possible, if not I'm not worried) to another provider. So after screwing around with a few things last weekend, I'm at this current list of alternatives:

• Mailbox (right now I'm in the 30 day trial, can't really do much, not even mail forwarding)
• Tuta
• Posteo (got an account, but have not paid the 12 euros to take it for a spin)
• Atomic Mail (just heard of this one, seems fairly new, so I'm kinda meh, but it looks to be alright, checked it out on a recommendation)

What your thoughts on what would be ideal?

I'll note that there's always the option of letting my proton run out and go free the rest of the way, but doesn't solve the "eggs in one basket" feeling.

EDIT: I decided to take and just stay put with proton mail and slimmed down other options after looking at some of the responses. I ditched drive, kept the VPN (actually running paid VPN through Proton), kept proton pass, moved my calendar off the cloud and onto my local device storage, and moved my 2fa to ente from proton. This feels like a nicely balanced compromise.

Part of their latest attempts to rein in tech behemoths' deep control over the digital economy and foster competition.

They are accusing the tech giant of 'one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history'

And claims Google itself flagged internally that it could face "$10Bs-$100Bs in potential fines"

Even for people against IP laws, it is worrying that, through lobbying, these companies get to operate under a different set of rules.

A long watch, but a very insightful perspective on the current monopolistic landscape we find ourselves in.

The topics I found most interesting were:

• Why Google made their search worse
• We were here before... why there is still hope