Escaping Google's Grasp: Tools For The Privacy-Minded

#Tech News #Chaos Lever #Chris Hayner #Ned Bellavance #News #News Weekly

1:36:55

What’s up, Tribe, and welcome back to Good Moms Bad Choices! January was amazing, but its time to turn the page on the calendar and embrace beautiful new energy as we enter ‘The Journey of Love February.’ This month is all about the heart - join Erica and Milah to catch up and discuss what’s new in the world of motherhood, marriage, and amor! In this week’s episode, the ladies offer witty and sharp perspectives about personal growth in love, supporting your kids through their friend drama, and how to honor your true needs in a partnership. Mama Bear to the Rescue! The Good Moms discuss protective parenting and helping your kids fight their battles (8:00) Bad Choice of the Week: Help! My kids saw me in my lingerie! (20:00) My Happily Ever After: Erica and Milah discuss the prospect of marriage, dreams of becoming a housewife, and the top 5 ways to be confident in love (32:00) Yoni Mapping: Releasing Trauma and Increasing Pleasure (57:00) Its OK to fuck up, but also, what do you (really) bring to the table: The Good Moms have an honest discussion about finding accountability and growth before love (1:03:00) Watch This episode & more on YouTube! Catch up with us over at Patreon and get all our Full visual episodes, bonus content & early episode releases. Join our private Facebook group! Let us help you! Submit your advice questions, anonymous secrets or vent about motherhood anonymously! Submit your questions Connect With Us: @GoodMoms_BadChoices @TheGoodVibeRetreat @Good.GoodMedia @WatchErica @Milah_Mapp Official GMBC Music: So good feat Renee, Trip and http://www.anthemmusicenterprises.com Join us this summer in paradise at the Good Vibe Rest+Vibe Retreat in Costa Rica July 31- August 5 August 8 - August 13 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

Chaos Lever Podcast « »
Escaping Google's Grasp: Tools for the Privacy-Minded | Chaos Lever

about a year ago 39:59

MP3•Episode home

We also take a good, long look at alternatives. Not just “use Bing” (come on now), but actual viable swaps like Kagi, StartPage, and DuckDuckGo. Need to break free from Gmail? Hello, Proton Mail. Curious about workspace alternatives that don’t hand your docs to Big Brother? Meet CryptPad. And for the content creators out there, we give the rundown on Nebula, PeerTube, and other non-Google places you can still host your rants and videos without being part of the algorithm’s human farm.

Then we shift gears to cloud services. We walk through smaller, boutique hosting options—from Linode to Fly.io to EU-based Scaleway—that won't charge you an arm and a leg. If you’ve ever wanted to ditch Big Tech but didn’t know where to start, grab your tinfoil hat (or at least a solar panel) and let’s talk freedom, baby.

👇 LINKS

Google reads all your stuff: https://policies.google.com/privacy/archive/20221215-20230701
Kagi is pretty great: https://www.theverge.com/web/631636/kagi-review-best-search-engine
Cryptpad looks like Office: https://cryptpad.org/
Photopea, like Zootopia: https://www.photopea.com
Hetzner auctions server costs: https://www.hetzner.com/sb/
Alexander Samsig did a breakdown of EU CSPs: https://asamsig.com/blog/picking-a-european-cloud-provider

249 episodes

Chaos Lever Podcast

Escaping Google's Grasp: Tools for the Privacy-Minded | Chaos Lever

Chaos Lever Podcast

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

👇 LINKS

249 episodes

#Tech News #Chaos Lever #Chris Hayner #Ned Bellavance #News #News Weekly

All episodes

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Can WordPress Be Saved from Its Creator? | Chaos Lever 39:41

3 days ago39:41

39:41

🔥 The world may be on fire, but at least we’ve got s’mores and dark chocolate (just not 98% cacao, thank you). In this episode, we dunk on tech billionaires with the finesse of a flaming marshmallow and explore the dramatic saga of WordPress—from its humble GPL beginnings to the ego-fueled chaos of its current overlord. Yes, Matt Mullenweg, we’re talking about you. 🧩 We dive into how WordPress became the most-used CMS in the world, why Matt Mullenweg keeps lighting metaphorical fires, and what the Linux Foundation is doing to put out the flames. Spoiler alert: it involves decentralizing plugin updates so Matt can’t go full dictator mode again. Also, there's jazz. Because apparently that’s part of the lore. 🤡 There’s a feud with WP Engine, a cease and desist, plugin repos being snatched like toys at daycare, and even a checkbox to swear fealty before accessing your plugins. Welcome to the snark-fueled, historically grounded meltdown that is modern open source governance. Or, as we like to call it: Thursday. 📎 LINKS Weblog - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog WordPress Drama Explained - https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/12/wordpress-vs-wp-engine-drama-explained/ Matt Makes Cancer Claim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnI-QcVSwMU Matt Mullenweg Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Mullenweg WordPress Org Chart - https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/organization/ WordPress Book - https://wordpress.org/book/table-of-contents/ WordPress Foundation - https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/ (00:00) - Intro and Marshmallow Prep (03:27) - The Billionaire Baby Theory (06:00) - History of WordPress (13:17) - What Even is GPL? (20:41) - The Naming Confusion of WordPress (27:02) - Matt vs WP Engine (35:03) - Enter the Linux Foundation (38:00) - Outro and WordPress Alternatives Click here to view the episode transcript.…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Microsoft’s OneDrive Fiasco and the FAA’s Retro Tech | Tech News of the Week 10:10

4 days ago10:10

10:10

Welcome to Tech News of the Week! Here's what caught our eye in the past seven days: Scammers are out in full force this summer with hyper-detailed (but totally fake) DMV texts warning about traffic violations. Chris reads one of these gloriously absurd attempts to scare Pennsylvanians into paying fake fines. Spoiler: no, you're not going to lose your license on June 3rd. But you might lose your dignity if you fall for it. 🚨 Link: https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240412 OpenAI and the New York Times are still duking it out in court, and the judge just ordered OpenAI to keep a copy of all prompts and responses. Forever. This affects non-enterprise users, and yes, this includes your spicy GPT history. If you’ve been using AI to cheat on word games, you might want to consider switching to Claude. 🔍 Link: https://openai.com/index/response-to-nyt-data-demands/ Microsoft thinks you need convenience more than security, which is why apps can access your entire OneDrive if you click “yes” just once. Handy, right? Until ChatGPT or some shady lookalike app decides to rifle through your documents like a nosy raccoon. 🗂️ Link: https://www.techspot.com/news/108157-microsoft-file-picker-flaw-grants-full-onedrive-access.html And speaking of old, guess who’s still rocking floppy disks and Windows 95? That’s right, the FAA. Because what better way to run national aviation infrastructure than with 30-year-old tech and hardware that needs 13 disks to install Windows. ✈️ Link: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/06/faa-to-retire-floppy-disks-and-windows-95-amid-air-traffic-control-overhaul/ (00:00) - Intro (00:19) - Scammy Summer DMV Texts (02:56) - NYT v. OpenAI: Prompt Logs Forever (04:35) - OneDrive’s Convenient Data Leaks (07:45) - FAA Still Using Floppies and Win95 Click here to view the episode transcript.…

Chaos Lever Podcast

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Negligence as a Service | Chaos Lever 40:05

9 days ago40:05

40:05

Welcome back, fellow humans (and bots in disguise)! This week on Chaos Lever, Chris and Ned dive into the dusty archives and slap us with a two-by-four of cybersecurity déjà vu. We’re talking legendary hacks that should have taught us better—and yet, here we are. From Emacs-enabled espionage in 1986 to Equifax’s honor-system security policies, it's a masterclass in how not to protect your data. 🧠 Lessons? Sure. But mostly it's about how we never learn them. We dissect what really caused these breaches—not slick zero-days, but plain old negligence and a fondness for not patching things. Also featured: expired SSL certs, trust as a security model, and how managing your asset inventory is more crucial than ever. 💥 Oh, and Ned tried to do a handstand for a cloud video and bled. Not relevant to cybersecurity, but 100% relevant to the Chaos Lever experience. Stick around for reenactments, rants, and ruminations on how saying “I accept the risk” is not a security policy. 🔗 LINKS Apache Struts bug: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/apache-0-day-exploited/ Nova episode about the 1986 hack: https://archive.org/details/The_KGB_The_Computer_and_Me_1990 Senate investigation into Equifax: https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/imo/media/doc/FINAL%20Equifax%20Report.pdf CVE system creation by MITRE: https://www.cve.org/Resources/General/Towards-a-Common-Enumeration-of-Vulnerabilities.pdf…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Your ASUS Router Is a Botnet Now | Tech News of the Week 9:01

12 days ago9:01

9:01

Chaos is inevitable—especially on Patch Tuesday. This week, Chris and I dive into four juicy stories that highlight just how strange, scary, and downright ridiculous the world of tech can be. Buckle up. 🪟 Microsoft is now rolling out a Windows Update framework for third-party apps. That’s right—your janky software updater might get replaced with a system that actually works… or works too well. Imagine every random app on your PC suddenly deciding it's update time. Will this be a blessing or just another reboot roulette? https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/introducing-a-unified-future-for-app-updates-on-windows/4416354 🧮 NIST and CISA want to make vulnerability scoring suck less. Enter LEV—Likely Exploited Vulnerabilities. It's a new system meant to bridge the gap between CVSS severity and the real-world exploitability of threats. Does it work? No clue yet. Is it better than sifting through 10,000 false alarms? Almost certainly. https://www.securityweek.com/vulnerability-exploitation-probability-metric-proposed-by-nist-cisa-researchers/ 📡 ASUS routers have joined a new botnet called "AyySSHush" (seriously?). Hackers are hijacking popular ASUS models, disabling security features, and creating SSH backdoors that laugh in the face of firmware updates. Pro tip: factory reset your router, and maybe stop exposing your home network to the internet like it’s 1999. https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/29/8000_asus_routers_popped_in/ 🛡️ Microsoft Defender got punked by a tool called DefendNot. It tricks Windows into thinking a different antivirus is running, which causes Defender to voluntarily shut itself down. Hilarious. Terrifying. Mostly hilarious. Defender can now detect it, but still—nice one, internet. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/new-defendnot-tool-tricks-windows-into-disabling-microsoft-defender/…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
The Legacy of LaMDA | Chaos Lever 31:19

16 days ago31:19

31:19

What happens when a Google engineer thinks his chatbot has developed a soul? Three years ago, we covered the LaMDA saga, and now it's back—because someone forgot to turn off the AI. In this rebroadcast episode, Chris and Ned re-examine the wild story of Blake Lemoyne, who believed his creation had achieved sentience. It... uh, didn't. 🤖 The duo digs deep into what AI really is, why self-awareness isn't a prerequisite, and how anthropomorphizing code gets us into philosophical hot water. They also break down the Turing Test, IBM’s thoughts on AGI, and why AI in a self-driving car doesn’t need a conscience—it needs to not crash. 🧠 Come for the snark, stay for the thought-provoking discussion about consciousness, ethics, and the real role of AI in society. Also, IKEA lamps. And a chatbot that maybe just wanted to talk. 🔗 LINKS - A Google engineer has been making some wild claims about a chat bot he was working on - How easy it is to make people get emotional about inanimate objects such as an IKEA lamp - Trying to find a way to describe AI that includes self-awareness - The interview that Blake and co did with LaMDA - There is a website called DALL-E mini - In 2019 some researchers tried to get AI to invent a sport…

Chaos Lever Podcast

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Your Interview Process is a Lie | Chaos Lever 36:29

23 days ago36:29

36:29

Chris and Ned are joined this week by Colin Lacy, a senior software engineer at Cisco, recovering architect, and food photographer in a past life—yes, really. What starts as a detour into food photography quickly becomes a deep dive into everything wrong with technical interviews in tech today. From debugging Java on paper to AI in assessments, Colin doesn’t hold back. 🛠️ Colin unpacks his hiring experiences on both sides of the table, exposing the absurdity of algorithm-heavy interviews and advocating for real-world, job-relevant assessments. The gang questions the value of generic coding challenges and highlights how companies could better reflect day-to-day work in the interview process. 🤖 They also tackle the growing influence of AI tools in coding and why pretending they don’t exist in interviews is just plain dumb. Plus: Mount Fuji gets moved, debugging becomes a pencil sport, and someone finally says it—Java might be the actual problem. LINKS: 🔗 Colin J Lacy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinjlacy/ 🔗 Colin J Codes a Lot on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@colinjcodesalot⁩…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Microsoft Layoffs Amid Record Profits- Wait, What? | Tech News of the Week 10:09

27 days ago10:09

10:09

Another week, more tech news chaos. This week: 🧠 Students are getting salty over professors using ChatGPT while banning it in their own assignments. One Northwestern University student even tried to get a refund over it. Nice try Margot. https://fortune.com/2025/05/15/chatgpt-openai-northeastern-college-student-tuition-fees-back-catching-professor/ 💸 Microsoft posted a whopping $70.1B in revenue for Q3 and still decided to lay off 6,000 employees. Record profits and layoffs- because why not? https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/13/microsoft-is-cutting-3percent-of-workers-across-the-software-company.html 🦠 RVTools, the beloved free VMware infrastructure tool, got hit with Bumblebee malware. Yes, from the official site. No, you shouldn’t have trusted that download. https://zerodaylabs.net/rvtools-bumblebee-malware/ 🔓 Intel just can't shake Specter. New vulnerabilities—Branch Privilege Injection and Training Solo—have popped up, reminding us that Intel CPUs are still as leaky as ever. https://thehackernews.com/2025/05/researchers-expose-new-intel-cpu-flaws.html…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Brain Dumps, VARs, and Toiletfeet: The Certification Debate | Chaos Lever 41:14

4 weeks ago41:14

41:14

🎙️ In this episode of Chaos Lever, Chris and Ned dive deep into the murky waters of IT Certifications. Are they still relevant? Are they just money grabs? Or do they actually help you land that dream tech job? The snark is strong in this one as they discuss the good, the bad, and the brain dumps that come with navigating the world of certifications. 🧠 The conversation also veers into the history of certifications, from guilds and trades in the 1500s to the very first IT cert in 1978. Plus, there's plenty of shade thrown at Pearson Vue testing centers and the absurdity of partner status requirements. Spoiler: not everyone plays fair, and Ned may or may not confess to a few things. 🤔 But is it all just corporate gatekeeping dressed up as "skill validation"? The guys talk about the real value of certs, whether vendor-specific knowledge locks you into bad habits, and if your best path to a job might just be... social engineering? Pour a drink and get ready for a wild ride. 🔗 LINKS 🔗 The History of IT Certification | triOS College: https://wwwlive.trios.com/blog/the-history-of-it-certification/ 🔗 A Brief History of Certification - TestOut Continuing Education: https://testoutce.com/blogs/it-insights-blog/160401479-a-brief-history-of-certification 🔗 History of IT Certification: https://jasoneckert.github.io/myblog/history-of-it-certification 🔗 History of Cybersecurity Certifications - Alpine Security: https://www.alpinesecurity.com/blog/history-of-cybersecurity-certifications/ 🔗 The Evolution of DevOps Certifications: Trends and Predictions: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/evolution-devops-certifications-trends-predictions-msqoc 🔗 CompTIA - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompTIA…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Apple’s Smart Glasses Chips & Clippy's AI Comeback | Tech News of the Week 8:47

5 weeks ago8:47

8:47

Welcome back to Tech News of the Week! Today, we're diving into some of the most interesting stories shaking up the tech world right now. 📰 Wikipedia vs. the UK Government: Wikipedia is going head-to-head with the British government over the newly passed Online Safety Bill. This massive 250-page legislation aims to increase online safety but at the cost of privacy and censorship. Wikipedia is pushing back, saying the requirements for volunteer editor verification will kill open contributions, especially in politically sensitive areas. Will this be the end of anonymous editing? https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62j2gr8866o ⚠️ Broadcom Says Goodbye to Perpetual VMware Licenses: Broadcom has officially killed off perpetual licenses for VMware products like ESXI and vSphere, opting instead for subscription-based models. If you're still clinging to your old licenses, be prepared for some aggressive cease-and-desist letters—Broadcom's cracking down hard. Looks like Proxmox and Nutanix just got a big boost. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/broadcom-sends-cease-and-desist-letters-to-subscription-less-vmware-users/ 👓 Apple Developing Custom Chips for Smart Glasses: Apple is reportedly pushing forward with its smart glasses project, building custom chips designed specifically for AR features and multiple cameras. Rumors are swirling that there will be both premium AR-capable glasses and a more affordable version that pairs with your iPhone. Ready for a new wave of wearable tech? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-08/apple-is-developing-specialized-chips-for-glasses-new-macs-and-ai-servers 📎 Clippy is Back! As an LLM, No Less: Developer Felix Riceberg has brought back Clippy in the most 2025 way possible—an Electron app running local LLM models. Now you can chat with Clippy powered by modern AI right on your desktop, complete with that iconic Windows '98 aesthetic. It's nostalgia and cutting-edge tech, all rolled into one. https://felixrieseberg.github.io/clippy/#window-about…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Sparkles McTwinklefeet and the Insanity of Job Interviews | Chaos Lever 40:51

5 weeks ago40:51

40:51

In this episode, Ned and Chris dive headfirst into the chaotic world of technical interviews. From absurd coding tests to multi-hour marathons that seem more like hazing rituals, they break down just how broken the hiring process is in tech. Plus, you'll hear the incredible (and incredibly dystopian) story of Roy Lee, the college sophomore who turned cheating on interviews into a full-blown business. Yes, really. Ned and Chris also swap war stories from their own adventures in the technical trenches—both as interviewers and interviewees. To the surprise of no one, none of it makes much sense. From over-the-top whiteboard challenges to the baffling art of "customer obsession," the duo peels back the layers of nonsense that have somehow become the norm. And if you’ve ever wondered why the horse names at the Kentucky Derby are so ridiculously serious, Chris has a plan that involves Sparkle's McTwinklefeet. So grab your favorite caffeinated beverage (and maybe a nap), and get ready to laugh, cringe, and possibly reconsider your career choices. Because in the world of tech interviews, logic is optional, and absurdity is practically a requirement. LINKS 🔗Columbia student starts cheating as a service: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/21/columbia-student-suspended-over-interview-cheating-tool-raises-5-3m-to-cheat-on-everything/ 🔗Tech interviews have always been broken: https://medium.com/@evnowandforever/f-you-i-quit-hiring-is-broken-bb8f3a48d324#.o0bqsq8a5…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
AI Writes Code, Judges Write Burns | Tech News of the Week 11:07

6 weeks ago11:07

11:07

Another week, another tech reckoning! In this episode of Tech News of the Week, we dive into Microsoft's AI coding claims, password security doomscrolling courtesy of Hive Systems, Meta's courtroom drama, and Apple getting absolutely obliterated (again) in the Epic Games case. It's a smorgasbord of corporate shenanigans and judicial sass. 👨‍💻 Satya Nadella says up to 30% of Microsoft’s code is AI-generated—but how much of that is just glorified boilerplate? https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/30/microsoft_meta_autocoding/ 🔐 Hive Systems’ 2025 Crackability Index is here to crush your password confidence. https://www.hivesystems.com/blog/are-your-passwords-in-the-green 📚 A judge grills Meta’s fair use defense like it’s last week’s tofu. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/judge-on-metas-ai-training-i-just-dont-understand-how-that-can-be-fair-use/ 🍏 Apple’s greed gets them held in contempt, and we’re here for every delicious legal dunk. https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/01/read-the-juiciest-bits-from-the-apple-epic-court-ruling/ We wrap things up with a reminder that you should stop being greedy, be better about your passwords, and that nobody—NOBODY—should try to merge Excel, Word, and PowerPoint into a productivity chimera.…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
How Google and Facebook Turned You Into a Product | Chaos Lever 37:45

6 weeks ago37:45

37:45

Welcome back, fellow alleged humans 👋 In this episode of Chaos Lever, we jump headfirst into the ad-tech cesspool to answer one burning question: how did we go from banner ads to full-blown surveillance capitalism? Spoiler: it involves Google being a monopoly (confirmed!) and Facebook being... Facebook. Yes, it’s as bad as you think. This isn’t just a rant (though it’s a good one)—we walk through the history of online advertising, from the first innocent banner to the vast network of data-siphoning machinery that tracks your every click. Want to know how cookies, JavaScript, and ad exchanges work together to auction off your attention in microseconds? We’ve got you. Want to rage with us about how smart people built this nonsense instead of, say, curing anything? Also covered. If you've ever wondered how ad blockers work, what a Facebook Pixel is, or why your pork loin is being monetized without your consent, this one’s for you. Come for the breezy kilt talk, stay for the existential dread. LINKS 📌 The surprising truth about goldfish memory: https://discoverwildscience.com/the-surprising-truth-about-goldfish-memory-its-not-3-seconds-1-296741/ 📌The 115 page decision in the Google case: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/US-v-Google-Ad-Tech-Opinion-4-17-25.pdf 📌A brief history on online advertising: https://www.peppercontent.io/blog/history-of-online-advertising/ 📌Your user agent data: https://whatmyuseragent.com…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Perplexity’s New Browser Wants All Your Data | Tech News of the Week 11:22

7 weeks ago11:22

11:22

The legendary Blue Meanie is back, and so are we! 🎙️ This week on Tech News of the Week, we dive into four wild stories that you need to hear about. First up, Chris rants (in the best way) about the new Slate electric truck — a throwback to the good old days where your car was a car, not a giant, glitchy computer on wheels. Manual windows? No speakers? Starting around $20K with tax credits? Sounds crazy enough to work. Find out if the Slate could be your future ride. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64564869/2027-slate-truck-revealed/ Next, Microsoft tries to fix a patch with a patch... and somehow makes it worse. 🛠️ Instead of solving a vulnerability properly, they decided to shove a folder named "inetpub" onto everybody’s system drive. Surprise! It doesn’t fix the issue and now Windows Update can break entirely. We break down the hilariously bad workaround and why Microsoft might want to actually fix Windows Update rather than apply yet another bandage. https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/24/microsoft_mystery_folder_fix/ Then, we tackle the privacy horror show brewing over at Perplexity.AI. 🕵️‍♂️ They’re launching a new browser called Comet and, shocker, the CEO basically admitted it’s built to harvest your data for hyper-personalized ads. If you thought Chrome was bad, get ready for round two. Plus, find out why Perplexity has their sights set on buying Chrome if Google is forced to break it up. https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads Finally, we revel in Comcast’s very public meltdown. 📉 During their Q1 earnings call, Comcast admitted they’re losing broadband customers left and right — and it’s definitely not because they’ve been awful for decades. Nope, it’s the customers’ fault for wanting reasonable prices and transparency. We stand in admiration at their "woe is us" attitude and explain why competition is finally sending Comcast packing. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/04/after-losing-customers-comcast-admits-prices-are-too-confusing-and-unpredictable/…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Escaping Google's Grasp: Tools for the Privacy-Minded | Chaos Lever 39:59

7 weeks ago39:59

39:59

If your Gmail inbox is older than your adult children and you're just now wondering if it's been reading your diary all along—congrats, this episode is for you! In part two of our “Living Life Without Being Poisoned by FAANG” series, we deep-dive into the world's most insidious search bar: Google. From ads masquerading as results to docs that double as AI training material, we unpack how the advertising company formerly known as a search engine became the shady overlord of your digital life. We also take a good, long look at alternatives. Not just “use Bing” (come on now), but actual viable swaps like Kagi, StartPage, and DuckDuckGo. Need to break free from Gmail? Hello, Proton Mail. Curious about workspace alternatives that don’t hand your docs to Big Brother? Meet CryptPad. And for the content creators out there, we give the rundown on Nebula, PeerTube, and other non-Google places you can still host your rants and videos without being part of the algorithm’s human farm. Then we shift gears to cloud services. We walk through smaller, boutique hosting options—from Linode to Fly.io to EU-based Scaleway—that won't charge you an arm and a leg. If you’ve ever wanted to ditch Big Tech but didn’t know where to start, grab your tinfoil hat (or at least a solar panel) and let’s talk freedom, baby. 👇 LINKS Google reads all your stuff: https://policies.google.com/privacy/archive/20221215-20230701 Kagi is pretty great: https://www.theverge.com/web/631636/kagi-review-best-search-engine Cryptpad looks like Office: https://cryptpad.org/ Photopea, like Zootopia: https://www.photopea.com Hetzner auctions server costs: https://www.hetzner.com/sb/ Alexander Samsig did a breakdown of EU CSPs: https://asamsig.com/blog/picking-a-european-cloud-provider…

Chaos Lever Podcast

1
Google on Trial, AI Support Fails, and Krebs Fights Back | Tech News of the Week 11:26

8 weeks ago11:26