This would be a major issue, because DDG specifically claims it does not store any identifying information about you.

https://duckduckgo.com/privacy

I had a search saved from some months ago, went to check it for some references and got new hits involving local organizations that had nothing to do with the search. Opening up a private browser I see that the searches aren’t 100% matching up either.

my guess is this is just variation in the search algorithms over time. excerpt from their privacy policy above which I think can explain most of the variability you mentioned:

“For example, we may know that we got a lot of searches for “cute cat pictures” today, but we don’t know who actually performed those searches. That is, viewing search results on DuckDuckGo is anonymous. And we only save these anonymous search queries — completely disconnected from any unique identifiers like IP addresses — for just enough time to analyze anonymous trends like popular searches, so that we can better serve you. For local search results in particular, we’ve further engineered a solution to shield your precise location from us and our content providers that sends us a random location nearish to you, which we also never log to disk.”

So they do use your geo IP and popular searches to weigh results which can change over time.

However, after seeing TV ads for DDG not that long ago I kind of lost what faith I had left in them. As a rule of thumb, I’ve never trusted products and services advertised on TV - TV advertising is expensive, and the business expects to make that expense back and then some from their customers.

DDG doesn’t claim to be non-profit or anything. Their business model is based on revenue from advertising targeted solely from the search queries themselves, not from stored personal data.

DDG uses a bunch of different sources, it’s not just rebranded bing.

also DDG does not send any personal info to its partners, so Microsoft’s privacy policy is not relevant.

OP’s concern is that DDG itself is keeping your personal info and using that to weigh your search results. But that also directly contradicts DDG’s privacy policy, so it’s either a major breach of trust or I think more likely OP is reading into varying search results too much.

it’s a meme, so obviously it’s hyperbolic. but the point is valid.

then what is your solution? do you expect them to redo their entire corporate branding palette?

i think they did need to unify the design and branding but i also agree they went too far with it. if they had only chosen 1-2 colors for each app icon that would have helped a lot.

gmail - red

drive - yellow

maps - green

meet - blue

calendar - lighter blue

problem solved

no, that’s my point. it’s not even close to something that actually happens.

I get that the beverage, camera, and eyeglasses are all a bit exaggerated from stuff that actually happens

I get that the beverage, camera, and eyeglasses are all a bit exaggerated from stuff that actually happens, but I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years and have literally never heard of anyone passing a guitar by holding its strings. That makes no sense even if you’re just being lazy, the neck is a much easier place to handle a guitar from.

in ios the phone app has a setting to silence unknown callers.

in my voicemail greeting i tell people to text or email me.

at least on iphone you can swipe away the notification without hanging up.

in ios there is a phone app setting to silence unknown callers.

Removed by mod

Removed by mod

very cool, iron-air not lithium ion. good to see less energy dense batteries getting used for grid storage.

next I’d like to see up-cycled car batteries converted to grid storage.

“We were not neutral from day one, we have taken a side, and we stand firmly for peace,” Modi said.

that is definitely NOT taking a side lol.

“No problem can be resolved on a battlefield”

unless your opponent is not negotiating in good faith, or refuses to negotiate at all.

poor industry groups.

not everything is enshittification.

the limiting factor for EVs now is not the cars themselves, but charging infrastructure. The people willing to deal with the infra as is, or able to install chargers at their homes, probably already have EVs.

not to mention a good 30-50% of the country are also culture-war brainwashed against EVs.