Ad-blocking. Install uBlock Origin on your Firefox and enjoy the internet.
I'd say contribute some $ to free software, especially when it's as good as uBO. However, even Gorhill doesn't want money, but encourages contributions to filterlists.
Oh, absolutely! If you find that a particular FOSS project deserves your money, you really should donate.
Sucks to be a Chrome user today since Google neutered uBlock.
But really, people undervalue the capability of uBlock. It blocks a lot. I can watch Tubi content - adfree. I can get Netflix's $7 base plan with ads and no ads with uBlock. Same with generally any streaming service. Has a bit of a trouble working with Twitch which lead to me dropping Twitch altogether.
But man people are missing out a lot and just putting up with so much shit that they don't ever have to if they'd just shut up, download Firefox and uBlock and just get with the rest of us.
Public library.
And you can use Libby to get eBooks from the Library. You can send them directly to an eReader. I personally just get a copy with DRM and de-DRM it before copying it to my Kobo using Calibre.
Project Gutenberg for free ebooks.
Distributed Proofreaders - if you want to volunteer to proofread scans of books for Project Gutenberg.
!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com (inaccessible for lemmy.world users)
Live free in the high seas! 🏴☠️
The problem for a person in Germany is that torrenting copyrighted stuff can get you sued for thousands.
So a third-party VPN provider is mandatory, or does anybody know of no pay solutions? I don’t mind slower speeds, as my media (movie)?consumption is pretty low.
I don't think there's really a free vpn. Because unlike movies/tv or games that can be infinitely copied with basically zero cost, VPN is a service that requires constant electricity, internet connection, and eventually the hardware that the VPN runs on needs to be replaced. There's ProtonVPN that have a free version has limited servers to choose from and intended for people living in authoritarian countries to bypass censorship, therefore it blocks all P2P connections.
Well there CalyxVPN, provided by the Calyx Institute, a non-profit. P2P doesn't appear to be blocked, but the download speeds are slow as a snail. It'd take a day just to download a movie with 2GB file size. This VPN is supposed to be for educational purposes so like torrenting seems to be not in the spirit of what its supposed to be for, but like nothing is stopping you from using it.
There's also many cheap vpns that cost only like 2-3 US dollars a month but it seem like those require you to pay upfront for an entire year which would average out to be 2-3 US dollars a month.
And there are also many direct download options when it comes to piracy, those will usually not get you in trouble, since your IP wouldn't be a part of a swarm so theres nothing for copyright trolls to report on.
Linux
LibreOffice. It's free to download and use and it is on par with Microsoft Office.
Even though it's free, I donated to them as it's quality software that I support.
Give OnlyOffice a shot. Other than PDF editing I like it much much more.
You can get free Priority Mail boxes from the US Post office. https://store.usps.com/store/results/shipping-supplies-boxes/_/N-u9qwm0
Permanently Deleted
If you are a fan of pokemon and want actually challenging games with stories that vary in quality, fan games and ROM hacks are your go-to.
My personal recommendations right now are Pokemon Vanguard and Unbreakable Ties, both phenomenal fan games despite not even being completed yet. You'll get well over something like 20-30 hours alone with Unbreakable Ties and it's just in its 4th beta. Both feel like passion projects in the best way possible and Unbreakable Ties is looking to be a master craft in the art department as well (minus a few fullscreen art scenes that pop up).
YouTube tutorials, definitely.
