Opinions on the Vivaldi browser?

And while ewe are at it: There doesn‘t seem to be a single search engine that doesn‘t rely on US search indices. Correct?

DAB+ radio is my favourite #EuropeanAlternative to streaming music. Not only is it free, there is no evil megacorp spying and putting you on lists, it connects you to your local community and supports local businesses.

All cars sold in the EU/EEA since 2021 have DAB+ built in; modern TVs have it as well, and lots of nice battery-operated radios like these are useful in emergencies as well (eg when Internet cables *ahem* "get cut").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Broadcasting

#europeanalternatives @ueeu

Recently I've been looking at European search engines. #Qwant and #StartPage seem to be the most popular, the latter having stricter privacy policy.

Which privacy focused engine are you using and why?

Netflix versus Arte

Arte TV:
https://www.arte.tv/en/

Arte Concerts:
https://www.arte.tv/en/arte-concert/

Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@arte

Image source: https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1jaj76t/the_app_works_great_and_they_also_offer_games_btw/
#netflix #arte #europeanalternatives

Free Mobile, one of the largest French telecommunications company, has launched a new promotion for its customers: all 15 million customers will be able to use the premium version of "Le Chat", the AI assistant created by Mistral AI who is a direct competitor of ChatGPT and DeepSeek .

For 1 year, Free Mobile customers will be able to access the premium version, which offers unlimited access and uses Mistral AI's most advanced models, guaranteeing faster, more precise & more detailed responses.

Customers will be able to search the web in real time and to upload files for advanced analysis, as well as generate images and presentations.

Why did Free team up with Mistral IA to offer premium AI services free of charge?

Xavier Niel, the owner of Free, is also an investor in Mistral AI and he's keen to boost the reputation of the French service and encourage people to choose Le Chat over foreign competitors.

The goal is to make Mistral a leader in the field of AI, which is great news for and that compete for AI leadership.

And the good news for the French is that if you're already a Free customer, you only need to activate the offer.

If you are not a Free customer, you can sign up to the cheapest plan for €2 to take advantage of this offer.
https://mobile.free.fr/le-chat-assistant-ia
#Mistral #france #europeanalternatives

Do you know JOPLIN? It's a nice European alternative to apps like Evernote, Google Keep, Notion, Microsoft OneNote.

Joplin is a free, open source note-taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. You can search your notes, copy them, tag them and modify them either from the app itself or from your own text editor. The notes are in Markdown format, which is great.

It was created by Laurent Cozic back in 2016 as an alternative to Evernote. It's cloud service is hosted in Paris, France. They focus on privacy, security and transparency.

It's open source and offline-first, so you can always access your data on the device, even when you're not connected to the internet.

It's got all the basics you'd expect, and you can also attach images, videos, audio files and PDFs to your notebooks.

There's a huge community of people who have made extra features possible with their plugins.

It's also super easy to export and import your files, which is great if you're worried about vendor lock-in.

The handy web clipper extension lets you save web pages or take screenshots in the browser and save them to your notes.

Check all the features in their website:
https://joplinapp.org

#notetaking #opensource #BuyFromEU #europeanalternatives

Follow them on Mastodon: @joplinapp

BeReal is a French social networking app that was created by Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau in France in 2020.

It's seen as a rival to apps like Instagram or TikTok and it's got features that have been copied by Instagram recently.

But some people see it as more of an 'anti-Instagram' because you can't edit your photos, use filters or see how many followers you have.

So, what's the deal?

It's basically a photo-sharing app that encourages users to share a daily photo of their real life without filters or editing, using both the front and rear cameras on their device. Every day, users are given a fun and unexpected notification at a random time, giving them just two minutes to take and post a photo. You can choose to share your photo with friends or more people.

It's already got 23 million users worldwide (but you don't hear about it much in the mainstream media).

Did you know about it? Do you use it?

Check out some interesting growth stats about BeReal here:

https://www.onlineoptimism.com/blog/bereal-stats-app-figures-data-be-real-numbers-to-know/

Official website: https://bereal.com

People of dear #Europe!

Remember to #buyEuropean. If you don’t know the #europeanAlternatives to a given product or you simply want to discuss #European products join the BuyEuropean #Lemmy community: https://feddit.uk/c/buyeuropean

Remember that we are #strongerTogether and each one of you CAN have an impact on reality.

This is another fresh website with recommendations of European-made products and brands:

https://europeanmade.eu/

by @EuropeanMade

Great topic running in our feed: European board games!

Do you know the difference between American-style games and Eurogames?

"Unlike their American counterparts, which often emphasize direct conflict and chance, Eurogames prioritize careful planning, multiple paths to victory, and meaningful player choices that ripple throughout each session."

Check out this interesting article that explains some of the differences:

https://boardgamepile.com/eurogame-board-games

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurogame

Do you own an Eurogame? Which one's your favourite?

Our favorites are Ticket to Ride , Catan and Carcassone !

European-alternatives.eu Experiencing Massive Traffic Increase Since January

https://mastodon.social/@european_alternatives/114139039515682544

Some thoughts about our efforts needed to put Europe first instead of relying on others. Now more than ever, especially in terms of digital services or buying goods!

https://thewiredthinker.com/internet-services-vowing-for-an-european-change-in-times-of-a-world-going-down-the-drain/

It's a big job to move to #EuropeanAlternatives but there's lots of help out there too.

https://www.goeuropean.org/
https://european-alternatives.eu/

On reddit there's:
r/BuyFromEU
r/degoogle

Let's try to make small changes and encourage those around us to do the same.

Let's decide to no longer be the product to corporate greed and fascist billionaires.

Switching to /e/OS offers a privacy-first experience, free from Google's tracking. It significantly reduces data sent to Google servers, making it ideal for those looking to minimize tracking and data collection. #eOS #PrivacyMatters #DeGoogleYourPhone

By removing Google apps and services, /e/OS can offer smoother and more efficient performance on devices with limited resources. #EfficientOS #PrivacyFirst

I am using @Vivaldi as my main browser on #Mac, #iPadOS and #iOS now for 2 weeks and it is an absolutely brilliant experience and there’s also a great community and top feelgood factor. Will keep it and move on from #Safari and #Firefox. #europeanalternatives #vivaldi #vivaldibrowser #dataprivacy #Europe

Le Chat is the perfect ChatGPT alternative. It is a product by Mistral AI, a French company under the GDPR.
It works perfectly in several languages and can generate awesome images.

https://chat.mistral.ai/chat

Looking for European #whatsapp alternatives?
Our database holds a few options you might want to share with friends and family.

https://buy-european.net/alternative-to/whatsapp