Buy European

Title!

Any good alternatives? Replaced our Heinz ketchup with the far superior Werder ketchup. Maybe something similar is possible for Tabasco?

Today I deleted my Amazon-account. I'm optimistic, that I can live without it, since there are alternatives in Germany.

Step by step I'm moving forward.

Saw this post on Reddit and thought it was interesting to see someone's experience.

I've been trying for a few months to get rid of any stuff made out of EU (even before it was mainstream lol), and here are my conclusions at the moment:

Groceries: It's pretty easy. I try to go to local stores, but if I need to go to a supermarket, I go to Carrefour, Mercadona or Froiz, all european, and I've reached to the point that EVERYTHING I buy is european (mostly spanish, portuguese, french or italian).

Clothes: This has been tricky. To buy sneakers has been more dificult than I thought it would be. There are a lot of european brands that actually make it's products in China, Bangladesh, etc., so I had to look very close. Finally, I buyed Victoria sneakers and I'm very happy with them. For shoes and boots, Pikolinos is a very good brand also. Miguel Bellido shirts are very good as well.

Furniture: Well, Ikea is the obvious choice, but I do preffer to buy on spanish and portuguese stores that also have prety good quality for a good price, like Lufe.

Sports: Only sport that I play is climbing, and my last pair of climbing shoes are Tenaya Ra, and I couldn't be happier with them. La Sportiva has amazing products also, being italian and as far as I know, still manufacture in Italy.

Technology: Oh man, this is a pain... I don't want to throw away my iPhone 13 mini until it's done, but when the time comes, I don't know if there are going to be any alternatives. Fairphone, probably, but the components are also from China, right? And anyway, I will struggle with a big phone, which I hate. In PC I can move from Windows to Linux, but the mayority of the PC parts would be made in USA.

Good news is that the only USA page that I actually visit is Reddit, as I don't have Instagram, facebook or any other social media. Bad news is that it will be virtually impossible to leave Whatsapp.

Well, this is it, I guess that all of you are struggling with the same, being the technology the real issue, cause the rest is pretty easy to find alternatives even better.

My faith in Europe has risen since few months back, and I hope it's not too late for us to being able to compete in this new world that is emerging, where if you depend on any way on USA or China, you're lost.

A hug from Spain to all of you, european brothers. And sorry for my poor english.

The topic everyone was impatiently waiting for, we can all agree.

Ballpoint pens and fountain pens

If you did not knew it already the Cristal Bic, the world most used ballpoint pen, is French and even though the brand is now global and have factories in many countries (including the US, among other brands they own the US Waterman), they still made part of their production in the EU, in France and Spain.

(For those like me who worries about plastic/throw away pens, you may not know that Bic has recently started selling an aluminum body that's shaped like the cristal Bic that you can insert a refill in. Also, and for much longer, they make it possible to buy refills for the cheap plastic cristal Bic by packs of 50—so, you can keep using the same single clear plastic body for much longer only replacing the ink. Alas, those refills are not as readily available as the Bic itself.)

If you're interested in Bic history, and want to know more about what they do, they have this PDF available for download.

I'm not affiliated with them, I just have been chewing on one or another of their Bic pens for well over 50 years now and I quite like them. And that is coming from a lifelong fountain pen user...

Fountain pens? One may want to consider the excellent German brand Lamy which offers both cheap and expensive models of fountain pens (and ballpoint pens too, but not as cheap as Bic). Their cheap ‘Lamy Safari’ pictured here was designed in the 80s/90s to help kids proper handwriting and is still, imho, one of the best cheap/beginner-friendly fountain pen one could buy here in Europe. Its also real sturdy while still being easy to fix if anythign was to happen to it ;)

Also, I think they look gorgeous with their bright flashy colors :p

(colored) Pencils

If you're more into pencils, may I suggest you check the German FaberCastell or the Swiss Caran d'Ache? They're very different kind of pencils but they're also both amazingly good, be it their 'cheaper' lines (say, for kids) as well as, obviously, their artist lines (much more expensive too).

Watercolors

For watercolors, I would suggest the Dutch Royal Talens. Their student-grade paint 'Van Gogh' is unbelievably good for its price, as well as their artist-grade 'Rembrandt'. Heck, even their cheapest 'ArtCreation' line is nice (and it also offers truly excellent and cheap sketchbooks)

Obviously, the English Winsor & Newton whose artist grade paints are now made in France if I'm not mistaken, as well as their Cotman student-grade—but if you go the student grade road, I would strongly suggest you give Royal Talens 'Van Gogh' a try, like really, as you may be surprised.

The French Sennelier, they have a honey-based artist-grade watercolors that are so bright <3. They also have a student grade called 'La Petite Aquarelle'.

Last but certainly not least, I would not want to forget the Ukrainian's Rosa. A recent discovery for me (a little over a year ago) which I quite like.

One should also talk about paint brushes for watercolors, and about inks for fountain pens as in both cases there are excellent EU brands, but this is already way too long ;)

Your turn! Do you know any other European brand of pens, pencils or watercolors?

Edit: updated the title from 'in the EU' to 'in Europe'

cross-posted from: https://europe.pub/post/7501

What European email services do you use?

Please recommend other interesting email services by your experience.

I have switched from Google's Gmail to ProtonMail and kMail. I really like both, kMail (by Infomaniak) have very similar app interface to Gmail so you will get used to it very fast and also have big storage for free and very good offers for paid plans 👍🏼

Originally posted on Reddit

I'm a very avid YouTube user, I've payed for Premium for the last couple of years but am becoming less and less comfortable with it.

YouTube is actually the last Google-service (besides Android, but there are plans to ditch Google there using something like /e/OS) I'm left using after switching to Proton Mail (instead of GMail), Here WeGo (instead Maps), TransIP Stack (instead of Drive) and a self-hosted Memos (instead of Keep).

I tend to watch YouTube on my TV by setting up a queue of videos on my phone and then casting them to my TV. This is all ad-free because of my Premium subscription, but of course everything is tracked.

Is there a way for me to watch YouTube, preferrable on my TV with my phone as remote control, without having a Google-account? I found NewPipe on FDroid, but that sadly does not provide casting (I managed to get it partially working by using VLC, but no queue and no sound whatever I tried)

There are also things like Inoreader that people use, but I believe that does not have queueing and casting as well, so it would not really work in my situation.

Sidenote: I like the idea of creators receiving at least a bit of the payments I make as a reward for the content they post, but I reckon that with something like NewPipe/Piped an ad-blocker in place those would be lost.

Anyone got some ingenious solutions working?

Edit: my TV currently is an Android TV, but that may be up for change sometime later this year, so any external solution like a stick or RPi or something would also be up for consideration.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/27037278

Threatened by potential EU regulatory changes, the movie, music, and sports industries are vehemently defending the practice of geo-blocking, as an essential part of their business models. Rightsholders argue that eliminating geo-blockades would devalue content, force price hikes for consumers in some countries, and ultimately reduce investment in content and localized services.

While I find the wiki-style site for European alternatives ( https://www.goeuropean.org/ ) very helpful and have started using it fairly regularly, I feel like it misses an option to just look up a brand or company and easily find out where it's from. Maybe that is already an option and I haven't found it. If so, please point me in that direction.

If not, what I would hope for, is a quick and simple place to check if a given brand or company is perhaps American owned (or more generally where it's profit ultimately goes). For example, I seriously doubt my mother in law would be able to know that Toblerone is an American owned brand. The current wiki pre-supposes that users already know this.

The average EU citizen is in his mid 40s and likely not all that tech savvy. Purchasing power skews towards older folks anyway, so it should be a goal to get this demographic on board. Does anyone have a starting off point where one can easily find the information on a specific company or brand on the go? Could something like this be added to the current site ( https://www.goeuropean.org/ )?

Macron, who has been calling for years to direct defense spending toward EU products, said he wants to convince other European countries that are currently “buying American” to shift to local options.

I've come to the realisation that boycotting google, completely, is impossible. It works fine on the computer and for some apps on the phone, but it's very difficult for a smart TV

The problem starts at the very beginning. To even start using the tv, I must have a Gmail to log in. I have to have a Gmail/log in to Google to use the Google Store.. Google Store? Yes! Because it's not possible (for me at least) to install f-droid or aurora store. I'm aware of the fact that I can't do everything... But it irks me. Does anybody have any tips for how to get around this? Currently I'm considering getting a hdmi cable and use the tv as a computer monitor... But then we're in the territory of having to buy a lot of new things to boycott. Wich, of course, is also not the best solution.

However, I'll add to this that this irks me. But it's not as big of a problem as buying Russian and American oil and gas.

Quote and picture is from batman begins. I recommend giving it a watch

A recent thread about lemmy.world revealed that nobody knows where the servers are but that CloudFare, a US service is used. After going down a bit of rabbit hole (and not really understanding everything), this question popped up in my head.

It seems like all traffic to cloudfare is first send to the US, which seems dangerous...

Previously I asked on the fedi who would like to start a co-op supporting free software and EU based services. I am very excited that so many of you are willing to work with me on this project 😊 Below I want to share some thoughts about the next steps.

1. Starting tomorrow (i.e. Monday) I will try to privately reach out to everyone who expressed initial interest in working with me. I will send you and invitation to schedule a 25 minutes long, one on one video call with me.

2. If you accept I am going to ask you the following questions. I will also be happy to answer any relevant questions from you, but I will be strict with time. My questions are:

   • Where are you based geographically?
   • What's your availability? How many hours of work can you dedicate to the co-op every week?
   • What's your work experience? What relevant skills are you bringing?
   • What do you expect from this co-op? Why do you want to join it?
   • How do you feel and what do you think about my manifesto?
   • Is there anything else you would like me to ask you?

3. After talking with you I will invite selected founding members to Tad Lispy Social Club. It's a private forum where I am the host. It will serve as an incubator where we can privately organize our work until we establish a dedicated platform. I will try to be generous with invitations, and extend a credit of trust to everyone, but I won't invite people who don't seem like a good match. As a host I also reserve the privilege to moderate discussions and exclude members who will breach our trust. This is so we can all enjoy constructive cooperation.

4. Once enough people are in, we will organize some group video calls so we can get to know each other. This is essential for community building, but important decisions should be discussed and communicated in writing for reasons of accessibility and transparency. That's what the forum is for.

5. Once we establish mutual trust and organize ourselves, I will relinquish any special authority. We will make decision collectively or delegate authority to elected bodies. It will most likely require establishing a new, collectively controlled platform. Until then you will have to trust me, just like I will trust you, to act with integrity.

This is the plan and plans rarely survive a contact with reality, but it will serve as a guidance to me. Please share any constructive comments 🫶

Does anybody know if when using Windows on a computer but not paying for anything windows related: is windows/ Bill Gates profiting from it? Is it worth installing linux as a protest?

https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1jbtqx5/because_sometimes_you_need_a_little_reminder/

Red Bull - European but Far right

Buy European but ... Also with ethical considerations.

Red Bull might sound cool, but they have their own TV station in Austria. (servus TV) And that station js beyond far right. Spreading disinformation, and Russian propaganda, Corona Bullshi, Ivermectint, cleaning stuff with chlorid, climate change deniers, ... If there is a conspiracy they support it ...

(And it's also not very healthy,....)

I know lemm.ee is hosted in the EU, but I can't find that information for lemmy.world.

Hello, I'm looking for a USB memory stick that is European. Anybody got any tips?

One of the biggest turntable manufacturers in the world. All their products are made in Europe.

I'm looking for a silent keyboard for gaming, preferably with a UK layout.

This keyboard caught my eye but is made in China: https://varmilo.com/products/minilo75

Wondering if anyone has recommendations for companies that make keyboards?

I've been using their app for some time now and really like the concept: Basically it allows restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets etc to announce when they have stuff leftover that they'd usually throw away at the end of the day. You can browse those nearby shops in the app and reserve a "surprise bag" for a small amount, usually around a third of the regular price, but it varies. In the pickup timeframe (usally around 30-60min before their closing time) you go there, show that you've reserved the bag in your app, confirm that you've received it and happily walk home with a ton of surprise food for super cheap.

After using it for a while I can especially recommend looking for food stalls at farmers markets as they often have lots of stuff leftover that they don't want to take back home when packing up so they're often super generous. Bakeries are also great, I regularly get a week's supply of bread, buns, pastries and cake for like 3-5€.

EDIT: While it's made in Denmark the app works globally or at least all of EuropeAFAIK, definitely works fine with lots of participating shops in Germany.

I don't really know any :(

Public Money, Public Code - A campaign for releasing publicly financed software as Free Software.

Becoming more and more important now that we know the US has a kill-switch for military equipment like F-35s which they sold to EU countries.