I mentioned Google yes sorry a calming river picture to ease you nerves:
My recent posts have spoken about being an anarchist or agorist as I think I prefer to call myself. Agorism was coined by Samuel Edward Konkin III in 1970's / 80's. It basically is the development of a free market, counter economy and then gradual withdrawal from the state. Maybe I'll will write a post on the details of it from my perspective at some point but in the mean time 
Getting on to the post in hand then; I have talked about where I am coming from but with no evidence of action so here we go! Are you sitting comfortably?
I am always looking for alternatives from the main stream and the big corporate options. In the quest for better options that don't monitor or watch your every move.
In this day and age we are all connected through some sort of device but more than often we don't think about what we use on them. We merrily sign up and engage in the programs provided to use by the supplier not questioning their origins or even motives. Google has not only become a house hold name but a definition, which I am constantly correcting people on. To "google it" is one of the most annoying phrases I know. Advising people there are alternatives is a great pastime of mine and I am constantly trying to find alternatives to the programs (and anything general I can to be honest) owned but the big corporate giants who only have our control and profit as their intention. These often result in our privacy being compromised and data being shared with adverting companies and the pesky telesales.
The Search Engine...
Where better to start than an alternative search engine. Many people appear to think Google is the only option thanks to their domination of the market through their connections in the media and computing world.
And you don't Google something!
Dam that infuriates me! So why stop using Google? Well firstly it tracks you and sends your personal data god knows where etc. But also its Google interests are at the top, so basically their other products and sponsors; then you have the people who pay to be near the top, so is that an organic search? No not in the slightest. This to me represent the big corporate and mass produce crap who only care about rating and prowess not quality of product. I therefore use DuckDuckGo:
DuckDuckGo It works well, runs smoothly and does not record your search, track you or record your personal details, now that's more like it. On a serious note though I use it all the time and find everything I need. All in all it does the job and in my opinion produces a more organic search than the Google version. The advantage is there is no targeted searching which Google provides, for example give you links to your friends or connections on the Google network. Also its a nice layout and navigation is simple. There are aspects that could be better mainly there is not a map feature as people complain about but dam there is a whole internet out there; I will look a map apps later in this series. Go on give it a try.
The Browser...
As I was looking at this I thought a new Browser was in order. Through the universes synchronicity I dropped in on a post by 
Google Play...
Now i'm kinda of jumping onto the Smart phone a bit higgledy-piggledy but I'm just sharing as I find things. So one thing you appear to need on a smart phone it the Google Play app to run all you tracking app for you. This is wrong there is a great open source version out there call F-Droid. I am now using this and my aim is to find alternatives that work well to Google Play versions and rid my phone of the virus that is Google!
This is basically open source versions of all your favourite apps just not attached to Google and dam I like the sounds of that. I not into my apps to be honest but there are the odd ones that have a benefit to me or should I say I use? So F-Droid does what it says on the tin really best just have a butchers for yourself and start the conversion. It's similar layout to Google Play and easy to use.
Text Messenger...
Now we have an alternative to Google Play what does it actually provide I hear you asking, or maybe I don't but i'm going to tell you anyway. The first one I want to find was a text message alternative because lets face it that the main use of the phone other than being a phone that is. I looked at a few and deleted a few but found QKSMS+ and it's cracking folks. I'd even go out and say much better than the Google version (doubt that surprises you). Again it's open source and you can donate if you like. The features are plentiful you can Schedule messages to send at a specific time or date i.e. a birthday. Kind of a great feature for those who are not the most organised. You and also delay the sending of a message; so write while you remember and send it in a hour again a bonus there!
Features that are being developed are Custom auto-emoji (yay for those that emoji it up), Advanced blocking so you can block text with certain words or patterns, Auto response not my bag but I know some like this and also auto forwarding. The layout is almost identical to the Google version but i'd say better but hey i'm bias.
Now for some music...
I occasionally listen to music at work when writing my reports it helps me focus on the situation in hand. I didn't require anything complicated just one that plays mp3 and allow me to see what being played. Cue Music Player by Simple Mobile Tools. It does the job required all you need and no fancy sugar coating.
Lastly for this session is an alternative to Dropbox...
This came about from the music player. I want to have the ease of transferring my music onto my phone, kind of like DropBox does. I found Syncthing
This program is not the simplest to use although. I didn't read the instructions. It took a while to set up but once it was worked like a gem. I can simply swap files on my phone; mainly music and photos. When on WiFi I simply change the folder on my computer and Bob's your uncle. It works just like Dropbox would although I says its less hassle as you only have to updater one folder and it syncs those connected automatically. Again check it out and see what you think!
There we have it some alternatives to the Google empire that I am using and liking. I hope to come back with more alternatives as and when I find them.
Keep Google free my friends!
That is it for now folks. Please try these out and spread the word. The more people that come off Google and started advising others too the better! Slowly we will see a decline as people realise there are better alternatives that don't watch your every move. As this market grows more options will become more easily available and hopefully knock these corporation down a bit.
Also please feel free to add you comment and even option you have found !
