Hee, dunno what happened there. There was a whole big post. Now I'm afraid to repost, I think Google is coming to my house.

You could start using goodsearch. It's based on the yahoo engine and donates a portion of its advertising revenues to whatever charity you select (the above links to mine, Hope in Transit).

They also have affiliated programs where you can donate by dining and shopping. You can use their toolbar, which will show you when you're on a participating site. Again, that theoretically is the Hope in Transit branded toolbar.

I just now set it up for us, so if anyone does, I'd appreciate the feedback. I haven't yet promoted it to our supporters.

The negatives are: it uses cookies, so if you're leaving Google for privacy reasons, this might not be an acceptable solution. Signing up (separate signup) for Gooddining does want you to receive marketing email. And the toolbar, infuriatingly, has a non-removable Amazon button.

So it's not entirely ideal, but it's what I'm currently playing with. Now to see if this will actually post.

YOu can see why in that context you would not want two appointments for the same doctor at the same time.

Someone tell my doctors about that, will you?

it uses cookies, so if you're leaving Google for privacy reasons, this might not be an acceptable solution

Cookies aren't inherently evil, you know. Buffistas.org uses cookies. It's a case by case thing, and lots of solid functionality relies on sessions not being entirely transient. I am a bit leery of the blanket bad name they seem to have.

If you're going to use something that has a participating site feature, cookies are pretty much the most sensible way to track things--and it's exactly the sort of cookie most people tend to get paranoid about, the cross-site cookie, but again, if it's the point, what's the point of not having it?

Not that I ever install anything with a toolbar. I hate hate hate third party toolbars.

Liese, how do you balance an Android phone with eschewing Google?

Man, my powerbook does not like me putting the new phone down on it. Gets all pissy.

NOt even on an android and not planning on eschewing google, Just hate how they are making searches, their core product, less useful. I mean I set it not to use personal results which should take care of the problem, except it keeps getting unset. An example of how cookies are not inherently evil - my problem is caused by a cookie being deleted either by overly zealous anti-malware software at my end, or some error at google's end.

I have been using duckduckgo and I really love it as a search engine. I also like their bang (!) shortcuts for various sites.

Their iphone app is okay, but needs some spiffing up I think, but for the desktop, it is really good.

I find I have to use google search for some things (like cached pages), duckduckgo does not have caches.

Typo, I don't know how to address your questions about backpack. You might want to email support and ask them. You seem to be a SUPER calendar user and I am more in the "basic" category.

Well, and I permit buffistas.org's cookie explicitly, but I still clear it every night. That's all I'm saying, is it's a cross-site cookie, so if you are trying to avoid google for that reason, this won't solve it.

And you don't have to use the toolbar. You can use the search site just on its own.

Liese, how do you balance an Android phone with eschewing Google?

It's an issue. One that I didn't know I was getting into when I bought the phone. So far I have solved it by registering a second gmail account, and associating that one, rather than my phone one, with my g-related stuff.

However, I feel I am on the brink right now, and that I will either tip to one side and eschew it entirely except for the required account for the phone, or I will tip to the other and succumb to the inevitable and use it for everything.

Like right now, Astrid is associated with my kprinkle gmail account. So I have to decide if I want to strip that off or not.

It's tempting to just use it for everything, but I don't know.

t facepalm

Duckduckgo, not Go Dog Go! Right.

I have given up, a lot, on most corporate issues (that Amazon thing still sticks). I do have 6+ google accounts, so I'm not really all that worried about privacy issues there. Google knows some of them belong to the same person, but not all.

So far the balance between optimising my life and their "moral" (because I don't believe any company over a certain size has anything of the sort) stance tips well in favour of me using their products. I feel comfortable taking part of the places where tracking me is useful to me, and breaking the links where it's not.

I still clear it every night

Why?

The negatives are: it uses cookies, so if you're leaving Google for privacy reasons, this might not be an acceptable solution.

Sort of. I never set up a profile, but I've been thinking about moving my blog for awhile and I've never really liked Reader. Plus, Blogger is the only non-personal entity associated with my gmail acct and that has always bugged me. And, I figure at some point they will actually force me to set up a profile.

My calendar needs are pretty basic, I could just go back to Yahoo, which is my email for everything that's not personal. I need an actual calendar less than the reminder emails that come with. Of course, I could also do something radical and figure out how to use the calendar on my phone.

megan,

the other thing you might want (if reminders are your thing) is followupthen.com

that service is a LIFE saver for me. I paid premium after using it for 2 weeks.

LeN, what does that do that Google or Yahoo appoint reminders don't?