Notices by switching.social (switchingsocial@mastodon.at), page 11

@masterofthetiger @danielst

The Librem phone, but it was only ever in the "bubbling under" section because it isn't ready.

"Librem One" was also in the all-in-one section briefly until I found out Purism wasn't going to ban people promoting genocide.

@danielst

I attempted to contact Purism many times before removing them from my site. I never got any replies.

I have exchanged many messages with Brave folk on Twitter, including Brendan Eich. There was no common ground at all, Eich was hostile and derisive.

@danielst

You say you wish there was an alternative to my site... what exactly is stopping you making one?

(shrug)

It's easy to complain, it's hard to take action.

As soon as you do take action, you'll find people disagreeing with your approach, and you will no longer be regarded as neutral.

@danielst

You say you wish there was an alternative to my site... what exactly is stopping you making one?

(shrug)

It's easy to complain, it's hard to take action.

But as soon as you do take action, you'll find people disagreeing with your approach, and you will no longer be regarded as neutral.

@danielst

I'm not enforcing anything. I cannot enforce anything.

I have no control over anything.

I have no gatekeeping ability or network effect.

I'm not sure where you get the idea that I have any power over anyone.

All I'm doing is saying what I recommend, people are free to listen or ignore me as they please.

@ben @fitheach

Yup, so-called "drop shipping". It ought to be banned from ebay, it disguises the origin of goods.

@aperalesf @inventaire @libreture

The support page for Kobo says that syncing includes "bookmarks or annotations in eBooks", bookmarks sounds like it means positions:

https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017513334

@aperalesf @inventaire @libreture

I haven't tried syncing positions as I only have one device, but I would assume Kobo does that?

(I can't swear to this though as I haven't tried syncing positions.)

@priryo @inventaire @libreture

Yup, Amazon bought Abebooks in 2008, and part of the deal included 40% of LibraryThing.

@Anprim @funkwhale

I just meant, Funkwhale will be able to give you a better answer about any future app news 👍

@libreture

Geez, them too...

The illusion of choice I guess :blobsad:

Amazon's attempt to control the book world extends everywhere, they own the following:

Goodreads
Abebooks
Librarything (40%, through Abebooks)
Kindle
Audible

You don't have to get your books from Amazon or use Amazon book services. There are much more ethical alternatives available:

https://switching.social/ethical-alternatives-to-amazon-and-goodreads/

Some of these alternatives are also on the Fediverse:
@inventaire
@libreture

#Amazon #Alternatives #Books #eBooks #DeleteAmazon

@Anprim

Oh no :blobsad:

I think @funkwhale would know best what their app status is?

@kewl @staticsafe

Amazon has access to all the data you submit to the site, including your IP address. Adblockers wouldn't stop any of that :blobsad:

@Anprim

You can use Funkwhale through subsonic apps?

https://funkwhale.audio/en_US/apps

@mkb @staticsafe

No *exact* alternative, but a lot of overlap with these services:

Inventaire
https://inventaire.io/
Free open site, catalogue your collection and keep track of books lent to others.
Follow them at:
@inventaire

Open Library
https://openlibrary.org/
Internet Archive's book site, includes pages for every book ever published.

Libreture
https://www.libreture.com/
Ecosystem for DRM-free eBooks, store them, rate them, have reading lists etc.

You can follow them at @libreture

@danielst

Ideals aren't weakness.

Ideals are what drive people to seek alternatives. I wouldn't be doing switching.social at all if I didn't care about what happens to other people.

If you just want "neutral" (i.e. amoral) tech, you should stick to Google, Facebook and Amazon, they will make your life much easier and smoother. Of course by doing so they will screw up lots of other people's lives, but if you don't care about ideals that shouldn't matter, right?

There's a free open federated network for storing and sharing music called Funkwhale:

https://funkwhale.audio

You can follow them on here:

@funkwhale

A really good example instance is open.audio, which is entirely Creative Commons tracks:

https://open.audio

You can use it through the web, or through subsonic-compatible apps:

https://funkwhale.audio/en_US/apps

#Funkwhale #Fediverse #Music

@not_on_pizza

I honestly don't know :blobsad: When I've tried to ask for advice there have been conflicting opinions.

Some people say there are links to Google in all forms of Chromium, others say degooglised Chromium can be fine depending on how it is done.

@ChrisWere

What the... why?