Gyroscopic Investing

TennPaGa wrote: Even more disturbing, the search-ranking business is entirely unregulated, so Google could favour any candidate it likes without violating any laws.

What a laughable sentence. So lets set up a new government agency to regulate search-ranking to show no favoritism. And Obama can appoint Lois Lerner to head it.

TennPaGa wrote:

Google, for all intents and purposes, has no competition...

https://duckduckgo.com/

What does it mean when someone says, "for all intents and purposes": I know there are counterexamples to what I'm about to say, but I don't care to explain why they aren't relevant?

Jack Jones wrote:

TennPaGa wrote:

Google, for all intents and purposes, has no competition...

https://duckduckgo.com/

What does it mean when someone says, "for all intents and purposes": I know there are counterexamples to what I'm about to say, but I don't care to explain why they aren't relevant?

And,

https://www.ixquick.com

https://startpage.com

Reviews of private search engines:  https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/ixquick-startpage/

http://securityspread.com/2013/07/21/se ... ly-secure/

Duckduckgo seems a bit faster that these two on my MacBook with the Safari browser.

... M

Thanks, you all. Will try DDG and Startpage. Anyone pay for a private VPN?

As others have pointed out, there is plenty of competition. The author of this article comes off as hysterical and uninformed. Google is ripe for a fall as their core product--search--becomes clumsier and creepier all the time. Non-tech people I know routinely complain about Google's search. It's full of ads, they can't find what they want, when someone tells them to Google something, they get different results, and things like that. The big switch to alternatives is an inevitability that is already taking place.

I use DuckDuckGo, personally. Don't need Google for anything anymore.

BearBones wrote: Thanks, you all. Will try DDG and Startpage. Anyone pay for a private VPN?

I like private internet access.

BearBones wrote: Thanks, you all. Will try DDG and Startpage. Anyone pay for a private VPN?

I use ExpressVPN.  It works perfectly for me.  ~$100 / year for unlimited data on my 2 devices. (Mac and iPhone)  Plenty of servers all over the world.

Almost all of my wifi access is via hotels, coffeeshops and AirBnB's, so not using a VPN is too much risk for me.
I also like that I connect via a US server when I'm overseas.  It prevents Google and Expedia and every other website from trying to post results in Portuguese or whatever the local language is.  It also allows me to access media content that is country restricted, by simply routing through a server in a non-restricted country.

Mark Leavy wrote:

BearBones wrote: Thanks, you all. Will try DDG and Startpage. Anyone pay for a private VPN?

I use ExpressVPN.  It works perfectly for me.  ~$100 / year for unlimited data on my 2 devices. (Mac and iPhone)  Plenty of servers all over the world.

Interesting. I think I will also start using DDG.  I don't know much about these VPNs.  Does it make sense to use one of these, even if you don't leave the US and only use computers in your house (no coffee shops, etc)?  $100/year seems cheap for an added layer of security against hacking.

Google Maps is still very good, but I'm back to being a Mac user so I can use Apple Maps instead. I'll agree that the options for high-quality Google Maps alternatives are much rarer on Windows or Linux.

MangoMan wrote: If you know how to shop, you can get a good VPN for under $20/year. For instance, the very service I use, Cyberghost is available here for $12.99/year. The only difference between this and their full price service [which still is reasonable] is a few less servers. I have never had an issue with the cheaper product.

http://milled.com/cyberghost-vpn/8jvjZVGQwZpTknsJ

Any issues with them being located in Romania - either distance or location?

... M

BearBones wrote: Thanks, you all. Will try DDG and Startpage. Anyone pay for a private VPN?

I used DuckDuckGo most of the time.

VPN: Like EarlyCuyler, I use Private Internet Access (PIA). It's too early for me to recommend them. Everything was working great since I signed up a few days ago, but today, it kept disconnecting. Customer Service told me in a live chat, that it's an OSX socket thing, and to turn off the computer for 5 minutes. I asked if I would have to do this all the time, b/c I normally only put the computer to sleep, shutting down every few months. Cust Svc disappeared again and eventually came back and said, vaguely, "This should fix the problem."  So we'll see. I'd already signed up for one year.

Great info. Thanks all.
Anyone use OpenDNS?
If I use OpenDNS, Ghostery, and Duck Duck Go, is my IP address still visible to all sites I go to?

BearBones wrote: If I use OpenDNS, Ghostery, and Duck Duck Go, is my IP address still visible to all sites I go to?

Yes. If you don't want people to know your IP, use Tor.

I feel very, very old.

Maddy wrote: I feel very, very old.

When you write an email, do you put the whole text in the "subject" line?