I was just getting interested in Neeva as a paid search engine with some cool AI tools where you’re not an advertising target because you pay. This explains the sudden refund from Neeva - they apparently got bought out and are no longer being a search engine. I don’t really know what to make of it all.

I suppose it makes my decision between it and Kagi easier - I don’t really have a choice. Kagi is a lot more expensive, but I get work to pay for it. Though that does make it harder to potentially recommend to other people I know.

Not that I ever thought paid search would massively take off, but unlike many tasks, search can be centralized enough on a per user basis that something other than ads is worth exploring.

  • beefcat@beehaw.org
    271·
    1 year ago

    Brave’s CEO opposes same-sex marriage in the US and donated money to anti-LGBT groups. It’s why he was ousted at Mozilla. As a result I cannot in good conscience use anything from Brave.

    • Pigeon@beehaw.org
      15·
      1 year ago

      Ditto. Brave also promotes their own crypto-coin ponzi nonsense. And at one point I believe they made a far-right website a default link on their homepage, before outcry compelled them to remove it.

      Duckduckgo search engine works as well as google’s, though. Except that I haven’t yet figured out what the equivalent formatting for “site:reddit.com” is for it, if site specific search is even a supported function (surely?)

      Edit: I won’t scold anyone for using a free browser though. It’s not like you give them $$$. But they do get your data, and while they claim to be about privacy I don’t exactly trust them as far as I can throw them.

      • russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.net
        6·
        1 year ago

        Except that I haven’t yet figured out what the equivalent formatting for “site:reddit.com” is for it, if site specific search is even a supported function (surely?)

        It is actually the exact same syntax/formatting as Google’s! So Dolphins site:wikipedia.org should show you only search results from Wikipedia.

      • davido@beehaw.org
        5·
        1 year ago

        Brave also promotes their own crypto-coin ponzi nonsense.

        This kinda pained me as well as its a centralized coin that requires you to verify with a passport to even get access to the earned rewards. Literally the opposite of having a private browser. Still happy with it as browser for mobile though, others dont really compare (Firefox had a bunch of bad design decisions I didnt like).

        • cavemeat@beehaw.org
          3·
          1 year ago

          This and the CEO’s shenanigans made me move to startpage, although I’ve heard that it isn’t great for privacy either.

      • Smoke@beehaw.org
        41·
        1 year ago

        Duckduckgo search engine works as well as google’s, though. Except that I haven’t yet figured out what the equivalent formatting for “site:reddit.com” is for it, if site specific search is even a supported function (surely?)

        The bang for reddit is !r, so you can type !r Apples to learn what reddit thinks about the fruit-cum-trendy computer company.

    • luckless@beehaw.org
      8·
      1 year ago

      Didn’t know this, thanks for the heads up. Though I stick to duckduckgo regardless, I know not to recommend brave.

    • EmasXP@beehaw.org
      8·
      1 year ago

      Ouch. I did not know that. I was considering paying for it in order to support them. Now, maybe not