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DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

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Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#131

Post by SEJeff »

taf2 wrote: post #110
SEJeff wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That and from a purely data privacy angle, Apple is legitimately better than Google.

Are they or do you just believe that because of what you think you know about the difference between the two companies?

Because Tim Cook, as a homosexual, has teared up when speaking about human rights abuses of homosexual under repressive regimes, and how as the CEO of apple, he will do anything within his power to ensure your data stays safe on apple infra / hw because he personally thinks about it. Can't remember the interview, but it was quite touching actually.

He's very clear in shareholder calls / letters and in their privacy policy. So much so that he even calls out the competition[1] for doing it as Apple does not. From an economics standpoint, Apple doesn't make money on your data. They sell you overpriced but quite sophisticated hardware and became one of the most valuable companies in the world doing this. That and he advocates for a US equivalent of the GPDR[2] which absolutely and directly would impact the bottom line of companies like Google and Facebook.

Then there is Apple's official privacy policy, where they are very explicit that they don't gather personal information to sell to advertisers. In much of the non-US world, saying that and not following that is blatantly illegal.

[1] http://time.com/5433499/tim-cook-apple-data-privacy/

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/24/18017842/tim-cook-data-p...

[3] https://www.apple.com/privacy/

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#132

Post by godelski »

stouset wrote: post #121
godelski wrote: post #117

I have to say I'm pretty upset about this. Not over privacy stuff (I don't trust Apple that much either), but because Apple maps just sucks. Unless things changed within the last 4 months, Apple Maps couldn't accurately navigate me from Custer State Park to Mt. Rushmore (which really isn't far).

Competition is good. I am happily using Firefox, DuckDuckGo, and Apple Maps instead of their Google equivalents—even though I was perfectly happy with them for the most part—just to do what little I can to ensure continued competition in these spaces. Yeah, Apple Maps isn’t as good as Google Maps in many regards. But it’s been improving, and it’s honestly not that much worse for the overwhelming majority of my use ca…

I have found that I unfortunately have to frequently fall back to Google Maps. Which I don't actually like. Honestly it is more a disappointment in Apple. I would expect them to be able to get directions right for a well traveled path. Those two parks have a lot of visitors each year and frequently people will visit both in the same day. But Apple Maps wanted me to go a completely different way and I couldn't figure out how it was connecting.

Maybe things changed, but that wasn't that long ago. And we all know that once a product falls (and pretty hard), it is harder to recover.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#133

Post by saagarjha »

jedberg wrote: post #81
est31 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there an updated version of this xkcd somewhere? https://xkcd.com/893/

No, but there are four left, so we're tracking just above the 5th percentile line.

I think I remember hearing something about the Apollo astronauts having higher-than-average rates of cardiovascular disease as a result of the increased radiation in space.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#134

Post by anyfoo »

taf2 wrote: post #110
SEJeff wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That and from a purely data privacy angle, Apple is legitimately better than Google.

Are they or do you just believe that because of what you think you know about the difference between the two companies?

It's a fair question. For starters, comparing the business models, and how iOS implements privacy relevant aspects vs. how Android does so, might lead to reasonable assumptions.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#135

Post by johnsea »

gowld wrote: post #41
mtmail wrote: post #9

Some paint it as if the main reason to switch was privacy ( https://www.imore.com/duckduckgo-switches-apple-maps-because... "DuckDuckGo switches to Apple Maps, because privacy"), but the previous map provider was mapbox (openstreetmap plus commercial sources) and I doubt mapbox collected more data than Apple is now.

DDG's main marketing model is talking about how they believe Google is privacy threat, so they'll highlight that angle in any change.

Google _is_ a privacy threat. Completely unrelated to DDG, marketing or believe.

One Google with thousand tentacles...

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#136

Post by saagarjha »

Interestingly, it seems like the Maps data that Apple is providing here is inconsistent. In southern California, through the native apps I'm getting high-quality maps, while DuckDuckGo is still showing me the older low-quality ones.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#138

Post by chewz »

godelski wrote: post #117

I have to say I'm pretty upset about this. Not over privacy stuff (I don't trust Apple that much either), but because Apple maps just sucks. Unless things changed within the last 4 months, Apple Maps couldn't accurately navigate me from Custer State Park to Mt. Rushmore (which really isn't far).

Apple Maps sucks but DDG is also terrible (in languages other then En) and both make dubious claims about protecting customer privacy. So this is match made in heaven.

I have given up on Apple Maps long time ago and I have given up on DDG after many failed attempts.

I am using Qwant https://lite.qwant.com/ which is surprisingly good for general search terms and embarrassing for specialized search terms (like programming and such).

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#139

Post by atomwaffel »

godelski wrote: post #120
st3fan wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does the glass always have to be half empty? Maybe Apple simply was the better choice?

Is it though? A few months ago Apple Maps gave me wrong directions going from Custer State Park to Mt. Rushmore (two major tourist locations relatively near one another).

At least here in western Norway, Mapbox’s directions are incredibly buggy, to the point where they’ll send you on a 150-kilometre scenic drive (including two ferries) to avoid a tunnel instead of going 15 kilometres straight through the mountain. This is apparently because they’re rolling their own telemetrics-based data on top of the OSM road network.

Then again, Apple Maps (on DuckDuckGo) seems to think I that want my maps labelled in Indonesian, so you may still have a point.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#140

Post by tramGG »

johnsea wrote: post #135
gowld wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DDG's main marketing model is talking about how they believe Google is privacy threat, so they'll highlight that angle in any change.

Google _is_ a privacy threat. Completely unrelated to DDG, marketing or believe. One Google with thousand tentacles...

A vote for Google is a vote for death.
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