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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by sbahr001 on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @07:33PM (#22743990)
It might have to do with AccuWeather trying to make weather data harder to access, especially NOAA data. Dark Sky was one of the best API's for weather data too, and now Apple does not have to follow anyone else's rules. Tim Cook's big push for environmental responsibility can also be a reason for the acquisition as well. Having access to this type of data allows them to open the door to more environmental productions/applications.
Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by mattmcknight on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @07:54PM (#22744139)
Apparently DarkSky does use the NOAA data, whereas Apple was pulling data from The Weather Company, now part of IBM.

"IBM purchased the Weather Co. in 2016 and sells weather data to, among others, Apple, for its weather app. The purchase could signal that Apple will develop its own weather model rather than continue to use IBM-derived data, or it may indicate that Apple, too, liked the design of the app." https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/03/31/apple-buys...

per https://twitter.com/ajblum/status/1245045062112813059

Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by cosmie on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @01:00AM (#22745860)
> whereas Apple was pulling data from The Weather Company, now part of IBM.

It's turtles all the way down[1]. The Weather Company also leverages NOAA data and is listed as such as a weather service provider on NOAA's site[2]. Although they ostensibly augment it with other sources and apply their own forecasting models to the data, they're still basically repackaging NOAA data in one form or another.

[1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

[2] https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/weather-service-providers

Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by wakeless on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @04:22AM (#22746750)
There is a great episode of 99 percent invisible about this.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-weather-machine/

Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by dingaling on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @01:19AM (#22745934)
> The Weather Company also leverages NOAA data

... in the USA. But one of its great advantages is the data it receives from tens of thousands of amateur weather reporting stations globally. The Wunderground forecast for our locality is hyper-localised and very accurate for that reason, particularly compared to the national Met Office forecast which applies to an airport 35 miles away, beside a lake and on the other side of mountains.

Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by lstamour on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @03:50AM (#22746619)
I had no idea Weather Channel had bought Weather Underground in 2012. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground_(weather...

I remember fondly using their Wunder Radio app in the early iPhone years.

Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by coldcode on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @07:20AM (#22747576)
I was an early supporter (and payer) for Wunderground, but now they have turned into another IBM money grab and I refuse to have anything to do with them now.
Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by Moru on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @07:58AM (#22747777)
I realy love the norwegian weather service, yr.no (Has english language selection on top). It works worldwide and has an open API [1]. Not sure where they get the data though but short term it's very good here in Sweden. Long term tends to be a bit exagerated though but improves the closer it gets.

[1] https://hjelp.yr.no/hc/en-us/categories/200450271-About-Yr-t...