The Greatest App of All Time Day 23: Google Earth vs. HQ Trivia

If you’re just tuning in, you can read all about our selection criteria for this historic contest right here. Check out the full bracket of contestants embedded below. And as always, if you think we missed your personal favorite app of all time, yell at us in the comments. Now, let’s get into today’s contestants.

When the web-based version of Google Earth launched in 2001, it felt like everyone in the world had been handed the keys to a satellite network straight out of Enemy of the State. The ability to start in space, pick a spot on the globe, and zoom in to street level was astonishing. Users like myself immediately went to find their own house and experienced the queasy feeling of being watched.

The mobile app of Google Earth made all of this even more satisfying with a touchscreen interface and the app has only gotten better over the years. The addition of Street View, 3D imagery, the ability to zoom underwater, and tons of Easter eggs have made Google Earth an extremely robust app and it’s still available to all for free. It’s certainly one of the best examples of a big tech company creating a public good just because they can.

HQ Trivia dragged the game show into the modern world when it launched in 2017. While everyone was trying to use the internet to give people the option to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, HQ Trivia brought people together and gave them an appointment.

Every night at 9 PM, you could open the app and participate in a trivia contest with cash prizes going as high as $400,000. The questions became increasingly difficult and if you got one wrong you were out. It was fun. It was a phenomenon. Its most popular host, Scott “Trivia Daddy” Rogowsky became a minor celebrity until his departure in 2019. And the app just steadily died off without him. It never officially shut down, it just stopped doing shows. No hard feelings, it was good while it lasted.