Apple search engine

[M915 Driver]

I have seen rumors that Apple is working on their own search engine. Has anyone else seen anything about this?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

This is a rumor that came out around WWDC and doesn't have a lot of info yet. It would be interesting to see if Apple would actually make the effort since you have to do a lot to become relevant, while this could be an avenue for ad revenue, that won't be realized without usage.

 

[Groovetube]

I’d welcome that.

 

[pigoo3]

Someone needs to break the stranglehold Google has on the internet!

 

[ferrarr]

Someone needs to break the stranglehold Google has on the internet!

Don't blame the tool, blame the fools that use it.

 

[Groovetube]

I’ve never been comfortable with googles business model of monetizing my info.

i get the whole google ads thing, it’s a money maker for YouTube stars and successful sites. I just am not jumping for joy about being their product.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Unless you find a search engine that you pay for, ads is how they exist. This is true for all search engines. I use DuckDuckGo as my search engine and it also has ads, while maybe not as targeted as the other engines, it's still there.

 

[Rod]

They're not targeted ads though Ashwin and I don't mind that, sometimes I'm actually interested, plus they are arranged by relevance rather than preference by Google.
Eg. I did a search for points allocation in Pro Cycling events and there was one ad for indoor cycling venues at the top. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[pigoo3]

Don't blame the tool, blame the fools that use it.

When I mentioned Google has a stranglehold on the internet...I have no complaints how well the Google search engine works for most internet users around the world.

The problem is Google has their hooks so deep into how websites function (Website SEO)...that every website (if they want to optimize website monetization...websites need to make Google happy). Which means websites NEED to conform to what Google says...or the website gets less traffic & thus less revenue.

Google has a virtual monopoly on the internet...and as in most cases...monopolies are not good!

For fun-personal websites...or hobby websites...none of this really matters. But for websites that need to pay their own bills (break even)...or actually generate income for website owners...this is a really big deal!

Nick

 

[Rod]

Nick, I agree completely.

 

[Groovetube]

They're not targeted ads though Ashwin and I don't mind that, sometimes I'm actually interested, plus they are arranged by relevance rather than preference by Google.
Eg. I did a search for points allocation in Pro Cycling events and there was one ad for indoor cycling venues at the top. Nothing wrong with that.

Exactly what I was saying, ads are fine, it’s how google weaves itself seemingly in every page you interact with compiling an entire profile of you I find disturbing. Even if you don’t use google services or even their search engine, they’re still inescapable.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I have seen rumors that Apple is working on their own search engine. Has anyone else seen anything about this?

I haven't, and I have a hard time believing that it's true. That's because it has come out in litigation that Google pays Apple TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars to keep out of the search engine area and use Google instead.

Explained: Why Google pays Apple billions of dollars every year - Times of India

Google every year fills the coffers of Apple by giving it billions of dollars. It’s not a “secret” deal as both companies have been open about it.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

That's tens of billions of dollars that Apple is being paid to sit on their hands. I'm not sure what their motivation would be to give that up.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...it’s how google weaves itself seemingly in every page you interact with compiling an entire profile of you...

Yep, that's Google's business model. They don't even try to hide it. They track you, collect data on you, and then sell your data to advertisers.

It's easily possible to have all the benefits of using Google's search engine, without having any of your private information revealed to Google. All that you need to do is use an alternate search engine that "scrapes" Google's results without revealing who they are giving those results to.

I used to use StartPage for this, and they were really great. But then they were purchased by a company with the same business model as Google. So I don't recommend them anymore.

Now I use SearX:
https://searx.be/

SearX is what is known as an "aggregator search engine." That is, the first time that you use SearX you go up into the upper right: Preferences --> Engines --> [choose the search engines for SearX to scrape] --> Save (at the bottom of the page)
Don't get greedy! Select only a few. They more that you choose, the longer a search will take. I set mine to use Google, Bing, and Wikipedia. With just those settings SearX gives BETTER results than Google, with complete security.

More info:
https://restoreprivacy.com/private-search-engine/

 

[Slydude]

Thanks Randy

I meant to post last night that you had previously posted a few alternate search engines that were more privacy focused.