Paul HornOh lord.
Did they add AI to the Weatherbug app, or just fire all the competent people? Or both?
CalicosineI wonder how long Weatherbug is going to keep the same app design. It's looked the same for over a decade minus platform-based styling differences, giving Spark a map, and a few things moved around a little. I do like how they've basically said no to chasing UI design trends and changing things for the sake of changing them. Then again, it's a good design minus the weird ads and the alerts being hard to open, so there's no real reason to change it.
PPC LandTaboola and WeatherBug extend partnership with new three-year agreement: Leading weather app WeatherBug renews partnership with Taboola to enhance content recommendations across digital platforms. https://ppc.land/taboola-and-weatherbug-extend-partnership-with-new-three-year-agreement/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Taboola #WeatherBug #Partnership #DigitalMarketing #ContentRecommendations
Fun fact: You can use Weatherbug's Spark feature in your browser in its own tab without needing the app or needing to block a bunch of stuff besides Google Analytics. You'll need to add your latitude and longitude to this address manually and remove the space between "weather" and "bug" and "lxapp." and also ".net", though:
https://lxapp. weather bug .net/v2/lxapp_impl.html?lat=00.0000&lon=00.0000&v=1.2.0
Robin FrostSo, since I was having this chat with friends about extended forecasts in #WeatherApps #WXApps it gave me a chance to revisit some in my current rotation and some who've lost their standing to be so. I'm glad to report that the #Wunderground app has decent #Accessibility when using #VoiceOver. By contrast The #WeatherChannel app has degraded as their daily forecasts don't read well at all. And the worst offender is still #WeatherBug which used to be a very #Accessible app but now hardly anything on the screen reads well with #Voiceover at all. Shameful really because it used to be such a good app.
EXTREMEWEATHER.CLUBAwesome #RedSprites over Cape Greco, #Cyprus by George Paraskevaides. Taken on January 11, 2024 ⚡ Follow @xWxClub for more #storm photos from around the world
#atmosphere #longexpohunter #nightphotography_exclusive #nightshooters #earth_reflect #earthshotz #earthoffical #weatherbug #weatherphotos #ourplanetdaily #cosmos #universetoday #awesome_globepix #thunderstorms #lightningstorm #natgeoyourshot #natgeolandscape #igworldglobal #sprites #stormclouds #stormyskies #stormyweather #nikoneurope
Kellic Tiger 
Dear #weatherbug I don't know where your programmers are from. 39° is not very cold. And no, you can't get frostbite at 39°F
Edit..... Okay you could get frostbite but it would take a damn long time to do so.
iam-py-test#weatherbug is a popular weather app, but is it private?
In 2016, it was acquired by the advertising company xAd, who later rebranded to groundtruth.
According to their website, they are not only an ad company, but a location data company. They are listed in Peter Lowe's blocklist, and have been since 2019.
Groundtruth offers "location-based marketing", seemingly by tracking the location of users. They claim to be able to connect what ads users see with the locations users visit.
But how does this effect weatherbug?
WeatherBug's privacy policy says the following under "Location Information":
"When you have installed or use a WeatherBug service, such as one of our mobile applications, we may collect information about your device's precise location, including your location relative to and within third party merchant locations (in-store beacons)."
This data is shared with their affiliates and used for advertising.
Looking at the Android version of the app in a sandbox, it contacts Google Analytics, Amazon Adsystem, kochava (a marketing/tracking company), Nimbus (an ad company), and taboola. Given it's ad supported, none of those are a shock. It still isn't great.
I don't have time to go deeper, so maybe I missed something or got something wrong.
Sources (in random order):
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822114352/https://tria.ge/230822-m965hsdd2s/behavioral1
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822111726/https://www.groundtruth.com/product/location-targeting/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822111921/https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/272092-why-is-weatherbug-being-flagged-as-a-pup/ (this is the post which set me on this whole adventure)
https://www.weatherbug.com/legal/privacy/ (didn't want to archive for some reason)
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822113112/https://www.groundtruth.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822112920/https://www.groundtruth.com/xad/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822112801/https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/0371833Z:US
https://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/details.php?hostname=groundtruth.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeatherBug#History
In 2016, it was acquired by the advertising company xAd, who later rebranded to groundtruth.
According to their website, they are not only an ad company, but a location data company. They are listed in Peter Lowe's blocklist, and have been since 2019.
Groundtruth offers "location-based marketing", seemingly by tracking the location of users. They claim to be able to connect what ads users see with the locations users visit.
But how does this effect weatherbug?
WeatherBug's privacy policy says the following under "Location Information":
"When you have installed or use a WeatherBug service, such as one of our mobile applications, we may collect information about your device's precise location, including your location relative to and within third party merchant locations (in-store beacons)."
This data is shared with their affiliates and used for advertising.
Looking at the Android version of the app in a sandbox, it contacts Google Analytics, Amazon Adsystem, kochava (a marketing/tracking company), Nimbus (an ad company), and taboola. Given it's ad supported, none of those are a shock. It still isn't great.
I don't have time to go deeper, so maybe I missed something or got something wrong.
Sources (in random order):
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822114352/https://tria.ge/230822-m965hsdd2s/behavioral1
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822111726/https://www.groundtruth.com/product/location-targeting/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822111921/https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/272092-why-is-weatherbug-being-flagged-as-a-pup/ (this is the post which set me on this whole adventure)
https://www.weatherbug.com/legal/privacy/ (didn't want to archive for some reason)
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822113112/https://www.groundtruth.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822112920/https://www.groundtruth.com/xad/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230822112801/https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/0371833Z:US
https://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/details.php?hostname=groundtruth.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeatherBug#History
Pro tip: you can use #WeatherBug 's Spark feature through your web browser by going to https://www.weatherbug.com/alerts/spark/ instead of needing to install their app, if that's all you use their app for. Please note that at least on #iOS, you can't actually pin this specific page to your homescreen, but a favorite/bookmark works.
John BurnsThese weather apps are making very subjective statements.
Certainly you don't go outside in these temperatures (29f / ~1.5c) without being dressed properly.
But how is that unfavorable?
#Weatherbug
Using these guidelines - no one would go outside in winter...
Image description: outdoor sports ranked 7 as unfavorable. Conditions are not ideal, consider modifying activities to limit outdoor exposure.