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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

#171

Post by netsharc »

danpalmer wrote: post #95
greggman wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple Genius just asked me for my username and password to my MacBook so he could type it into some service form for repairs. I don't think asking for that info is really compatible with "we care about privacy"

There are a lot of things that employees in the retail stores do that isn't very "Apple". I suspect that's partially from not having as strong culture fit selection in hiring, partially from lack of understanding (when it comes to security, it's a nuanced subject) and partially from the realities of being productive in a retail environment.

Store? I think you mean Apple Town Square.

Can't wait until they build this into the auto-correction...

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

#172

Post by sitepodmatt »

lettergram wrote: post #170
sitepodmatt wrote: post #116

Bing is still poor for obscure searches, e.g. today Im searching for other poor folks dealing with ebay's API and the message "Invalid store category name" in quotes. Bing 0, DuckDuckGo 0, Google plenty. Reality is most of my tech searches are like this and hence I can't give up Google, or I can at cost of either my time or my clients. It be nice to have another search engine with depth of Google but nothing comes cl…

What are you talking about? https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Invalid+store+category+name&t=hf&i... It popped right up on DuckDuckGo. I admit I revert to Google for some searches, but 99%+ of the time DuckDuckGo works great. I think the real difference between the searches are Google looks at he context per user. They have the most data and thus the best searches. At the same time I view that as a threat to sovereignty of na…

Quote it. Im looking for the exact error message.

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

#174

Post by denisstoyanov »

beaner wrote: post #30
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.

I don't think this was a particularly difficult thing to do. they're an almost $800 billion company with one of the most valuable brands in the world and the most loyal followers. They have more of an ability to stand up to these things than anyone. And if they lost, it's not like anything particularly bad was going to happen to them. They'd just have to cede the info. And it was the right thing to do anyway. They ha…

Sorry to pop your bubble my dear Apple fan boy but they are 300 billion company now :) (assets with revenue of little more than 200 billion). It has been a loooong time since they were 800 billion company.

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

#175

Post by throwaway47861 »

piyush_soni wrote: post #121
throwaway47861 wrote: post #113

WARNING: Meta comment. Downvote to your heart's content. I am very disappointed and disheartened by a good chunk of the HN commenters right here in this thread. I would expect Apple hating in some Android-focused outlet where people get points and badges based on how much times they repeat "iSheep" in an hour, but here?! Boys and girls around here, HN is the modern place where the more intelligent and supposedly open…

> Hence I am using a throwaway account .. You mean the account you use to criticize and judge almost everyone on the planet [0] [1] [2] [3]? Now that's very intelligent, adult, and open-minded isn't it? :) [0] : "I've noticed that C and C++ have pretty fanatical and very narrow-minded fanbase" : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14877927 [1] : "Because they have no lives and posting emotional responses on the inte…

Yes. I am using a throwaway exactly because of this close scrutiny like yours. Examples: I've known racists who are amazing engineers. The fact that they were awful racists didn't demean their engineering ability. That's why for some of my posts I prefer being anonymous. People like you would probably try and demean me because they disagree with me on something.

I am flawed like everybody else and I'll be the first to admit my own prejudices -- even if I am not ready to overcome them at the moment (which is a sad reality for most of us).

But the amount of nitpick and prejudice I am observing periodically on HN is alarming and I feel the need to call it out here and there.

You can take it as an insult or you can try and extract something from the criticism that can enrich you. It's your choice.

Also please note that I am not defending Apple per se. But I expect better criticisms on HN compared to what is rampant right here in this thread.

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

#176

Post by throwaway47861 »

josefresco wrote: post #153
throwaway47861 wrote: post #113

WARNING: Meta comment. Downvote to your heart's content. I am very disappointed and disheartened by a good chunk of the HN commenters right here in this thread. I would expect Apple hating in some Android-focused outlet where people get points and badges based on how much times they repeat "iSheep" in an hour, but here?! Boys and girls around here, HN is the modern place where the more intelligent and supposedly open…

"Look, none of us knows for sure. But talking like that disqualifies you from any intelligent and adult discussion in my eyes." Yeesh.

Yes. Insulting people on the basis of using Apple products should disqualify them from any discussion beyond drunk jokes on a table in the suburbs.

(Disclaimer #38274932: I am not defending Apple per se. I find them pretty shady in a number of aspects as well as Google. But what is happening in this thread is just shameful.)

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

#177

Post by xiconfjs »

throwawaykf09 wrote: post #138
sitepodmatt wrote: post #116

Bing is still poor for obscure searches, e.g. today Im searching for other poor folks dealing with ebay's API and the message "Invalid store category name" in quotes. Bing 0, DuckDuckGo 0, Google plenty. Reality is most of my tech searches are like this and hence I can't give up Google, or I can at cost of either my time or my clients. It be nice to have another search engine with depth of Google but nothing comes cl…

While Bing was poor for tech related searches in the earlier days, I find it's no longer true. Are you sure it’s 0 results on Bing? I get a bunch of relevant-looking results, and they’re all different from what Google gave me (just the first page): https://www.bing.com/search?q=%22Invalid+store+category+name... Some weird personalization thing? Interested in seeing what others see when they click that link...

'No results found for "Invalid store category name".'

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

#178

Post by _jal »

beaner wrote: post #7
lemoncucumber wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could almost see Apple buying DuckDuckGo, given that a) Apple cares about their users' privacy, and b) Apple cares about having control over the entire user experience. DuckDuckGo would fit right in with both of those core pieces of Apple (no pun intended). I don't think it'll actually happen, but it doesn't seem too far-fetched.

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…

> many of the things they have done have been weak, easily exploitable, or hacked

What specific things are you referring to?

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

#179

Post by majani »

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 believe that when it comes to search, the aim should not be about competing with Google in it's current form. That is impossible. The aim should be to change the architecture of search such that it becomes a commodity that anyone can plug into. Like what open source CMSes did to the AOL/Time Warner giant. Then the owners of this commoditized search can charge for their premium API on a usage basis, transforming search into an ad-free service found anywhere

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

#180

Post by ninkendo »

bigbugbag wrote: post #66
millstone wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree strongly. Apple pays a serious price for their privacy stance, which they would rather not pay. Doing machine learning on-device makes it less effective. Apple's directions aren't as good as they could be because Maps randomly segments trips and masks its users identity. Apple's App Store revenues are lower because they limit how apps can identify users. This difference is deeper than business models. Compar…

When you compare anything to google, it will look as if caring for privacy. Google is the hugest ad network based on gobbling all privacy from everywhere while Apple is an overpriced hardware seller, of course it will do better on privacy than google. But this does not make apple a privacy oriented company.

What’s a useful definition of “privacy oriented company” in your mind?

To me, it’s: “a company whose profit incentives are aligned with their user’s privacy.”

You can go on and on about whether they’re “truly” privacy-oriented but to me that’s a meaningless distinction; a company’s profit incentives are the very definition of what they’re “oriented” towards.

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