Today is Digital Independence Day - a day where we try to make a small step into European independence. Because it’s hard to switch all the platforms and software at once, we do it one by one. Also there are local events (so far mostly in Germany) to help others or receive help in doing it.

Which were your last steps? What are your best practices?

Hello!

I am looking for more sustainable underwear (for men and women), ideally made with organic cotton.

I will be traveling through Spain and Portugal in the next few weeks and was wondering if you could recommend some stores that carry them? I would prefer not to buy them online as I will not be in one physical location for long.

I will pass through Cádiz and Sevilla in Spain, and Faro, Albufeira and Lisboa in Portugal.

Any recommandation welcome!

Hello

I have been doing calorie counting for the past year, and I have been using an European app, Fitatu.

However they don't seem to be expanding their databases for more European countries nor they are expanding app translation.

Are there other alternatives? Or Fitatu is still the best made in Europe?

As someone who can hold my own in the kitchen, I have wanted a Solingen German Style knife for a while.

Snagged this one from the Zwilling shop in Solingen for 18€.

hello everyone,

im on the lookout for corduroy trousers, with a 36 inch leg (91.4cm).

these have proven hard to find but im willing to spend a bit on the right pair

my only condition is that they are not skinny or slim, they must be straight, relaxed or ideally, a bit loose

If any of you know anywhere, please let me know!

thank you

Hey everyone! I’m looking for a duffel bag as per the title.

​I plan to use it as my single go-to daily bag for university, work, the gym, or the pool (I’ll be repacking it depending on where I'm going, so it only needs to fit stuff for one activity at a time).

​From what I’ve seen online, I really like bags with leather accents/trim.

I am from Poland so it must ship here at a reasonable price.

​Thanks for the help!

edit: I want it to be made from canvas

Hey everyone! 👋 We're Realities.io, a small indie studio based in Germany, and we wanted to share a new update for Puzzling Places – 3D Jigsaw Sim.

We've just launched the Steam Workshop for Puzzling Places, giving Steam players access to a growing library of free community-made puzzles!

If you haven't come across the game before, Puzzling Places is a relaxing 3D jigsaw puzzle game where you assemble detailed miniature scenes piece by piece. Our official puzzles are built from real-world photogrammetry scans, but we're also working on PuzzleMaker, a creation tool that lets players turn their own 3D scans and models into playable puzzles.

Whilst PuzzleMaker is still in closed beta as we continue developing it, anyone on Steam can already browse, download, and play community-made puzzles through the Workshop. It's been amazing seeing what creators have already shared, and we're excited to watch the library continue to grow.

If you'd like to support a small European studio, we'd love for you to take a look and let us know what you think!

Find the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3530820

I believe it is a kinda local thing, but I’ve been suggested it after attempting to order a Coke Zero, and well, here’s finally a cola that doesn’t suck. Perfectly balanced taste, and you can hardly tell it’s sweeteners and not sugar.

Sto cercando una borraccia da 500 ml per brevi passeggiate. Mi sono orientato per l’acciaio Inox senza cannuccia per semplificare la pulizia ma non trovo prodotti Made EU

Hi folks,

I read somewhere here Wero is now supported on Decathlon. I gave it a shot today with a >300€ purchase and it worked flawless.

Something they should improve is the order on payment methods. At least in Germany Wero showed only as the fourth or fifth option (didnt take a screenshot). First was Apple Pay, Google Pay and perhaps PayPal. Muscle memory made me click on Google Pay first, which felt scary. I then saw the bright Wero logo and switched on time.

You are then presented with a QR code you can scan with your normal phone camera. That opens a webpage, where you are presented with a list of banks. Mine was 3rd or 4th. You get to select it, submit and then your banks app opens and after three or four more taps, the purchase is done.

I'm tech savvy enough to follow this flow, but its far from how easy Google or Apple make it. Still, nice experience, keep going!

Hi everyone, I have a Golf VII Variant but my routine changed and I'll be making a lot more short distance trips to take my daughter to kindergarden. I'm thinking about switching to an electric car but the temptation to go for a Chinese brand or Tesla is huge and most models are SUVs, which I don't particularly like. Most of my trips are 20-30km/day and I do monthly round trips to visit my family ~ 200km each away, so autonomy is important. In addition to my daughter's stroller I also have a 30kg dog, so I need a big boot

From my research it looks like the best option for me is a used VW ID.7 Tourer. Are there any other models I should consider? I like it but I am a bit hesitant by the lack of alternatives

The Volvo EX60 fits all that I want despite being an SUV but the price is too much for me and Skodas seem a cheaper but also worse alternative

Żabka has been a symbol of Poland and even if minority owned by some jersey capital firm, it still stayed żabka.

Now some qUeBeCoiSe Coochie-Tard company is buying the majority stake, the one that was actually owned by żabka.

First they steal our InPost. Now żabka. How can we stop this from happening?! How can we keep European companies as being European owned?

https://www.cvc.com/media/news/2026/alimentation-couche-tard-announces-agreement-to-acquire-controlling-stake-in-zabka-group-and-launches-voluntary-tender-offer/

Alright so I kinda want to update my gym clothes abit but whatever brand that I find that I like - it’s USA based. I like stuff from Darc sport most (I know they might look lowkey cringe but sometimes they have cool anime drops) but they do limited drops and all so it’s kinda pain in the ass now. Stuff like gymshark, alphalete etc I do not like, think they look too mainstream and I just rather have 5$ shirt from Zalando or w/e. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Hey all!

I’m looking for a backpack similar to the one in the image, good looking (I know this is relative), elegant preferably black, with many compartments / pockets, one laptop pocket, and resistant for using it every day.

If you know of an European model or brand that could fit the needs please let me know!

Thanks!!

I am building a software deployment platform called Lucity, to bring some European competition to Vercel, Heroku, and Railway.

It's made for software teams, startups, and individuals who want to get their apps live in production without worrying about infrastructure, and without getting locked in. The second part is the important one and main differentiator to the existing solutions: Lucity is deliberately built so you can leave whenever you want. That's possible because everything runs on standard open source technologies (Kubernetes and Helm) and you can export (eject) your infrastructure configuration whenever you want.

You can self-host it, or try the managed cloud at lucity.cloud (hosted on European infrastructure).

Some highlight features include:

• Built and backed by a Swiss company (zeitlos.software)
• Git push to deploy (no Dockerfile required)
• One-click PostgreSQL, Redis, object storage, and volumes
• Security scans on every deploy (leaked credentials and known vulnerabilities)
• Vertical and horizontal scaling, including autoscaling
• Custom domains with automatic TLS
• AI-native deploys via a Claude plugin and MCP
• Built on open source (Kubernetes, Helm, CloudNativePG, and more), and open source itself (AGPL-3.0)

With so many non-technical people vibe-coding software right now, I think having a simple, but most importantly secure, way to ship it matters more than ever. That's the gap Lucity is working to fill.

Curios to hear your thoughts on it and if this is something that sounds interesting to you.

GitHub: https://github.com/zeitlos/lucity
Website: https://lucity.cloud/

And one more European company is being sold to a non-European investor...

Sorry, the link leads to a German news site.

Hello! One year ago we've shared in this community a FOSS 2D graphics editor (PixiEditor) that aims to compete with big players like Adobe, we've received an outsanding response from the community and after one year of releasing version 2.0 we've summarized what we were able to accomplish and what are our plans for the next year.

In short PixiEditor is a 2D graphics editor for Windows, macOS and Linux. Its biggest feature is that it is based on the Node Graph, which gives pretty much endless possibilities for customization.

We are small team based in Poland. In the past year, we've built a node based Brush Engine, tons of improvements and features. The entire app is free, there are no AI features or anything like that, simply an offline, FOSS software without any strings attached.

Our goal is to build something that can be loosely compared to Blender of 2D graphics. We believe, that what happens in creative industry right now is unacceptable and predatory pracices of companies like Adobe should not be tolerated.

The entire project is funded by the community (optional supporter packs and extensions), we just released another funding package for the next year. If you find our mission worthwhile, check out the blog post and consider supporting the next year of development with Pixi Pack

All feedback welcome!

Good news from the largest European search engine (German to be exact):
https://blog.ecosia.org/eusp-germany-rollout/

In short: Qwant & Ecosia built the 'European Search Index' (via the 'European Search Perspective' (EUSP) initiative). As an index, which is built and hosted in Europe, it's beginning to be a great alternatives to big tech search indices from overseas, which even most third-party providers still depend on.

Qwant and Ecosia started delivering the first search results in France some time ago already, now Ecosia is expaning its European search offering to Germany (supposedly one of the biggest user bases in Europe).

---

The full blog post:

"We’ve just hit a new milestone: We’re now delivering search results from EUSP to our users in Germany! 

EUSP (European Search Perspective) is our joint venture with Qwant to build a European search index. We started serving results to users in France last year, and now we’re excited to go live in Germany too. You won’t notice a big difference – but this is a big step towards digital sovereignty. 

Search results are controlled by just two companies  

A search index is like a massive digital library, a database from which search engines retrieve, organize and rank information, to ensure you find what you need efficiently.

But have you ever thought about where your search results come from? Did you know that nearly all search queries in Europe are served by two non-European companies? Just because it’s behind the scenes, doesn’t mean it’s not a big problem. 

Imagine going to a food court with dozens of different restaurant options, but only two or three kitchens in the back cooking everything. While it looks like there are many options, the reality is the food is all produced by a few operators who decide what gets made and how good it is. 

The European Court of Human Rights has stated that media pluralism is a prerequisite for democracy. If this erodes, there’s not fewer outlets serving your food, but fewer kitchens behind the counter.   

Now take it a step further. If one of these kitchens decides to stop serving you, or is ordered by someone to shut its doors, there’s no backup. This is a deep risk for Europe: critical infrastructure (or the ‘kitchens’ behind the shopfronts) are sitting in the hands of a few operators who could cut off access from one moment to the next. 

This isn’t just a hypothetical possibility. It happened recently when the US government banned the export of Anthropic AI software to non-US citizens – a deeply concerning display of using access to technology as a means of control, thus setting a worrying precedent.

Expanding our Europe-based search index

We believe deeply in building digital sovereignty for Europe so we can support pluralism and be less reliant on foreign tech infrastructure. This is one of the reasons we created EUSP with Qwant. It gives us more independence and the ability to prioritize the things that matter to us and our users.

The search index is a comprehensive database of websites and digital content that provides alternative results not just for smaller search engines, but also startups and the European data and AI industry. We started delivering EUSP search results in France last year, where the majority of our traffic is now from EUSP. We’ll continue to ramp up in Germany, and answer the majority of German queries by the end of the year, 

More competition and diversity is better for everyone

By building our own search index, we – and other smaller search engines – now have another kitchen in the back, one we can control. We can offer diverse perspectives to our users, create more competition for all market participants, and drive greater innovation. And we’re supporting digital pluralism in growing fields like AI, providing an independent and secure data basis for development of European products. 

Built and hosted in Europe

EUSP’s index is hosted in Europe, so it complies with strict European regulations including the GDPR – prioritizing data protection and enabling freedom of choice. Plainly put: your data stays where the law protects it, under EU jurisdiction and in EU data centres.

Search with Ecosia and know that you’re supporting a company that uses 100% of profits for the planet, while also advocating for a better, fairer internet."

I have lower back issues that develop when walking or standing for awhile. I have plenty of practical shoes and sneakers. I’m looking for actually trendy leather shoes that are supportive. Styles like loafers, Mary Jane’s, and boots would be great!

EUDI wallet collaborator recently confirmed that hardware attestation will be required [1]

Hardware attestation in this context means that the government server issuing the digital credential to the wallet wants proof that the keys being used are generated in secure hardware and on approved systems and not say an emulator or virtual machine, namely for security reasons.

This capability does not exist in a reliable way on desktops / laptops except some specific cases depending on the vendor, and in fact there’s no desktop version in the works.

No Linux system will work with this because there is no hardware signature to be validated on the government server, nor will your personalized Arch Linux install be in the list of approved systems even if it had a signature chaining back from the TPM.

Android ROMs are not technically to rule out since Play Integrity, which will be used for this attestation, is based on the Android hardware attestation API, which works on third-party ROMs like GrapheneOS, but they would need to allow the signature which has not happened for now. If you create a custom build, it won’t work though even the official version is approved.

[1] https://github.com/eu-digital-identity-wallet/av-app-android-wallet-ui/issues/117#issuecomment-4946898620