Apple Maps - page 5

iOS 11 concept imagines an all-new lockscreen

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The iPhone's lockscreen could use some changes.
The iPhone's lockscreen could use some changes.
Photo: Matt Birchler

Apple is set to unveil big changes for the iPhone at WWDC 2017 and one feature that could definitely use some improvements is the lockscreen.

In a new concept design that imagines some potential lockscreen upgrades, Matt Birchler shows how a few very simple changes could make the lockscreen feel totally new.

Siri glitch sends hooker hunters to bar with zero prostitutes

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Hey Siri, I need two hookers and an eight ball of cocaine.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s digital assistant is great at finding information for all sorts of things. But when it comes to hookers, Siri is the world’s worst pimp.

Thanks to a glitch with Siri, iPhone users in Toronto looking for prostitutes keep getting routed to an bar in Little Italy. There’s just one problem. The owner insists his bar is definitely not the place to find a call girl.

Everything new in iOS 10.3: Hidden keyboard, AirPods finder and more

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There's a lot to love in iOS 10.3.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple gave developers their first look at the next big update for iOS 10 yesterday, and it packs a surprising number of new features.

The public will have to wait a few weeks (or months) to get their hands on the new goodies packed inside iOS 10.3, which brings improvements for AirPods, iPads and more.

Here are all the new additions coming soon to iOS devices near you.

Apple will use drones to make Maps better

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Apple Maps reservation OpenTable
Drones could be key to improving Apple Maps.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple plans to use a combination of drones, indoor mapping and other smart tech to improve its Apple Maps service, claims a new report.

Employing drones could help Apple catch up with industry leader Google. The search giant has routinely outpaced Apple on mapping technology ever since Cupertino entered the space with its (initially disastrous) Apple Maps in 2012.

How to disable location suggestions in macOS Sierra

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Location Based Suggestions
Here's what to do if you don't want localized suggestions.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Much like Google offers personalized searching, macOS Sierra delivers location-based tips as part of its suggestions within Spotlight, Siri, Safari and Maps. That means Apple will try to recommend relevant services within your immediate vicinity.

If you don’t want this feature, however, there is a way to get rid of it. Check out our guide below to show how to do this — and how to turn it back on again if you change your mind.

How to book a reservation through Apple Maps on iOS 10

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Apple Maps reservation OpenTable
Apple Maps makes it easy to get your grub on.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Finding an awesome spot to eat has always been easy on the iPhone. But iOS 10 makes it super-simple to book a restaurant reservation in Apple Maps.

With the new third-party app extensions in Maps, users can now reserve a table without ever leaving the Maps app. Just find the spot you want to dine at, and with a few extra taps you’ll be on your way to a fine dining experience.

Book a reservation in seconds with these steps.

Apple Maps could help you find your way around unfamiliar buildings

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It might not quite be Harry Potter's Marauder's Map, but it's getting there.
Photo: Universal Studios Orlando

Could a Harry Potter-style “Marauder’s Map” help give Apple a leg up on rival mapping services by offering indoor directions as well as outside ones?

That’s the working theory behind a new U.S. patent published today, which describes a “Visual-Based Inertial Navigation” system, explaining how accurate indoor directions could given on a smartphone or VR headset down to an accuracy of centimeters.

Is Apple Maps still the laughing stock of maps apps? [Friday Night Fights]

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fnf
Is Apple Maps your first choice?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The release of Apple Maps with iOS 6 was so disastrous it led to the firing of Scott Forstall, former SVP of iOS, and to a rare public apology from CEO Tim Cook.

Friday Night Fights bug Almost four years on, Maps is in a very different place. Apple has worked hard to iron out the kinks and add new features that help the service compete with rivals like Google Maps. But is Apple Maps still the laughing stock of maps apps?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fights as we battle it out over the state of Apple Maps.

Apple exec reveals how your iPhone data is used to improve Maps

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Hair Force One wants everyone to become a coder.
Craig Federighi oversees the development of both iOS and macOS.
Photo: Apple

In a new wide ranging interview, Apple’s senior VP of internet software and services, Eddy Cue, revealed how the company fixed a lot of mistakes it made with the launch of Apple Maps in 2012 by utilizing data from the hundreds of millions of iPhones around the globe.

Cue and Apple software chief Craig Federighi sat down to talk about the troubles with Apple Maps, the difference between working for Tim Cook and Steve Jobs, Apple’s competition with Facebook and Amazon and learning from failure.

Thank Apple Maps disaster for public betas of iOS and macOS

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TomTom will continue to power Apple Maps.
Apple Maps was a turning point for Apple.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s decision to open up macOS and iOS for public betas was inspired by the company’s horrible experience with the iOS Maps debacle in 2012, according to a new interview with Tim Cook, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi.

One of the most notorious botches in Apple history, Maps’ problems ranged from depicting horribly warped landscapes to directing folks visiting the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, to drive across one of the taxiways. And it changed Apple’s culture in the process.

All the changes Apple made in iOS 10 beta 2

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apple music app
There's a lot to love in the new iOS 10 beta.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s second beta for iOS 10 is jam-packed with new features and changes to go along with the big batch of bug fixes.

More than 50 changes have been discovered by developers, affecting everything from Apple Music to widgets. A lot of the changes are very minor UI tweaks that would probably go unnoticed by many users, but Apple has also added some huge additions to the Home button, Messages, Notification Center and more.

Here’s what’s new in iOS 10 beta 2:

Mystery vans likely making 3-D road maps for Apple’s self-driving car

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apple van
Mysterious unmarked vans roaming the Bay Area have been linked to Apple, and are likely generating detailed 3D maps for robot cars.
Photo: Business Insider/Stephen Smith

Some new data-gathering vehicles are roaming the streets of San Francisco. They’re unmarked, but are suspected to be Apple’s. They are laden with sensors, but what kind of data are they gathering, and what for?

Experts contacted by Cult of Mac say the mystery vans are next-generation mapping vehicles capable of capturing VR-style, 360-degree street photos. Plus, the vans use Lidar to create extraordinarily precise “point clouds,” a prerequisite for self-driving cars. Mesh those two databases together and you’ve laid the groundwork for an autonomous vehicle’s navigation system.

iOS 10 will help you save money on the road

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Apple Maps has some new tricks in iOS 10.
Apple Maps has some new tricks in iOS 10.
Photo: Apple

Drivers tired of forking over cash to toll booths on the morning commute are getting some welcomed relief thanks to iOS 10.

Apple Maps didn’t get much stage time during the WWDC 2016 keynote earlier this week, but along with adding proactive route suggestions, Apple has also made it super easy to avoid any toll booths that might be on your route.

iOS 10 hands on: Your iPhone will never be the same

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iOS 10 hands on
What new features will wow you the most in iOS 10?
Photo:

With a host of new features, many of which go more than just skin deep, iOS 10 will bring loads of new functionality to iPhones and iPads.

We got the developer beta up and running to get a look at all the new iOS 10 features in action, and caught it all on video to share with you. Get a glimpse of the iPhone’s future in our iOS hands-on video.

iOS 10 ensures you never forget where your car is parked

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iPhone SE
iOS 10 helps keep tabs on your car.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

“Dude, where’s my car?” is about to become a question of the past thanks to a new feature in iOS 10.

The underrated new feature went unmentioned during Apple’s two-hour keynote yesterday, but it might solve one of the biggest problems with going to any mall, festival, airport, hotel or hospital: remembering where you parked.

Apple unveils iOS 10, its biggest update ever

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iOS 10
iOS 10 is huge!
Photo: Apple

The next big iOS update for iPhones and iPads was unveiled by Apple today at WWDC and it comes with some gigantic new features to go along with an even bigger Siri upgrade.

iOS 10 is the “mother of all releases” according to Tim Cook. It comes with 10 big new features that make Siri more powerful than ever, plus some much needed changes to the way you interact with the lock screen and homescreen thanks to interactive notifications, widgets, and deeper 3D Touch integration.

Apple hires satnav expert to improve Maps app

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apple-maps-nearby-businesses
Apple's latest hire will make Maps better.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s often-ridiculed Maps app is getting some much-needed assistance, thanks to a recent new hire who helped invent the satellite navigation systems used by a bevy of automakers. 

Sinisa Durekovic, a software engineer who was the principle architect and engineer for Harman International Industries’ navigation systems, has reportedly joined Apple, and the company won’t say what he is working on.

Apple’s new Indian office is dedicated to fixing Maps

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Find out when your Mac is looking at your location data.
Apple's new office is entirely dedicated to Apple Maps.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook, Jeff Williams and other top Apple execs are on a packed tour of India right now, and to mark the occasion Apple has announced the opening of a new office in Indian tech hub Hyderabad that will focus on improving Apple Maps.

The office will create up to 4,000 jobs in the the region, and according to Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, “is testament to [the] proactive approach, quality infrastructure and … excellent talent base we have in the region.”

Apple Maps adds Transit directions for Sacramento

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Tower_Bridge_Sacramento_edit
Sacramento in all its glory!
Photo: Wikipedia CC

After Apple Maps got off to a rocky start, it is continuing its quest to become the go-to maps service on mobile by adding transit information for yet another city — meaning that the app will provide detailed information on transportation options ranging from buses to railway lines.

The latest city to get the Transit treatment? Sacramento, CA.

Instagram’s upcoming business profiles look like Facebook pages

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InstagramCloseiPhone
Instagram is getting more business friendly.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Instagram is about to start looking a lot more like Facebook, thanks to new business profiles pages that are in the testing phase.

Images of the new profiles have leaked onto the internet and they appear to be similar to Facebook’s brand pages, giving visitors more information on how to locate a business. It seems the days of publicly displaying your email and phone number on Instagram are coming to an end.

How to get Apple Maps on your Apple TV (sort of)

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Plan your next trip from your couch.
Plan your next trip from your couch.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Have you ever tried to plan a trip with your posse while gathered around your iPhone? It’s kind of a mess. The tiny screen doesn’t really lend itself to larger viewings. Even an iPad is much smaller than one of those big-old paper maps we used to use to group plan.

If you want to use a big screen to find your way to a road trip this summer, perhaps TV Maps by Arno Appenzeller will do the trick, letting you plan a trip right on your giant screen TV.

This third-party Apple TV app will let you search a destination, get directions, and then send everything to the companion app on your iPhone, which will then launch Apple’s Map app to get you where you need to be.

Here’s how.

Apple to build $25 million office in India

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India
Apple wants to dramatically improve its 2 percent share on the smartphone market in India.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

Apple has set its sights on taking over the smartphone market in India and its planning to bring more than just retail jobs to the country in the process.

The company confirmed today that it is planning to invest $25 million in a new office complex this year in Hyderabad that will bring 4,500 jobs to the area during the construction process.

Apple Maps now dominates Google Maps on iOS devices

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Apple Maps instructions might get a lot more 'human' soon.
Apple Maps has turned over a new leaf.
Photo: Apple

It’s hard to think of too many Apple-related bombs bigger than Apple Maps, the disastrous mapping service introduced in 2012, which resulted in widespread ridicule, at least one major executive leaving the company, and Tim Cook himself recommending that customers use rival services.

But just a few years later a new report suggests that Apple Maps is used “three times as often” as Google Maps on iOS devices, with “more than five billion map-related requests each week.”

How’s that for a turnaround?