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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

A little reminder that DuckDuckGo is venture capital (VC) funded.

The way VC works:

1. You get VC
2. You grow as fast as you can (or fail fast)
3. You sell (either to a larger corporation or to the public in an IPO; this is called the “exit”)

(In case any of you are surprised by recent/future developments.)

#DuckDuckGo #ventureCapital #VC #BigTech #capitalism

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Ronan
@ronanmcd@mastodon.green replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral ha!
Duck duck go won't load the Mullvad site
Duck duck go won't load the Mullvad site
Duck duck go won't load the Mullvad site
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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@ronanmcd How odd.
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Mindiell
@Mindiell@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral you should try : https://old-search.marginalia.nu/ ;o)
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Andrew Adams
@adamsandy@social.librem.one replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral DuckDuckGo is basically Big Tech advertised as a private search engine.
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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@adamsandy Yep.
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Andrew Adams
@adamsandy@social.librem.one replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral Who honestly trust them anymore?
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Ames
@runoutgroover@mastodon.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral I use DDG (the noai version) but I fully expect to have to bail at some point. Loyalty to any corporate owned internet service is a mugs game these days eh.
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Tanquist
@tanquist@masto.ai replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral
I guess that explains why #DuckDuckGo has been down so much lately and their "No AI" page really isn't.
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Farshid Hakimy / فرشید
@farshidhakimy@chaos.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral actually DuckDuckGo has afaik been profitable for a long time
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Wendy M. Grossman
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral True, but the "fast" part hasn't been DDG's MO.
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Chris Funderburg
@bocan@infosec.exchange replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral And yet, it's been going for 16 years...
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F4GRX Sébastien
@f4grx@chaos.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral VC is so close to WC
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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

This is the Silicon Valley “startup” model. Startups are not long-term sustainable businesses or small businesses. A startup is a temporary business designed to either grow exponentially and exit (sell) or to fail fast.

#startups#ventureCapital#VC#BigTech#SiliconValley

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your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦
@blogdiva@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral scream this from the rooftops.
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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@blogdiva I do. But then people are like “shush, I’m trying to sleep.”
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your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦
@blogdiva@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral LMAO
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christina b
@christina@social.coop replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@blogdiva @aral ditto
Your browser does not support the video tag.
GIF
GIF
Wizard Of Oz Dancing GIF
Wizard Of Oz Dancing GIF
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Rev Nathan Ⓥ↔️🇺🇦🇨🇦🇵🇸🇬🇱
@revndm@queer.cool replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral @blogdiva
Your browser does not support the video tag.
GIF
GIF
Wizard Of Oz GIF
Wizard Of Oz GIF
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Gentleman Technologist
@GentlemanTech@cyberplace.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral this. The business is a speculative asset, not generating cashflow from customers but designed to be sold to a greater fool(s) for an inflated valuation.
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nemo™ 🇺🇦
@nemo@mas.to replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral

https://leta.mullvad.net/ a good alternative 💡 ✅

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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@nemo Ooh, hadn’t seen it thanks.

Love @mullvadnet’s VPN service but why are they advertising Brave and Google on this interface?

Screenshot of Mullvad Leta showing buttons with logos for Brave and Google under the search bar.
Screenshot of Mullvad Leta showing buttons with logos for Brave and Google under the search bar.
Screenshot of Mullvad Leta showing buttons with logos for Brave and Google under the search bar.
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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@nemo @mullvadnet Ah I see, it proxies from those two sources. Got it.
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nemo™ 🇺🇦
@nemo@mas.to replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral As far as I know yes(proxies). Here are the experts. 😊 👉 @mullvadnet
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Booteille
@booteille@framapiaf.org replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral Hi!

What recent/future developments are your talking about?

Thanks!

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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

@booteille - News (MSN)
- AI
- <insert future enshittification to sweeten the exit here>

(I’m sure there are some I’ve missed; I’m currently paying for Kagi and don’t use it day to day. Not saying Kagi is perfect in any way either; this is not an endorsement.)

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Booteille
@booteille@framapiaf.org replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@aral With AI, are you talking about both Duck.ai and the optional AI-generated answers or something else? (Just to be sure I didn't miss something)
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Aral Balkan
@aral@mastodon.ar.al replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@booteille Yep
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