ExtraBITS for 17 March 2014
In this week’s ExtraBITS, we take a look at the startup that’s purportedly challenging Google’s search hegemony, speculate on why Apple keeps turning on Bluetooth in iOS updates, and find out why the creator of Flappy Bird pulled the plug.
The Upstart that Dares to Challenge Google — John Paul Titlow, writing for Fast Company, takes a look inside DuckDuckGo, the fledgling search engine with a focus on privacy. New users are flocking to the site after the intelligence leaks that began last year. However, even with its fast growth, it receives only about 4 million searches per day, three orders of magnitude less than Google’s 5.9 billion.
Why Apple Keeps Turning on Your Bluetooth — It seems that every recent iOS update turns Bluetooth back on if you had previously disabled it. Why would Apple do this? Kashmir Hill of Forbes proposes that the answer has something to do with iBeacons.
The Rise and Fall of Flappy Bird — The iOS game Flappy Bird rose from App Store obscurity to become an overnight sensation. Then creator Dong Nguyen just as quickly decided to remove it from the App Store. Rolling Stone’s David Kushner traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam to track down Nguyen and ask him why.