These days, I do not rely on Google. I learned the hard way.
Twice Google shut my website down.
The second time the company shut my site down, they locked me out until I signed up for a monthly subscription.
I wish I had that kind of power. I teach languages for a living. If I had that kind of power, I would not allow any of you to speak English again until you subscribed to my site.
Of course, you would likely never hear from me again. I’d be on an island that I owned, tanned and rested all alone… surrounded by enormous piles of money. (If you didn’t catch the reference, go to the 2:20 minute mark in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJICrhJD4-M)
As soon as I could, I cancelled my subscription with Google. These days, if I can avoid Google, I do.
Until I went looking, I did not realize there were so many alternatives to Google. I am enjoying them.
Here they are:
Brave. This is my go to website. I teach online. Students see my computer screen during class. I don’t need advertisements popping up constantly. Brave blocks them all. Even those annoying “accept cookies?” pop-ups. (On another note, in real life… I always accept cookies. So, if you want to offer me some cookies…)
SwissCows.com is a family friendly search engine. It filters out all the stuff that should be filtered out. And, unlike Google, SwissCows is not constantly looking over your shoulder.
Sometimes, I will use DuckDuckGo. Similar to SwissCows, but they make no claim to be family friendly.
And, then there is Firefox. I do not subscribe to all the movies sites available. I simply do not have the time for many movies. But, I am an Amazon Prime member, and from time to time I will watch movies there. Lately, just like in the old television days, commercials are interrupting every movie and show, even on Prime. I have heard you can bypass the commercials (which sounds fantastic) by using Amazon Prime on Firefox. I hope this rumor is true. I am planning to find out this week.
Just so you know, I am not affiliated with any of the companies I mentioned here. I just like using their browsers.
Have you tried using other browsers? One of my favorite things about sending out a weekly “tip of the week” are all the tips I get back from you guys in response. I’d love to hear about your alternatives to Google.
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After sending the above message, I received this response:
Thanks for the great information on search engines. As my kids get older into their teens it’s hard to give them access to online stuff and still keep them safe. I have heard of Brave but not SwissCow so I am definitely checking that out.I just wanted to share something we found recently. On my iPad I have the DuckDuckGo app. In the settings there is something called Duck Player. With Duck Player, you can play YouTube videos using it and they play completely without ads. You can’t see or add comments to the videos but there’s no annoying ads interrupting the video mid sentence. I don’t know if it works on a computer since there’s no unique app on my Mac, just an extension on Safari.Just wanted to share.Thanks for all you do.Sincerely,Jennifer
Almost every Saturday, I send out a Tip of the Week. The tip of the week is usually something I have picked up along the way that may make your life a little easier.
If you would like to hear from me (almost) every Saturday, just go to the home page of my site and plug in your name and email. You will also get a free digital copy of my book on learning Latin (and almost anything else). Just go here: https://dwanethomas.com/ and enter your name and email.
If you want to buy the digital book instead (because you just feel like buying me a cup of coffee) go here: https://dwanethomas.gumroad.com/l/fzixlh
If you are interested in learning Latin, you can go through the classes on my site 24/7. I recommend the book Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg. If you tackle the book and find yourself bogged down, you may find the classes on my site helpful. To join, just click here: https://dwanethomas.com/join/
If you want a more professionally filmed Latin learning experience, check out the best-selling DVD series: Visual Latin.
Or, if you want to skip Latin, and just jump right into learning English words from Latin and Greek roots, you may enjoy the series Word Up! Warning. Word Up! is a bit wacky. You will learn a lot… but, you may find yourself rolling your eyes, too.
I teach other languages on my site, too. The current schedule is here: https://dwanethomas.com/schedule/
By the way, some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Not trying to pull a fast one on you. I only promote what I believe in. Not only that, but commissions from affiliate links allow me to continue offering training and books at low prices and sometimes free.
