DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps • Hacker News Board

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#371

Post by hesarenu » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 4:36 AM UTC

latexr wrote: post #249

Aunche wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bit uncomfortable with how much DDG's marketing is focused on trashing their competition. They deliberately obfuscate privacy issues to strengthen their narrative. Sure duckduckgo is a good company right now, but that's only because they're small. I doubt they'll stay that way when they capture a significant market share.

> Sure duckduckgo is a good company right now, but that's only because they're small. Only because they are small? That seems to imply that if they ever get big, they’ll no doubt become evil, privacy-wise. Apple proves that does not have to be the case.

Apple does business in China. So not a good case for privacy.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#372

Post by wolco » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

Aunche wrote: post #238

benatkin wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replace Google with Exxon and privacy with renewable energy, and you'll see why people aren't bothered by this slight against Google. Not all griping is equal. This isn't the same as putting another person down to lift yourself up, or putting another local small business down in order to lift yours up.

I don't pay attention to renewable energy marketing, but I don't think they attack Exxon as much as DDG attacks Google. I think a closer analogy is health food companies advertising that misrepresents the benefits of organic foods.

I have never seen an organic food commericial. I haven't seen a fruit or vegetable commercial for years.

I have seen products over labelled like the low carb steak or the sugarfree water. These products were always low carb or sugarfree.

DDG attacking google tells us they are shooting for number 2. Attacking google provides free advertising. It also tells us if they get bigger they will double down on being different from google so the chance they will suddenly turn against privacy is unlikely. If it does happen funding is running out.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#373

Post by cageface » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 4:51 AM UTC

rgovostes wrote: post #369

cageface wrote: post #285

I’m a bit concerned about how much data Google has on me and I do think Apple is genuinely more concerned about user privacy. But what’s the difference in practical terms really? Google uses my data to target ads at me but doesn’t actually give any of my data to its ad-buying customers. Apple doesn’t do this but is obliged to turn over my iCloud data to the government with a subpoena. Since this is really the scenari…

> Apple ... is obliged to turn over my iCloud data to the government with a subpoena. Apple must of course comply with a subpoena, but it can only hand over data it holds the keys to. The iOS Security whitepaper[1] goes into some details. Any encryption keys that are stored in iCloud Keychain "share[] the security characteristics of iCloud Keychain—the keys are available only on the user’s trusted devices, and not to…

I agree there are some important differences but for my own privacy I’m much less concerned about being targeted by ads then I am about some future administration deciding I’m a person of interest for some reason and subpoenaing my entire online life. In that respect there doesn’t seem to be a huge difference between the two.

I deleted my Facebook account because Facebook actually has sold user data to third parties.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#374

Post by code_duck » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 4:51 AM UTC

garmaine wrote: post #298

saagarjha wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The sample size is definitely not large enough to make such a broad generalization.

I would imagine that there are more medical details than this to the story.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#375

Post by booleandilemma » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 4:55 AM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #338

tyingq wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brin and Page pretty much say it's inevitable that a commerical search engine will succumb to "evil". The only solution they present is an academic/non-profit run search engine. http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html (scroll down to "Appendix A: Advertising and Mixed Motives")

The owners of a commercial search engine say that it's inevitable that a commercial search engine will succumb to evil. Hmmm.

Reminds me of the Onion article:

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-na...

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#376

Post by wst_ » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 4:56 AM UTC

notduncansmith wrote: post #363

eof wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they certainly can't compete on search quality.

“Certainly”? I doubt the deservedness of that certainty. DDG satisfies most of my searches on the first go, and I’ve never had success with !g after a failed DDG query. Furthermore, the Google results has a cluttered design with sparse information, so it takes much longer to figure out that I haven’t found what I’m looking for. I’d say Google is the one failing to compete on search quality. At one point they did, but…

Yes, certainly. DDG very often have quite okay results while Google has almost always outstanding results. I have to use !g quite often when searching for a programming or architecture solutions that are just slightly more complex than mainstream. I am using DDG mostly because I trust in the cause. OK, I admit that bangs are nice. That being said, both our comments are just an opinions. I'd gladly see a research about their accuracy.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#377

Post by MrBra » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:00 AM UTC

cygned wrote: post #50

When DuckDuckGo is set to a dark theme, the map is also in dark mode! To me, that is an incredible valuable feature. Edit: which is a fallback to Mapbox, no Apple Maps feature.

Check out "Darker Reader" extension... now you'll get that everywhere, automatically, with good looking dark colors.

I think it achieves that by leveraging color theory and CSS filters.

Once you try it you cannot go back :)

I am not involved in development nor devs are friends of mine, I just think it didn't get all the exposure it deserves.

PS if you're on chrome, after installing Darker Reader the infamous chrome white flash problem will mess with your eyes... Following thread has a partial solution to that:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18714902

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#378

Post by MrBra » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:02 AM UTC

master-litty wrote: post #54

cygned wrote: post #50

When DuckDuckGo is set to a dark theme, the map is also in dark mode! To me, that is an incredible valuable feature. Edit: which is a fallback to Mapbox, no Apple Maps feature.

We can send people to the moon but we can barely get dark mode right :)

I think "Darker Reader" extension got it right finally...

You'll get dark mode everywhere, automatically, with good looking dark colors.

I think it does that by leveraging color theory and CSS filters.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#379

Post by MrBra » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:07 AM UTC

foxes wrote: post #326

Why are people such fans of Ddg and not searx.me? searx is entirely open source and you can run your own instance. Ddg reportedly does collect some information (?), and their core is closed source.

Does it have its own crawling engine?

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#380

Post by Lucadg » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:15 AM UTC

setr wrote: post #260

latexr wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure duckduckgo is a good company right now, but that's only because they're small. Only because they are small? That seems to imply that if they ever get big, they’ll no doubt become evil, privacy-wise. Apple proves that does not have to be the case.

Apple’s main business is hardware, and software that helps sell the hardware. Any revenue from data is likely a seperate, minor stream; and for it to become a significant one, likely requires significant changes in Apple’s operations. Like any other hardware company, they don’t need google’s kind of data collection to make money. But DDG is primarily funded by search, and the search business is funded by ads, which a…

Maybe we should start thinking about growth. All kind of bad decisions are taken in the name of growth. Maybe some companies could just provide a service, be profitable and grow just to a natural size not focusing on growth itself. That would require a new way of thinking the role of companies in human society.