Hi, I’m looking for a Google Docs alternative that will show how my drafts change every few minutes. I want to be able to show my writing process (i.e., show that my work isn’t AI-generated.) Either no AI features or the ability to turn them off/remove them from your screen. Ideally I’d like something that works for collaborating on projects, but that’s less important. Any recs?
When Google was founded in 1998 it solved a big problem: spammy and chaotic web. Does this sound familiar? Because it’s happening again. The World-Wide-Web is still a place for everyone, but if it doesn’t have good SEO nobody will find it. AI webs and images are surrounding the internet.
Pay securely with an Android smartphone, completely without Google services: This is the plan being developed by the newly founded industry consortium led by the German Volla Systeme GmbH. It is an open-source alternative to Google Play Integrity. This proprietary interface decides on Android smartphones with Google Play services whether banking, government, or wallet apps are allowed to run on a smartphone.
So, I just learned about this the very, very hard way.
After buying a second hand S10 and finding american ones can’t be unlocked, traveling 4 hours to buy another one after much research, much annoyances to unlock it (samsung requires you to be online, which I didn’t know) and testing multiple ROMs, I finally read this page more properly https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/beyond1lte/ which says “known quirks: IMS”. I thought it was just something like dolby sound.
Like Google Docs, also with permissions for Owner, Editor and Viewer, and can be linked. I know making websites exist but I’m not sure if I could access buying any relevant hardware in my city and idk how to self-host.
Some time ago I started replacing all services and apps that I use with FOSS altnernatives. Most of them were easy to replace but some corpo/big-tech apps had ecosystems too advanced to be conveniently replaced. For example, substituting Google Maps on Android (or I guess Apple Maps on iOS) was a bit of a struggle as the most popular FOSS alternative app was OsmAnd. First of all mad respect and huge kudos to OsmAnd team of contributors but for me the UX was overwhelming and too customizable which is probably a huge bonus to power users but IMO that makes it very unlikely to become a large scale alternative to Google maps. Probably other people realized that too and some 6-7 months ago CoMaps was released, a FOSS app that is also based on OpenStreetMap layer but this time with a simplistic and smooth UX/GUI.
I currently keep track of which model kits, brick building sets, and painting miniatures that I own and whether I have made progress on them in a Google Sheet. As part of my attempt to degoogle, I am looking into various alternatives.
Let 2026 the year to really write…
I want to start with an update on my apps as I (and we) use everyday our smartphones. And a smartphone without Google shit on it is always better.
The hope is that this guide and website can act as a simple way to introduce newcomers - whether it’s you, friends or family - into this space and try something else besides the default options.
Here’s my Christmas gift for the community: a Firefox add-on that transforms links to create new Google Calendar events into ICS files you can import in your favorite calendar application.
Kagi (the search engine), where I am a customer, has just sent me this gift link, which up to three people can use to get three months of free access to Kagi.
I shared a version of this guide earlier this year, but felt a website was needed to unpack the different options fully. So after an unreasonable number of hours, I put together the necessary data and website.
Recently Google decided that in the future for an app to be installable on an Android device, the developer of this app needs to be ID’d and registered at Google. They claim this is in order to “to better protect users”. However, I think, this is a move to get more control over the Android ecosystem, and the data they can collect with it. If anyone who wants to develop an app for Android devices has to be registered with *Google*, this puts all the power of who to allow distributing an app to *Google*.
TL;DR: Don’t buy Huawei or Honor phones if you need bootloader unlocking capabilities. Even on units without a carrier lock. I couldn’t unlock my Honor 90 Lite.
If we want to argue that Degoogling isn’t just about privacy, but about protecting your digital life from being shut down at the whim of a tech giant with no real appeal process, what are some examples showing why we shouldn’t ignore the risk of Google banning users, locking them out of countless accounts, and deleting photos, emails, and records that often lack backups?
PieFed
Auster
🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮
MadeInDex 📰🌎
XiELEd
Gundam Reference
cm0002
Novi Sad
