Idk if this is the right instance for this, but how fucking tired of these forced ads at gas pumps is everyone else?

I'm paying 4 bucks a gallon to have you shove advertising down my throat like an erect cock?

What the actual fuck

Anyone have any good ad blocking practices for this?

I've seen duct or painters tape covering the speakers...

You can press a button next to the screen to mute it, but this doesn't work at all gas stations. (Usually its the 2nd from the top on the right side)

I guess its just time to gettoblast music every time I pump gas like back when I was 19....

My searx instance is down for a while, and I was forced to use and try all the search engines, all of them are really bad

You can set this as your default search engine and every use it will redirect you to a random searx instance

Folks, I have finally figured it out.

Have a baby.

Since having a baby a week ago, all of a sudden everyone is willing to install a decent messaging app in order to receive pics of the baby.

We explained that we weren't ready for images of our child to end up in the wrong hands via non-private apps. Another thing was telling them that the one single friend who had already got on board with this had already been recieving pics...

It's been a conversation starter for many and I think seeing privacy from the point of view of a newborn has helped our family and friends understand it a bit more easily. Plus they've had to put up with it if they want any photos, so they will see it working firsthand.

So, if you want to have a baby, know that it can be a wonderful opportunity to help loved ones communicate more privately.

It also increases the sum total of love, community and compassion in the world and in your own life but that's a conversation for another community :)

Edit: If anyone has good tips on how to share a little one's journey more privately with those that care about them, please post them in the discussion.

First, let me say that this is the worst phone I've ever owned. I don't have have "fuck it, I'm buying a Pixel" money right now, but I'd like to try un-ruining my phone if possible. And what are the best ways to back up my phone before the switch?

It seems like everywhere is asking for my ID multiple times and there are multiple international companies involved.

I thought the whole point of blockchain was decentralised so why can't I just buy btc without jumping through a thousand hoops?!?

I tried using bisq but it seems more geared towards traders and you need btc to buy btc :(

any help would be appreciated.

I've been using SwiftKey for waaaaaaay too long. I shoulda switched when Microsoft bought them out.

But old habits die hard. And I love the skin I use.

Help they know everything I've typed on a phone. That can't be good for anyone.

Edit: Holy fuck everyone, thanks for all of the responses!

I went with Heliboard, and typing this, it looks like I have to change a couple more settings to get it like I had Swiftkey, but I already like it more.

The fact you can basically make your own skin by changing all of the colors of the keyboard is amazing.

Fuck microsoft's ai keyboard.

Heliboard for lyfe!

Edit edit: trying to delete my data from Swiftkey was INSANELY hard. I couldn't do it from my phone, so I had to login with a computer. They think they are slick.... Fuckers....

Error message when trying to view an Instagram post sent from a friend: “If this page is not displaying as expected, you can reduce advanced privacy protections which may resolve issues”.

No, I don’t think I will.

Cross-posted from https://lemmy.world/post/13888155

New study shows that the default apps collect data even when supposedly disabled, and this is hard to switch off

Here's a link to the news. https://e621.net/news_updates

Edit: As people in the comments pointed out, this bill targets all websites hosting porn. e621 just happens to be hosted in Arizona, and it therefore affects them directly.

If you're considering opening a Chase account, here's some food for thought.

I'm looking for an android browser to open webapps isolated from my general browsing

I've been using Mull as disposable browsing and brave for login into places (shopping, social), but I don't like that if I want to stay logged it also keeps history record. I think it would happen with any browser I use, right? Any suggestions?

Today I was watching a few YouTube videos about groundwork with horses. First time I did that. Yes, I was logged in.

Later today, I hopped on Amazon to track one of my packages. And in my suggestions, there were horse grooming kits, halters and the like, even though I had never before looked for things like these on there.

My mail addresses are different on the two places, and so are, of course, my passwords. I am on Linux with Firefox, uBlock etc. So this must be an incredible coincidence, a miracle, mind-reading, or maybe witchcraft?

I wonder what I could tweak to make things like this happen less in future. I am thinking of adding a Pi-hole to my router, yet I am no longer so sure, if it would help?

It is something to always take into consideration and not forget.

edit: thank you all for your replies! They are all very helpful. I am reading through them and will ask follow-up questions if needed.

I made a post some days ago asking about LineageOS, but my curiosity towards Google Pixels and GrapheneOS has been growing. As somebody who has always used regular Samsungs and iPhones, I hope somebody can clear up some questions I have regarding this OS.

I plan that my next phone is to be either a Motorola (LineageOS/SailfishOS?) or a Pixel (GrapheneOS). My first question about GrapheneOS, or really any non-standard OS, is this:

• how does having an account on the device work? For example, Samsungs require a Samsung account and iPhones require an iCloud account. How does it work on non-standard OSes?

My second question touches on built-in apps that you often get with every phone:

• does GrapheneOS have its own Notes/Drive/Photos/Messages app? If not, how does one go about obtaining these? Related question:
• how do I sync my notes/photos/files/etc to the “cloud” of GrapheneOS?

My third question regards the app store of GrapheneOS. I have heard that the sandboxed Play Store is better than FDroid, for instance; what are your thoughts? Do I go for Aurora Store instead? Is there any major difference at all? Is it possible to use multiple app stores?

• note that I likely won’t be solely relying on FDroid since I need some non-FOSS apps (FB Messenger for contacting family for example).

I know that in the privacy community, it’s very common to fix up a cloud of your own (i.e. NextCloud). I have no experience doing this, but is it something I must do when I install atypical OSes? Then comes the question about pricing, how private and secure it really is, which one to choose… and so on.

I understand many of these questions will sound stupid to those who are experienced, but I have not been part of this community very long. Feel free to link any educational videos or articles that answer my questions. I hope to learn more about this subject and one day installing a more secure system on my phone. Cheers!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13810367

Now that Apple has been forced to allow alternative App Stores, are there already similar stores like F-Droid emerging for iOS?

I'm thinking of getting a second phone to ease off iOS. It has been good for productivity stuff but the closed off nature of the device keeps disrupting my plans. Everything is either expensive or ad ridden. (Except floccus, floccus is awesome)

So far I have read about graphene OS and am quite interested. I really despise google though. Any chance to use another device and put some linux flavor on it? I was playing with the idea of a pinephone but it seems to be nowhere near daily drivable, fairphone is starting at 580 €, volla phone (german) 450 €...

Some people said xiaomi should be rootable. But the amount of different phones is huge. The price range is awesome though. I was thinking sub 300 €/$ would be awesome so tinkering doesnt hurt me financially.

Disclaimer: I dont want to go full hermit mode with no sim and a faraday bag. I respect the opinion but thats not what I'm trying to do. I want to write some small apps for my phone and use it as a computer if needed. Calling, matrix and browser should work flawlessly.

Any ideas or suggestions? :)

Meta has already announced interopability opportunity since March 6. Has anything been made after that? All I know is that Signal apparently won't operate with them.

Not sure which news website I should be using for the link, sorry! I'm happy to change it if anyone has a better one.

Google agreed to destroy or de-identify billions of records of web browsing data collected when users were in its private browsing “Incognito mode,” according to a proposed class action settlement filed Monday.

The proposal is valued at $5 billion, according to Monday’s court filing, calculated by determining the value of data Google has stored and would be forced to destroy and the data it would be prevented from collecting. Google would need to address data collected in private browsing mode in December 2023 and earlier. Any data that is not outright deleted must be de-identified.