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Privacy respecting weather app for Android

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Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#71

Post by ForHackernews »

witrak wrote: post #70
1f60c wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was curious how a foreign university obtained a .EDU domain, but apparently, foreign universities could register a .EDU domain before 2001.

Would you be so kind as to say what you mean by "foreign" in this context? I'm asking because I was sure that .com, .org, and .edu are international domains...

https://net.educause.edu/eligibility.htm

"Per the terms of the .edu Cooperative Agreement, institutions applying to register a .edu domain name or seeking to renew a .edu domain name registration that was approved on or after October 29, 2001, must meet the following eligibility criteria:

They must be U.S.-based postsecondary institutions. This means that they must be postsecondary institutions located within the United States (including U.S. territories and possessions); be licensed, chartered, or incorporated within the United States (including U.S. territories and possessions); or otherwise be officially recognized as a U.S. postsecondary institution by a U.S. state or federal government agency (including U.S. territories and possessions). If an institution is not based in the United States per this definition, it is not eligible for .edu domain name registration."

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#73

Post by piaste »

Sverigevader wrote: post #53

One of the best (well made, great design, functional) Android apps I'm using currently is a weather app. It's made by the Norwegian Public Service Agency, NRK. The app is simply called Yr and they have a website where you can find the apps (bottom)[0] [0] https://www.yr.no/

Doesn't seem to be open source though. NRK has a bunch of open-source projects on github [0], but the app isn't one of them, only some support libraries [1]

[0]: https://github.com/orgs/nrkno/

[1]: https://github.com/orgs/nrkno/repositories?q=yr&type=all&lan...

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#74

Post by mathstuf »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #69

Are there no open-source weather apps on Play Store? For US weather at least we have https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-api , so it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do. Is there something about the Play Store eco-system that makes such a thing not viable or trustworthy? Seems like all you'd need is a minimalist web page doing a single http request to the api

I suspect the main issue is getting discovered. Without filters like "no ads" or "no in-app purchases" in Play Store, it's hard to see how Google would ever organically bubble results for such an app to the top (since Google Ads is by far the most popular and there are definitely financial incentives to promote those apps over more privacy-conscious ones).

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#75

Post by piaste »

muppetman wrote: post #45
danuker wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use one because it is much easier to tap once than to have to type anything (like "weather").

I get the simple bit but don't both iOS and Android have built in apps/shortcuts? Weather apps just seem to be like Flashlight apps these days, all promising to be the brightest but actually none better than any other all while slurping up your data.

There's a lot more variance in pure functionality between weather apps than between flashlight apps.

Flashlight is literally 1 bit of information (on/off) and after that you can only add more sophisticated triggers (gestures, timers, etc.), which is why native OS functionality typically makes apps completely obsolete.

Weather data is a lot bigger: not only are there are a handful of different providers, but you could spend a lifetime optimizing the presentation of the data on a 6" screen (let alone a widget or notification). You can't possibly fit in all the relevant numbers so you have a lot of room for UX design work.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#76

Post by jeroenhd »

witrak wrote: post #70
1f60c wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was curious how a foreign university obtained a .EDU domain, but apparently, foreign universities could register a .EDU domain before 2001.

Would you be so kind as to say what you mean by "foreign" in this context? I'm asking because I was sure that .com, .org, and .edu are international domains...

.edu is American only, like .gov and .mil. .com and .org are available internationally, though.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#77

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

I have used the app. Its Ok but of limited use - and has no widget.

At some point I had to use a china-based app (that i would normally not touch with a 10 foot pole) despite privacy considerations

Why? Because they had a widget that did the trick.

I could see forecast by the hour on the widget, including % rain by the hour and wind.

A user needs to be able to plan his day (or week) out with a mere glance. If I have to tap more than once foe this information, thats a problem.

Is it going to rain at the time im scheduling this lunch meeting? Will it pour during my daughter's little League game? Will the mild cold going to be frigid because of severe wind gusts?

Those are answers i need on my home screen, viewable at.all.times.

I commend weather app for their privacy considerations but its too basic to be useable in most use cases except for generic 'just give me temp and precip '

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#78

Post by gmiller123456 »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #69

Are there no open-source weather apps on Play Store? For US weather at least we have https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-api , so it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do. Is there something about the Play Store eco-system that makes such a thing not viable or trustworthy? Seems like all you'd need is a minimalist web page doing a single http request to the api

If there were an open source app that was popular, the spammers would copy it and put it out there 10,000 times over, loaded down with spyware.

I generally release all of my code as public domain, but never publish the source code to an app.

The first day I got an Android phone, the first app I wanted was a flashlight app. After clicking through the permissions on some for a couple of minutes, I realized it was just going to be faster just to learn to write my own. It's just appalling that Google, the so called "master of search" won't let you filter results by permissions required.

None of my apps require more permissions than what's required, and some require none. And people give them 1 star reviews stating the "permissions screen is blank", or back when there used to be a popup with the permissions: "Warning! This app doesn't display a permissions popup!". They've literally never seen an app that doesn't require permissions.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#79

Post by zufallsheld »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #77

I have used the app. Its Ok but of limited use - and has no widget. At some point I had to use a china-based app (that i would normally not touch with a 10 foot pole) despite privacy considerations Why? Because they had a widget that did the trick. I could see forecast by the hour on the widget, including % rain by the hour and wind. A user needs to be able to plan his day (or week) out with a mere glance. If I have…

The app has a widget.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#80

Post by AlexandrB »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #77

I have used the app. Its Ok but of limited use - and has no widget. At some point I had to use a china-based app (that i would normally not touch with a 10 foot pole) despite privacy considerations Why? Because they had a widget that did the trick. I could see forecast by the hour on the widget, including % rain by the hour and wind. A user needs to be able to plan his day (or week) out with a mere glance. If I have…

> At some point I had to use a china-based app (that i would normally not touch with a 10 foot pole) despite privacy considerations

Scary stuff. The fact that a well-informed user would compromise privacy consideration to save a tap or two when checking the weather is why we're all probably doomed. Even the slightest inconvenience seems to outweigh any long term privacy implications.

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