My 2 cents

I've never used Google for much other than search, and I usually use StartPage to get to them. I won't sign up for anything with them. Bad enough that they record every search that you make with your IP. I trust them as much as I trust Microsoft. They probably have homeland security working in their server rooms. I don't care to be tracked any more than can be helped.

I've never got the fascination with Facebook. Why would I want everyone else to know what I am doing. The cell phone is a curse somewhat in that way. 20 years ago one could be on the road or working and not be reached. Now there is no excuse, you can't get away.

I read the article. Yahoo mail has been hacked many times, in fact it's so bad that I won't use it. I definitely would not leave anything in the outbox or have anyone in the address book, or they may start receiving viagra mails from you.

Google translation is good. Google text to voice is good too. You can do that from shell without a browser.
It's rather difficult to get away from them. Every other page you visit there's a google cookie set in your browsers cache. Even with java script off, pop up blocker on. So unless you clear your cookie cache every few pages, you are still being tracked by them.

A/I is absolutely excellent. They have no set storage-limit, but they ask that you be responsible as they are working with a relatively low-end server setup.

I have never used FastMail beyond its free tier. As dugan wrote, the free plan gives a ridiculously small amount of storage. I intend to get a paid/premium account with them once I have the money to do so, as they have been around for a long time and have a reputation for being extremely reliable.

Your note on the spam filter is interesting. I suppose it's possible to set up custom filter-rules in a mail client like Thunderbird, though.

Lavabit prints the IP address of the machine used to send any message in the message header. From the privacy policy:

Yeah, that's why I use Lavabit only for general purpose email, and Riseup for the sensitive stuff. A/I sounds much like Riseup, with a similar philosophy.

I also use fastmail, and if you configure it properly it will work fine for personal use. There are spam filters that work reasonably well. I think for more heavy duty use I would use zoho, lots more space for spam to accumulate.

I think I'll give fastmail a try. I don't mind paying but I expect a damn good service.

Hello

I've been using their paid service for 3 or 4 years now and have been very happy with it.

Countermail also looks pretty good but do I really need that much security? Decisions, decisions....

True. The problems with any free mail hosting with servers based in the US should be obvious however.

Hmm... Countermail looks quite interesting, thanks for the heads-up on this one, hadn't heard of it before!

The one piece missing is the calendar. I had to switch to google calender to get it down to my Android phone. if there was any app that I could just sync the ics from korganizer straight to my phone I'd be set.

Stupid as I was when I signed up for GMail many years ago, I didn't read the terms of service, and assumed that they couldn't be that bad ("everyone else uses it"). When I finally did read them, I closed my GMail account before even looking for a replacement. I didn't have an e-mail address for a very long time and I wasn't too bothered by it -- snail mail has its charm! Eventually I got a Lavabit account.

Still, if Google was the only way to communicate via e-mail, then I would rather not do it at all.

Instead of Google I use DuckDuckGo. Much less spam, but unfortunately they don't filter out the Wikipedia-spam. I've never used Facebook, Twitter or any of those other social websites. And of course not YouTube. I keep telling people that Facebook is actually harmful for their social lives, and makes people anti-social, but few listen.

It's cynical to say that the internet was better when most people didn't know how to use it, but unfortunately it is true.

I use Startpage for searching, but DuckDuckGo also seems like a good option. Seriously, I've seen a lot of damage caused in people's social relationships due to Facebook, it's definitely harmful. I've read a few articles regarding this very thing lately (and other things).

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/02...eem/34421.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20004511-83.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-re...account-2010-5

http://voices.yahoo.com/could-facebo...p-7184070.html

Ahhh, I remember the good old days when nobody had internet access or knew how to use it. It was all BBSes, Usenet, etc. Anybody remember The WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link)? Good times!

Anyone have a suggestion on a good calendar/PIM app for android that can work with linux?

I'm in the mostly Googleless club.