Money talks, I guess.
One thing this doesn't do: incentivise me to buy an iPhone.
Apple acquires Dark Sky
11–20 of 594 posts
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#12> Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy. I don't understand how being acquired by Apple helps further that goal. Removing support for non-Apple devices seems to drastically lower the number of people who you are helping. I am interested in seeing what happens to this…
> I don't understand how being acquired by Apple helps further that goal. Removing support for non-Apple devices seems to drastically lower the number of people who you are helping.
I would imagine that DarkSky will become the basis for the default weather apps in iOS and macOS, and the number of people who use those defaults is drastically higher than the number of people who use DarkSky iOS/Android as a third-party app. The total addressable market shrinks, but the functional number of users increases.
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#13I'm sending an email to tell them how disappointed I feel as a long-time subscriber about them maliciously (since there is no other more generous explanation) shutting down the service for Android users: https://darksky.net/contact
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#14This is really, really disappointing. I've been pretty critical of Dark Sky at times for being mediocre for more than maybe 12 hours out, but for very short term forecasts it worked great. I spent a fair amount of time outdoors and getting a 30 minute heads-up for "drizzle" versus "heavy rain" was excellent and really let me time how long to stay outside for. I'd really, really like a replacement on Android. While Wu…
Windy is really great and they seem to try to foster a great community. They have weather apps for android or ios https://www.windy.com/
Thanks for the suggestion, at first glance things look pretty nice. Hopefully their mobile app is as nice as their website.
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#15This is really, really disappointing. I've been pretty critical of Dark Sky at times for being mediocre for more than maybe 12 hours out, but for very short term forecasts it worked great. I spent a fair amount of time outdoors and getting a 30 minute heads-up for "drizzle" versus "heavy rain" was excellent and really let me time how long to stay outside for. I'd really, really like a replacement on Android. While Wu…
Saildrone's forecast app is like Dark Sky but even better and more beautiful. They don't have an android app yet, just iOS, but I believe one is in development, and they have a full-featured in-browser client. No affiliation, but I know someone who works there who showed me their app.
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#16> Android and Wear OS App > The app will no longer be available for download. Service to existing users and subscribers will continue until July 1, 2020, at which point the app will be shut down. Subscribers who are still active at that time will receive a refund. I understand that Apple has no obligation to support a platform that is not their own, but this really hurts to hear after using Dark Sky on Android and th…
I agree, this seems like a cheap shot with no actual benefit.
It's important to acknowledge that there is a benefit: Apple products' value increases in relation to other platforms' when they introduce more exclusive offerings. The right to do this without repercussions is hurting IT. Big IT business is rife with anti-competitive crap that noone should put up with.
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#17This is really, really disappointing. I've been pretty critical of Dark Sky at times for being mediocre for more than maybe 12 hours out, but for very short term forecasts it worked great. I spent a fair amount of time outdoors and getting a 30 minute heads-up for "drizzle" versus "heavy rain" was excellent and really let me time how long to stay outside for. I'd really, really like a replacement on Android. While Wu…
Windy is really great and they seem to try to foster a great community. They have weather apps for android or ios https://www.windy.com/
It is great, and one of the other main weather apps that I use. But it lacks alerts. Dark Sky gives these (literally "Light Rain Starting in 20 Minutes" or "Heavy Rain Starting in 5 Minutes".
Dark Sky also does a fair job of showing general forecast and chances of things over the next week or so.
While I use Windy as an app for me to check and see what's going on, it's not nearly there on the prediction front. Much less notifications that help with "Woah -- heavy rain, time to head back to the car" or "Just a drizzle, cool, let's keep going".
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#18[deleted]
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#19Literally applied to a job posting hours ago.
Re: Apple acquires Dark Sky
#20Shutting down Android functionality is interesting since Apple did not do that for the Shazam acquisition in 2018 (the PR for that doesn't mention Android at all: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/09/apple-acquires-shazam...)
In fact, Apple has released more apps for Android such as Apple Music in recent years.