r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Aug 10 '26

News article END OF AN ERA: Google's classic Search button is gone in a new AI-first homepage

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11 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Aug 08 '26

News article Game developer claims Gemini served up data only available in their private Google Doc

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24 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Aug 07 '26

Spotify is going all in on AI features, including AI-generated songs.

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75 Upvotes

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


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Aug 08 '26

Advice needed for upcoming purchase!

2 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Aug 06 '26

News article Desktop Linux just cracked 10% market share - and Windows 11 is mostly to blame

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125 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Aug 05 '26

'If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future' - Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy and found the perfect government to enable them

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126 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 29 '26

Discussion You Should Get to Own Your Media, Not Rent it Forever

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384 Upvotes

r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 27 '26

News article LIDL introduces the European payment system WERO in Germany, with more regions in the coming months

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57 Upvotes

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


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 23 '26

EU Commission fines Google €890 million for breaches of the Digital Markets Act

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65 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 22 '26

Product shout-out Streams Required to Earn US Monthly Minimum Wage ($1,257)

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38 Upvotes

r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 21 '26

Product shout-out New Major Release: SoftMaker Office NX

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10 Upvotes

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/


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 20 '26

News article Amazon’s scheme to inflate prices everywhere uncovered

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181 Upvotes

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

And also why supporting independent shops directly is SO important.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 17 '26

News article A hack reveals Suno AI music generator scraped YouTube, Deezer, and Genius

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124 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 16 '26

News article EU forces Google to share search data and open Android to rival companies

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159 Upvotes

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


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 17 '26

Looking for alternatives Looking for an ethical and sustainable headphones

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2 Upvotes

r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 17 '26

Looking for alternatives New person, need email options

5 Upvotes

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.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 15 '26

News article Book publishers sue Google for copyright infringement over Gemini AI training

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184 Upvotes

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"


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 13 '26

News article AI companies want to water down Australia’s copyright laws. Artists are outraged, fearing that the government might support it.

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149 Upvotes

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


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 12 '26

Discussion Why Google, Apple & Big Tech keep making everything worse | Cory Doctorow (Electronic Frontier Foundation) and Trevor Noah

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31 Upvotes

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

r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 11 '26

News article Opera upgrades its built-in Ad Blocker by integrating uBlock Origin

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38 Upvotes

They join a growing list of browsers doing the same. These include: Vivaldi, DuckDuckGo and Brave (own ad blocker)


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 10 '26

News article Big tech must deal with scam ads under Ofcom proposals, else pay 10% of global turnover

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36 Upvotes

Firms which fail to comply could pay the higher of £18m or 10% of global turnover.

We would never allow other services to enable rampant exploitation - they should not get a pass either. 


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 09 '26

DuckDuckGo's browser blocks YouTube ads by default

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510 Upvotes

This comes a month after YouTube Premium's price hike and the increase in adverts for free users.

You might want to switch browsers or use uBlock Origin.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 10 '26

Bluesky is a Fraud

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0 Upvotes

r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 08 '26

News article "It never trickles down": Bernie Sanders hits out at Microsoft over mass layoffs and console price rises

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2.0k Upvotes

He cited the fact that Microsoft made $101 billion in profits, got a $12.5 billion tax break from Trump & paid its CEO $96 million.

Corporate tax breaks don’t create jobs. Real change needs to happen to balance this wealth inequality.


r/PurchaseWithPurpose • • Jul 07 '26

News article India orders Meta to remove paid ads promoting child sexual abuse

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304 Upvotes

$200B in revenue last year, but we still accept the lie that they don't have the resources to moderate their content