Nah, I think paying Monero in the physical world is much like paying cash by mail for digital services - awesome but impractical. Why not use the right tools for each job? Better stick to Monero for the digital world and cash in the physical one.

I use Osmand for regular navigation and Yandex Maps in the browser for live public transport locations and more accurate business info.

Why tf are you using the Internet in this day and age without an ad blocker?..

For music, I prefer a specifically music-oriented client, Outertune.

What bothers me is that Youtube replacement is a way more harder task than replacing Twitter or Reddit… The bandwidth and storage costs would grow unaffordable way too quickly for a volunteer. I would really like to see Youtube videos backed up, because I am really afraid Google will eventually loginwall it… But seems like the only realistic way for it is distributing the storage and bandwidth. Like, Peertube does utilize torrents, but the instance still has to have each video in full. I wouldn’t mind seeding just my personal video downloads, but haven’t seen a repository where the torrents could be published and seen.

I used to keep track of my playlists with my browser bookmarks, watching the videos themselves in mpv, and the channels I just memorized and checked from time to time. But later switched to using Freetube, that has built-in subscriptions, playlists and history tracking.

I don’t even use the browser on my Raspberry Pi - I just watch movies from my hard drive. I did doubt at first that Pi3 with just 1GB RAM would handle videos, but turns out it’s okay, it has hardware acceleration for video. Although I now only watch Youtube by downloading videos in very specific formats.

Signal isn’t, and that’s one of mine (and a lot of other people’s) main gripes with it.

I’m concerned about centralization the most.

Their own FAQ: https://simplex.chat/faq/#funding-and-business-model

To be fair, Simplex is also a for-profit company. However, it’s at least decentralized and more open, I’d take it over Threema any day.

Or a Raspberry Pi. Is more expensive ($60 for my Pi 3), but I think it was worth it due to versatility and privacy. Stock Android TVs would be uncomfortable as they spy on you.

To have a massive wall of video, you need to have a home spacious enough for a whole spare wall first! I haven’t seen a <1m screen that would fit in the kitchen corner my TV occupies on an arm - I don’t even think a projector would work with a screen this relatively small. And where would the projector itself go if opposite of that corner is the couch/bed? Sit on my lap?

With banking apps - it actually depends. I found out that in my country, most banks’ apps (like, all the big ones except for one) don’t require Google services, since requiring them would cut off a lot of users with Chinaphones (Huawei being the biggest example). The NFC payments in them are also their own implementation, independent from the Google one.

However, in case of at least one bank, the apk download link was hidden behind some dark patterns (ironically, less hidden than Signal’s apk, lol), trying to instead direct people onto the national app store.

I’d be uncomfortable tying my reading to my KYC :/

I would never be able to afford Apple tech even if I somehow didn’t mind using a phone I cannot install arbitrary apps on. So yeah, no idea. I use RiMusic on my Android, but the downloads happen on the laptop with yt-dlp.

That is exactly what I do. A client on the phone for discovery on the go, later yt-dlp on the laptop and proper tagging.

I am doing just that. I indeed use Youtube Music for discovering and downloading new tracks, but alos yt-dlp every video I like. Because I am afraid Youtube might at some point be taken away, like loginwalled.

At least Youtube Music can be used with third-party clients.

Yeah, they’re kind of even doing the opposite with the control freak mindset, such as being hostile to third-party clients or even distribution outside of Play Store! (seriously, the apk download is hidden by a dark pattern)