What’s it like when Apple buys your startup? According to David Hodge, founder of mapping app Embark, the answer is: stressful.
Apple bought Embark back in 2013 as part of its efforts to grow its mapping services. Embark focused on building free transit apps to help people navigate public transportation. In a new series of tweets, Hodge reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the Apple acquisition.
Apple Maps users in the Big Apple just got a sizable update to their service. As part of Apple’s quest to challenge Google’s mapping services, Apple Maps now offers far more local detail in New York City. That includes extra details about buildings, roads and footpaths, parks, and more.
Thanks to iOS 13, users can also take advantage of the 360-degree, Google Street View-style “Look Around” feature.
Look Around is Apple’s answer to Google’s Street View, and it’s about a zillion times better — if your area has coverage, that is. Look Around is just getting started, and covers very few places. Street View, on the other hand, is available for pretty much anywhere, including underwater, up mountains and on hiking trails.
Why is Look Around better? Well, it’s faster, for one. And it just looks nicer. The images are super-high-resolution and full-screen. Using it on a 13-inch iPad Pro feels like taking a virtual street tour of a neighborhood.
September 12, 2012: Apple introduces the iPhone 5, with a super-slim form factor that makes it the thinnest smartphone in the world.
The new iPhone also brings impressive upgrades such as a greatly improved display and the Lightning port. Despite some controversy, it proves a massive hit.
This week on The CultCast: A Foxconn insider spills big iPhone 11 secrets. Plus: the pros and cons of Apple Card, and Apple’s new maps start rolling out across the country. And finally, a strange twist in the MoviePass story unveils the unbelievable shenanigans the company pulled to stayed in business — and they are far worse than we ever imagined!
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Apple is rolling out its revamped Apple Maps app in the Northeast, covering Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Maine.
The refreshed Apple Maps continues to expand across the United States. Last week, it debuted in Texas, Louisiana and the southern half of Mississippi.
Apple is exploring ways to build augmented reality into Apple Maps. Rather than top-down views of roads and intersections, the company is considering overlaying route information onto live views of the road ahead of the car.
Apple Maps has always lagged behind Google Maps. Building in AR could help it jump ahead.
Apple’s a few years behind Google with its Street View-style feature called Look Around, announced at WWDC 2019. It may have been worth waiting for, however — at least, based on a new side-by-side comparison.
Assembled by Reüel van der Steege, the demo showcases the impressively smooth Look Around, next to Google’s jerkier alternative. Both parts of the side-by-side demo depict the same road in Hawaii.
Apple’s sensor-filled mapping cars are headed to Canada, as Apple collects more data to help improve its Apple Maps service.
Apple shared the following notice both online and in various Canadian newspapers:
People that worked for Apple through a staffing agency have revealed some grim details of what it’s like to work for Apple as a contracted employee.
Working on Apple’s mapping projects just a few miles from Apple Park sounds like a dream opportunity, but it turns out the Silicon Valley-based gig isn’t nearly as glamorous as you’d think. A new report about Apple’s temporary workers reveals the “culture of fear” contracted employees face.
