Hmmmm… is the time for micropayments finally here?
To everyone… would you pay 1.25c per search? I think I might if I was assured of the quality of results.
No. I’m serious when I say a search engine could not learn anything about me that isn’t already known by Amazon, Walmart, American Express, and many others.
I would anticipate it would be a higher number, since that other number was given as “cost” - and they have no idea what sort of adoption rate they’ll get, and have said as much. Right now the service is projected to be $10 per month, but that could always go up if they don’t get as much adoption as they project.
As for whether I’d do it, I’d need to assess my monthly volume and the quality of the results.
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This is why Google created Alphabet. These things can be split into separate companies and then sold if necessary.
That is fair comment. This morning I was searching to see if anyone else was experiencing a specific problem with Safari.
The result was 20 sites all with similar, highly SEO optimised content along the lines of “20 tips for when Safari is running slowly”. Tips included the wonderful “check your internet is on” and “check the website address is correct.” Both are irrelevant to a slow running Safari and all were loaded with words to get the attention of Google. Just as bad were the supposedly helpful “people also search for” boxes full of unlikely suggestions and simply cluttering the results page. Some of the featured results are nothing better than scams.
So, I’ll revise my earlier comment by saying that Google is better overall, but seems to have lost its way. There is definitely room for a new contender, but whether anyone other than Microsoft or Apple could make a sustainable business model out of it is sadly debatable.
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completely understand, glad you did though!
I tend to ignore these “news” reports, since a. it’s mostly clickbait and b. if you read the product T&C’s they usually are very specific and most of it tends to be in there.
You might be interested in this FOSS browser extension, uBlacklist, which blocks sites from appearing from Google, DDG, Bing, and etc.
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What a great idea! Thanks for the suggestion. There are a few sites I’d be happy never to see again.
Would be totally fine for me!
I use Apple Maps anyway, I have a private Mail-Adress, and I will definitely stop wasting my time by YT-Surfing, so… :-))
The problem on that sentence is, that it is not necessary anymore, to connect that to a “user profile”!
They actually don’t care anymore for your name, they care for the Signature of your IT, and they are even able to link a smartphone and a Desktop, just because they use similar software, and share sometimes the same IP.
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There are also other Alternatives. Two I use are
and also
Both very powerful search tools.
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I have my own email domain and I like Apple Maps too. But they haven’t made it to some of the places I’ve visited. I would have to keep paying for YT premium. Its more entertaining than most of the streaming services I’ve tried. But that’s setting a low bar. 
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I would think that Google’s intent was so that they could spin off a division though, not so the government could more easily split them up. If the government effectively ends their ability to cross-track and such, that would almost certainly pose problems for every one of Alphabet’s companies, and make them less valuable.
I expect that the government would split them up no matter if they were Alphabet or Google. The government don’t care. The divisions just make it easier for Alphabet when the time comes as they already have divisions packaged for sale.
I use Ecosia on Mac and iOS, too. Love the idea of planting trees.
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Good analogy and why in Glasgow they have ‘dead policemen’, AKA speed bumps elsewhere 
That is the Celtic fringe for you. well Glasgy anyway.
In the meantime I do use DDG and find it ok, Google is also nowhere near as good as it once was due, as you know, to gaming and much of what comes up is dross: that is the bottom line. I am also considering Tor and even a VPN. I have little confidence that a dedicated expert couldn’t see what I do though. Meh, who cares. I do contribute to Tor Project in fact.
I’ve used DDG for work and personal for several years now without problem. Part of my job is finding info for people and it rarely lets me down. I’m now wondering if my searches aren’t as niche as I thought if others have trouble!
Re: Ecosia, doing the search doesn’t plant any trees; their revenue is based on you clicking the ads (which are served by Bing and of which Bing also takes a share - Ecosia is run on Bing). As I’m assuming most of you search without clicking on ads, Ecosia won’t be doing anything for you (separate note, but Ecosia also doesn’t have a great ethical rating - they courted Google for several years before entering a contract with Microsoft, and only went to Microsoft because Google declined).
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Not quite true:
https://twitter.com/GallupNews/status/1527349036461674496
Perhaps privacy is needlessly complex in many areas? Most people, if they could, would probably want to ensure they have proper privacy.
It’s making the tools easy and cost effective that are the problem. Big corporations and governments are the major hindrance here.
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My biggest query here is to do with the term “search engine”. The reality is that they are not search engines, but business curated listings. That is a major difference. The choice is between who’s curated listings you will look for information knowing some information is purposely hidden or down listed.
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