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Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

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Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#71

Post by notsuretho »

xRahul wrote: post #39
tryingagainbro wrote: post #37

Why doesn't Apple open their checkbook and start their own search engine. I mean, really open it. It's not like they don't have the money and it's not like this is a logical step. They can't start small, meaning the need users to train the SE? What else can it be. Of course they can't put live a horrible version...

Have you seen their attempts with Maps. I can't imagine how the search would go. They already have so much bad press with Maps, I'm sure they don't want more added to it.

Had they started the search offering with the maps offering, I think they’d be on par with Bing for 95% of searches.

That said, there’s a lot to be said for concentrating on strengths.

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#72

Post by Kiro »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #53
Kiro wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple cares about having control over the entire user experience. Considering DDG is a wrapper for Bing/Yahoo it would be quite the opposite.

Bing/Yahoo/Yandex but the point that Apple is in the position DDG is in to protect user's privacy if they choose to with Siri/Spotlight etc. They can take the search from the phone, strip it of identifying information and forward it to Google then return the results they get back. You can test that they are doing that by searching for something directly on Google, and then searching for it on Siri. If the results pag…

Please see the part of the comment I quoted. My reply wasn't about privacy. The parent thinks that buying DDG would give Apple full control of the user experience, but is probably unaware of the fact that they wouldn't be in control at all since it's Bing/Yahoo/Yandex providing the actual results.

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#73

Post by icbm504 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #56
grzm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$3 billion is the number in the article.

And one wonders why it is impossible for a new search engine to get started :-) When Google started paying over a billion dollars a year to buy search traffic it was pretty clear that it was not going to be possible to grow a new full stack search engine organically. Now they are over $4B/year buying traffic, its pretty crazy.

I am not a legal expert, but at what point does the DoJ step and investigate Google for monopolizing 'search'.

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#74

Post by Hoasi »

abritinthebay wrote: post #62
xRahul wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen their attempts with Maps. I can't imagine how the search would go. They already have so much bad press with Maps, I'm sure they don't want more added to it.

I've been preferring Maps to Google's utterly user-hostile experience for quite a while now. It's odd - Google does have a great mapping product: it's called Waze. That's great on a phone! But Google Maps? Christ... it's so bad. All of their iPhone apps are downright user-hostile but Maps is the worst.

> Google does have a great mapping product: it's called Waze.

Waze is an independent company.

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#75

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

lucaspiller wrote: post #58
xRahul wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen their attempts with Maps. I can't imagine how the search would go. They already have so much bad press with Maps, I'm sure they don't want more added to it.

Is this because Apple is so bad, or just that Google is so much better than everyone else? I’ve never used physical satnav units, but how do they compare to Apples offerings?

The main aftermarket satnav products are from Garmin and TomTom - and in-car systems tend to either license their tech or use NavTeq/HERE. Even Apple Maps bootstrapped off TomTom and still largely just aggregates from other sources.

I use iOS, but I very much prefer using Google Maps to Apple Maps: mainly for the Google Account integration, and it feels like they provide more information (shop/restaurant hours, street-view) even though Apple Maps provides almost the same level of detail. On my desktop I use a Google Maps and the map design is the same so familiarity helps, whereas Apple Maps is strictly off-limits for Windows and Linux users.

Given that Apple and Microsoft are no-longer competing in the mobile space (MSFT finally admitted Windows Phone's failure earlier this year) maybe we can see Apple choosing MSFT/Bing services over Google? Apple could save a lot of money by switching to Bing Maps, and with a re-skin no-one would notice!

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#76

Post by ProfessorLayton »

dchuk wrote: post #54

They need to get this switched over for voice activated Siri, no one in the history of the planet has wanted their hands-free, verbal question answered with a screen full of Bing search results...complete waste.

Irrespective of the source, that’s just bad UX.

I would rather is respond with “I don’t know but I can search the web of you’d like” or something like that. It’s especially useless while driving.

At this point I wish I could turn off safari results altogether.

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#77

Post by teej »

dchuk wrote: post #54

They need to get this switched over for voice activated Siri, no one in the history of the planet has wanted their hands-free, verbal question answered with a screen full of Bing search results...complete waste.

99% of my Siri usage is "Hey Siri, google search for X." I'm happy that they'll be switching.

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#78

Post by bigbugbag »

IBM wrote: post #21
beaner wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't care about it's users' privacy. It only ever started making a big deal about privacy when people started criticizing Google for hoarding too much personal info and using it to target ads, which people think is evil. Apple doesn't do these things (it's not Apple's business model), so they began heavily marketing "privacy" as something you'd get from them and not the competition. They make sort of okay at…

Apple was good about privacy and security long before they ever started talking about it. They only started talking about it after the celeb "iCloud hack" (which turned out not to be an iCloud vulnerability [1]). The fact that they market privacy and security is a good thing if you care about those things. Previously you were just relying on their business model being different from Google's or Microsoft's, but now t…

The link you give is opinion from a pro apple website, which starts by stating "there was no hack" and "it has nothing to do with icloud security" then proceeds to describe a very common hack and point out some security flaw in icloud.

Try using the official apple statement[1] next time which clearly states that it was a targeted attack and not a breach leading to a full leak.

Of course it was a privacy issue (iphone automatically uploading pictures online) and a weak security design (no 2FA, no email warning of access from an unknown IP, no browser authentication, etc.). There is stronger security on accessing your humble bundle game library.

Also there was a serious icloud vulnerability allowing for bruteforce attack and bypassing account lockout restrictions and secondary authentication[2][3], that it was not used for the fappening does not make it less real.

[1]: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2014/09/02Apple-Media-Advisor...

[2]: https://github.com/Pr0x13/iDict

[3]:http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/31749/hacking/idict-hack...

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#79

Post by bigbugbag »

urda wrote: post #49
beaner wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't care about it's users' privacy. It only ever started making a big deal about privacy when people started criticizing Google for hoarding too much personal info and using it to target ads, which people think is evil. Apple doesn't do these things (it's not Apple's business model), so they began heavily marketing "privacy" as something you'd get from them and not the competition. They make sort of okay at…

> Apple doesn't care about it's users' privacy Not sure where this idea came from, but this is so far from the truth it isn't even funny. 1) Focus on encryption everywhere. 2) Privacy controls built into iOS way sooner than Android ever had. 3) Fought (and won) against the FBI demanding a universal backdoor. 4) Developed on-device machine learning tech, even if it isn't as powerful as the collective, it protects user…

1) focus on encryption is not the same as focus of strong crypto end to end encryption with forward secrecy.

2) anybody will look good compared to the worst offender

3) because it threatened their business model and profit (also see this[1])

4) I don't get how this protects privacy, not destroying something is only protection in mafia's lingo.

and the debunking list goes on too.

The idea that Apple does not care about user privacy come from the fact that apple does not care user privacy (also US laws such as patriot act and edward snowden revelations). The just like to keep it in their own hands because apple wants to keep control and customers locked in due to being a hardware seller.

[1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-03-20/the-behin...

Re: Apple switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search on iOS and Mac Spotlight

#80

Post by [deleted] »

piyush_soni wrote: post #57
rtpg wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also made a political stand on the search warrant for that one iPhone that they could have unlocked. A stand that wasn't even popular among the general public ("companies should help police investigate terrorists" polls very well). Being super pedantic, Apple doesn't care about anything, just like a company can't care... but I think it's safe to say that it's not last on the list of things they prioritize.

That was a great 'free' PR boost for them actually, which less informed people take as Apple's great stand on privacy. Apple helped FBI in every possible way for months in their investigation (had also unlocked dozens of phones for them before), even gladly gave away the suspect's iCloud data (so much for customer privacy). It's only when FBI made their next request (to create a backdoor/loophole in brute-force unloc…

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