Google’s story over the last two decades has been a tale as old as time: enshittification for growth. The once-beloved startup—with its unofficial “Don’t Be Evil” motto—has instead become a major Internet monopolist, as a federal judge ruled on Monday, dominating the market for online search. Google is also well-known for its data-harvesting practices, for constantly killing off products, and for facilitating the rise of brain-cell-destroying YouTubers who make me Fear for Today’s Youth. (Maybe that last one is just me?)
Google’s rapid rise from “scrappy search engine with doodles” to “dystopic mega-corporation” has been remarkable in many ways, especially when you consider just how much goodwill the company squandered so quickly. Along the way, though, Google has achieved one unexpected result: In a divided America, it offers just about everyone something to hate.
Here are just a few of the players hating Google today.
“streaming is worse than cable now” is it though?
I stream for weeks on end without a single ad, watching only what I want. I go to an older person’s house and I hear the same friggin commercial jingles, the same canned studio laughter, and shows that are designed for the stupidest common denominator.
I grew up in the era of Saturday morning cartoons. My brain was liquidified on cereal commercials. I won’t allow cable into my house under any circumstances.
But I do agree that we should learn from too easily replacing the working with the next big thing without any regulations on how the next big thing is allowed to operate
But that’s now changing. The bottom tiers of many (most?) streaming apps include ads, and it’s not a stretch to think that they’ll include ads on the higher tiers eventually, or just increase prices until people downgrade to ad-supported tiers. Yeah, you can use an ad-blocker, but you could also use a DVR for cable that also filters out ads.
I’m bailing on both and just buying physical media again. I hope that doesn’t die out, but I’m done with paying for subscriptions. We don’t watch a ton, so I’m probably going to save money this way.
I wish we had a streaming equivalent of a DVR, then I might actually want streaming again.
Ironically, pirating has never been easier lol
Between private torrent trackers and Usenet, pirating has never been easier. I love it!
I haven’t had a Usenet provider in over a decade, got any recommendations?
I’m not an expert, but I’ve recently used BulkNews and Fast Usenet and I liked them both. You’ll also need an indexer, personally I like DrunkenSlug, NZBGeek and NinjaCentral, but not all of them have open signups.
Its worse in that to see the content I want I need MULTIPLE subscriptions that add up to more than cables cost …or I can sail the high seas once more. I’ve cancellled everything except amazon because I save enough on shipping to justify it (mostly heavy items)