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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

#161

Post by skinnymuch »

robryan wrote: post #96
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...

Doesn't Microsoft also basically have a bottomless checkbook to spend on search? And Bing can't compete.

OP seems to be saying to throw a ton of money at search. Microsoft spent billions in losses over the past decade. Profitable now, but market share isn't too strong. And a lot of the market share gains are from Yahoo anyway.

So I agree. I don't see how Yahoo double or triple spending what Bing spent helping. Especially if they start out in 2017. On the other hand, if they work with Bing and have some sort of search engine Joint Venture with money and smarts poured in, maybe they can put a dent into search. I doubt Apple who care about profits so much would be down for such an endeavor.

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

#162

Post by skinnymuch »

Hoasi wrote: post #74
abritinthebay wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You mean after Google bought them four years ago? They had independence to a degree and were allowed to stay in Israel for 3 years after signing an agreement, but that time has passed. At this point they are completely under Google.

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

#163

Post by skinnymuch »

sidcool wrote: post #45
andy_ppp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the amount of data Apple has from Siri I’m constantly surprised they don’t at least have a stab at building a search engine, possibly one with very fine grained privacy/accuracy controls.

Apple can just acquire DuckDuckGo.

Isn't that just mostly using major search engine indexes? I know DDG some of its own indexing, but how much do they really do on their own? I don't see the benefit of getting DDG for them when they'll have to deal with the major search engines providing most of the data anyway.

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

#164

Post by pls2halp »

crottypeter wrote: post #126
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like they didn't want to add a backdoor to the OS just for the sake of repairs.

Yes, the front door will do fine /s

Literally that. I think the policy is that users should set up a seperate admin account.

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

#165

Post by pls2halp »

ekianjo wrote: post #127
schitzapplebits wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that you view it as expensive does not make it overpriced. Apple certainly has no trouble selling at their prices.

no problem selling to a minority of users worldwide. The rest simply enjoy PCs and other options and ignore Apple.

The thing is. Both the Suface Pro and Pixel(shining examples of companies not quite being Apple) have sold at exactly the same price as their Apple counterparts for the past few years.

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

#166

Post by zeep »

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...

I also get a bunch of results using this query on Bing, but the first result with the exact query is #5. You need to add a "+" in front of the quotation marks to get an exact result in Bing: https://www.bing.com/search?q=%2B"Invalid+store+category+nam....

I wonder why you don't get the same result in DDG since they are supposed to be pulling results from Bing (that 1 results is from April 5th, so not very recent)?

Using Google, I only get 2 results, so it is not much better...

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

#167

Post by macintux »

wrboyce wrote: post #100
thestephen wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While your sentiment probably holds correct in some places, it really is "that bad" in some places that aren't the US or the UK. Many countries still don't have transit, and my apartment (in Stockholm!) doesn't even exist in Apple Maps.

Have you ever submitted an error report? I moved house just over 12 months ago and there were some errors on both Apple and Google maps. I submitted error reports to both providers, Apple had it fixed in around 48 hours whereas Google have still not fixed it. At least one of the errors is extremely easy to verify and fix.

I've had mixed results. I report errors to Apple fairly regularly, and while some are fixed quickly, some are seemingly ignored forever.

Even in the US, there are a lot of missing POI on Apple Maps. Parks in particular are woefully underrepresented.

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

#168

Post by macintux »

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...

Sacrifice billions a year from Google to spend billions a year trying to compete, for zero additional revenue? That's a tough sales pitch.

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

#169

Post by stephenr »

ballenf wrote: post #156
jhasse wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doing machine learning on-device makes it less effective. Doing it on-device has other advantages besides privacy (e.g. it works without an Internet connection). > Apple's directions aren't as good as they could be because Maps randomly segments trips and masks its users identity. Could you explain that? I didn't really understand what you mean by segmenting the trips and why that should masks the user identity. >…

Two options for data queries being passed around and saved: A trip from your house to the sex doll shop vs. A trip from your house to the busy thoroughfare a mile away + trip from busy thoroughfare to the next town over + trip from next town to sex doll shop

Not to mention map lookups are done via a periodically regenerated random identifier - not linked to an actual account or device id.

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

#170

Post by lettergram »

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 nation(s), so for me avoiding Google is worth almost any cost.

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