Friday, August 28th 2020

Apple is Preparing its Own Search Engine

In the past few years, Google has been paying Apple billions of dollars just for the company to keep Google as the default search engine in every aspect of the company's products. Starting from iOS up to macOS, they included Google as the default search engine. However, the deal between two companies might be coming to an end. In July this year, a UK Competition and Markets Authority took a shot at a deal claiming that the companies imposed a barrier on any market competition in the search engine space. Constant pressure from regulators and the fact that Apple doesn't want to be reliant on any company is possibly giving Apple ideas to launch its own search engine.

Recent changes in the spotlight search on iOS 14 and iPad OS 14 beta is making the software bypass Google search engine completely. As shown below (search and direct results), the company implemented a feature that makes the spotlight search go directly to search results instead of going to Google. The Applebot web crawler has seen some changes so it now renders pages in a similar way Google does and not just filter HTML. The web crawler also is updated to rank web pages just like it is made for a search engine. All of this is supposed to give Apple enough material so it can build something similar to a search engine. It is believed that the search engine wouldn't look like any classical one, but rather be embedded in Apple products and serve as a personalized search hub.
Source: Coy Wolf News
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64 Comments on Apple is Preparing its Own Search Engine

#26
bug
EsseGoogle has been rubbish for the longest time. Search results are never what I intended but rather what they think I wanted, no thanks.
Yup, that's why they dominate the market: because they return rubbish.

Results are ranked by relevance, of course Google won't always know what you were thinking about. E.g. when you search for "spring", how can anyone guess whether you mean the season, the mechanical part or the Java framework? But if you let Google profile you, it can at least guess what you meant.
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#27
ThrashZone
Hi,
If your search is that vague guess you deserve what ever ....google pulls up lol
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#28
Esse
bugYup, that's why they dominate the market: because they return rubbish.

Results are ranked by relevance, of course Google won't always know what you were thinking about. E.g. when you search for "spring", how can anyone guess whether you mean the season, the mechanical part or the Java framework? But if you let Google profile you, it can at least guess what you meant.
Go back a few years and results returned were far different from what they are now, things were relevant, now they aren't.

Look at Google's services shutting down all the time, there search engine has removed features like finding information from discussions/forums. Something that is key in finding non-bs answers from real people. Look for an answer today and the only result you will get is one or two popular sites and then mostly useless information. It did not use to be like this, you could go for pages before that happened.
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#29
ThrashZone
Hi,
Likes.... destroyed search results pretty much "like no pun intended" this forums design uses not to mention paid search keywords on top of other more relevant content.
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#30
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
EsseSearch results are never what I intended but rather what they think I wanted, no thanks.
Isn't the entire purpose of a search engine to return results that it thinks you wanted?
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#31
Vayra86
Vya DomusAll search engines will suffer from that, it's the inherit property of optimizing search result for each user. Remember machine learning algorithms can look racist, misogynistic, bigots, etc and that's because ,ironically, they are fully indiscriminate.
All search engines have something here to work on. It is one of the primary problems we need to understand better when making an algorithm. If we want to automate society and its elements... we better do it right or the Matrix is right around the corner, it just looks a bit different.

I still think its a paradox and we won't fix it though, and that is something we should start realizing sooner rather than later. The rabbit hole is deep and we're in it. We can still manage our way out of it: Regulation, awareness.
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#32
Rob94hawk
TheTechGuy1337Apple is making some changes lately. Making their own processors and now search engine. They want everything to be done in house. Having full control over all hardware and software has some serious advantages for build quality. I'm not Apple user either, but got my eye on them.
Apple tried their own brand of cpu before and it was a colossal disaster. Obviously they didn't learn from their mistakes. That and a huge risk to their shareholders.
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#33
Dave65
XuperNo body can beat google as search Engine.
Duck Duck is better!
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#34
natr0n
snob mode activate.

I use bing personally.
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#35
Regenweald
XuperNo body can beat google as search Engine.
You think that no one can datamine user data and advertise like google ?
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#36
matar
Using Bing since late 2013 and never went back to google , So no thanks Apple not me...
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#37
TheUn4seen
Vayra86All search engines have something here to work on. It is one of the primary problems we need to understand better when making an algorithm. If we want to automate society and its elements... we better do it right or the Matrix is right around the corner, it just looks a bit different.

I still think its a paradox and we won't fix it though, and that is something we should start realizing sooner rather than later. The rabbit hole is deep and we're in it. We can still manage our way out of it: Regulation, awareness.
The thing is, people are lazy. Really, really, REALLY lazy. My father used to say "people will do everything they can so they don't have to do anything". That's why Google and Apple dominate the consumer market. They make their products "just work", with no effort required from the user. No effort, no thinking, people just get spoon fed everything, which is exactly what they want.
Even Homer Simpson noticed that "smart things make people feel stupid and new things make people feel insecure". People want to have someone else do the thinking. Realizing things and doing things right requires effort which goes against what most people want.
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#38
freeagent
I know your not speaking for my generation. Generations younger than mine are the lazy ones lol.
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#39
qoonik
there is also duckduckgo search engine , who cares about apple search engine :)
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#40
Spartanjet
Ive been using Bing for years, I actively avoid everything google.
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#41
claes
bugHaving full control over both hardware and software has some serious disadvantage for the consumer, too: Apple gets to obsolete your hardware whenever they like, just by flipping a switch in the software, for example.
Not that they weren't doing that already, but it will much easier.
FYI, oddly, Apple opened up kernel extension (ie “driver”) development in the next MacOS. Now anyone with a $100 developer license can write drivers.
Rob94hawkApple tried their own brand of cpu before and it was a colossal disaster. Obviously they didn't learn from their mistakes. That and a huge risk to their shareholders.
:confused: Apple’s endeavors have been universally seen as a success... Maybe you mean IBM, but even they were excellent in terms of raw performance — PowerPC was still the most powerful chip in the world when Apple left for Intel, IIRC.
natr0nsnob mode activate.

I use bing personally.
matarUsing Bing since late 2013 and never went back to google , So no thanks Apple not me...
SpartanjetIve been using Bing for years, I actively avoid everything google.
What made you all switch to Bing? How do you like it? I’m especially curious since most of the critiques of Google are related to “big data” and privacy, where Microsoft is an arguably more risky player, given it’s relationship to intelligence agencies.
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#42
thesmokingman
bugHaving full control over both hardware and software has some serious disadvantage for the consumer, too: Apple gets to obsolete your hardware whenever they like, just by flipping a switch in the software, for example.
Not that they weren't doing that already, but it will much easier.
The first thing I thought when I read this was, sketchy! Poor Apple users.
Posted on Reply
#43
bug
claesFYI, oddly, Apple opened up kernel extension (ie “driver”) development in the next MacOS. Now anyone with a $100 developer license can write drivers.
That's mostly for peripherals. It's not like you can swap out the CPU, GPU, memory, storage or anything significant in an Apple computer.
And while you may be free to write your own driver ($100/yr plus the price of a computer is free in the Apple world), you still have to distribute it through the store (I assume), where Apple can shoot down anything they don't like.
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#44
dirtyferret
newtekie1Will it be as good as the dumpster fire that is Apple Maps?
Or Apple TV
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#45
claes
bugThat's mostly for peripherals.
No, it’s for add-in cards and system modifications. HIDs have been open on the system level for as long as I can remember... Apple does most of the leg work for the developer, much like Microsoft (“plug and play”).
It's not like you can swap out the CPU, GPU, memory, storage or anything significant in an Apple computer.
Mac Pro?
And while you may be free to write your own driver ($100/yr plus the price of a computer is free in the Apple world), you still have to distribute it through the store (I assume), where Apple can shoot down anything they don't like.
There’s no need to distribute through the store if your app/extension is signed, which is something a developer does at build time with their certificate (this is how nvidia had been releasing drivers for GPUs that weren’t supported by or sold by Apple, although Apple had to do the signing back then)... Even if the extension were unsigned, a user would simply have to turn off system integrity protection (this is how I have a PERC h700 running in a Mac). I mean, they are still computers after all...
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#46
RandallFlagg
chstamosGoogle has become much worse over the years, in my experience - it's just that the competition is lacking far behind. Yahoo and Bing are literally worthless.

SEO useless spam sites regularly appear on google's first page, more often than in the past, they don't seem to be doing much to combat SEOs. Apple has a better track record than Google in privacy too, but I don't know whether I'd trust their restrictive approach for searching the internet. On the other hand, if Apple gave an opt-in option to actually completely blacklist low quality SEO websites, I'd be in.
Apple is making / building a plethora of reasons to go to their platforms. It is baked into their charter / strategy, they are primarily a hardware manufacturer and everything they do is meant to forward the goal of selling more hardware. So, when apple makes a search engine it will ultimately be about selling more Apple hardware.

Google on the other hand is an advertising company, so everything they do is ultimately about selling advertising. Since they make so much 'free' stuff to get people on their platforms, this means selling their users information to facilitate targeted marketing. It's no coincidence that you go onto Google and search for say 'baby strollers', then next time you look on Amazon you'll have baby strollers front and center.

Of these two models, I vastly prefer the Apple one. It is more honest and upfront. You buy their hardware, you get top notch products and don't have to worry about them selling you to the highest bidder. In the Google model, it's deceptive in that it appears to be free, but in the end you're paying by giving them your information - something that ultimately is bound to be used against people.


www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/28/all-the-data-facebook-google-has-on-you-privacy
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#47
Basard
Meh, I've only got something snarky to say. Along the lines of "I don't like Apple." But then I realized that I don't really like anything. So, I'll show myself out. :roll:
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#48
Th3pwn3r
TheTechGuy1337Apple is making some changes lately. Making their own processors and now search engine. They want everything to be done in house. Having full control over all hardware and software has some serious advantages for build quality. I'm not Apple user either, but got my eye on them.
Considering everything will be coming out of China from Apple I don't know about any advantages for build quality.
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#49
micropage7
for me looks like more like a feed with search button
and yeah, it's still a long rough way to get close to Google ( if they can make it )
Posted on Reply
#50
ThrashZone
Hi,
Every since Jobs passed apple is a shell for advancement.
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