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Google Maps now helps you dodge speeding tickets while driving

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Google Maps speed traps
You won’t miss those speed traps with Google Maps.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Google Maps now shows you speed limits and speed traps while you’re driving in several countries around the world.

Google started testing the feature a couple of years ago, but only in the San Francisco Bay Area and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Now it is expanding its on both Android and iOS.

App Store made almost twice as much as Google Play in 2018

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App Store
Apple apps no longer dominate App Store search results.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The App Store raked in almost twice as much revenue as Google Play in 2018, despite significantly fewer downloads.

Google’s marketplace did enjoy a 27.3 percent rise in gross app revenue year-over-year — a larger rise than Apple’s — but iOS remains the most lucrative platform for developers by far.

First HomeKit-enabled video doorbell gets launch date

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The industrial finish on the ProLine HomeKit video doorbell looks gorgeous.
The industrial finish on the ProLine video doorbell looks gorgeous.
Photo: Robin Telecom Development

The first HomeKit-compatible video doorbell finally has a launch date in the USA, giving iPhone lovers an alternative to Amazon’s Ring doorbell and Nest Cam from Google.

Robin Telecom Development — a tech hardware company from the Netherlands — revealed today that its ProLine Doorbell will launch in over 50 countries on January 31, but people in the USA and Canada will have to wait until February 28.

FAANG stocks are bouncing back — except Apple

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apple earnings
"I think what Tessa’s saying is that you haven’t bounced back."
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

FAANG stocks suffered a massive dip before the holidays, wiping out $1 trillion in combined value. Now they’re bouncing back — with one notable Apple-shaped exception.

While Facebook, Google, Netflix and Amazon have all gained between 10.7 percent and a massive 50 percent since Christmas Eve, Apple is severely lagging. It’s up just 5.5 percent over the same period.

Apple puts big Facebook critic in charge of privacy practices

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Apple
Apple is serious about keeping your personal data safe.
Photo: Apple

One of Facebook’s biggest critics is teaming up with Apple, which as it turns out, has also been one of Facebook’s biggest critics lately.

Former Facebook employee Sandy Parakilas has reportedly been hired by Apple. Instead of levying criticism at Facebook though, Parakilas has reportedly been hired to help Apple examine its own privacy policies.

Apple trolls Google with giant billboard at CES 2019

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Apple
Apple is serious about keeping your personal data safe.
Photo: Apple

CES 2019 bugApple’s not letting CES 2019 pass without making its presence felt.

The biggest companies in tech have descended on Las Vegas this week for CES 2019. Apple is one of the few holdouts not in attendance but that hasn’t stopped the company from sending a huge message to its competitors and customers by posting a giant billboard above the city of Las Vegas.

Pixel 3 camera proves its might in DxOMark test

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Pixel 3 camera
The Pixel 3 camera has an eye on the competition.
Photo: Google

The iPhone XR is the best single-camera smartphone on the market.

Well, it was for about two weeks. The XR now shares the mantle with Google’s Pixel 3.

Google’s new flagship handset achieved the same ranking as the iPhone XR by the engineers who test mobile phone cameras for DxOMark Image Labs.

Proposed privacy legislation outlaws some Google business practices

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Apple takes privacy seriously
A statement on Apple’s stance toward privacy is baked into iOS.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) published a draft privacy bill this morning that proposes making it harder for companies to track people’s location or collect biometric information about them. 

Apple is a top donor to the CDT, and the company has taken a strong stance on protecting user’s privacy.

Fortnite was one of America’s top searches in 2018

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fortnite
Fortnite was a major player on iPhone this year.
Photo: Epic Games

It looks like my Cult of Mac colleague Killian’s endless hours spent feverishly Googling the word “Fortnite” like a battle royale-loving version of The Shining‘s Jack Torrance have paid off.

That’s because Google has released its annual “Year in Search” results, and it seems that the ultra popular Fortnite game is one of the year’s most sought-after topics.

Google Maps now suggests where to go, not just how to get there

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Google Maps’ new For You tab tries to help you have fun.
Google Maps’ new For You tab tries to help you have fun.
Photo: Google

Google Maps is going beyond just giving driving directions. It’s new “For You” tab provides updates on restaurants, stores, or entire neighborhoods.

This free feature launched for Android over the summer, and begins rolling out to iOS today in dozens of countries.

Google and Amazon plan to copy AirPods in 2019

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Earphones
AirPods rule the roost now, but serious competition is coming.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has a real winner in AirPods. But the company’s slow pace of updating them is reportedly giving competitors a chance to catch up.

A respected analyst says Google and Amazon will have their own versions out next year.

Even brilliant Pixel 3 ads won’t get iPhone users to switch

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Pixel 3 ads
Google wants you to laugh as you watch its Pixel 3 ads on YouTube. It also wants you to switch phones.
Screenshot: Google/YouTube

Google and Samsung have smartphones many critics say are as good or better than the latest iPhones.

But making a device to rival Apple’s isn’t the hard part. Getting iPhone users to switch is.

Google acknowledges this in a series of video ads launched this week to convince brand loyalists to switch to its newest and well-reviewed flagship, the Pixel 3.

Google reached peak iPhone in 2012, but Apple won’t be losing sleep

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iPhone 5 1
Google results are revealing, but they don't tell everything.
Photo: Apple

Both global and U.S. search interest in the iPhone peaked in September 2012, around the time of the iPhone 5 launch, Google Trends reveals.

The stat is pointed out in a new Bloomberg report, titled, “iPhone Interest Drops Off.” But while we don’t doubt Google’s results, search terms and overall interest are not exactly the same thing.

Apple acquires AI startup with a focus on privacy

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Silk Labs
Silk Labs' privacy policy reads like it was written by Tim Cook.
Photo: Silk Labs

Apple has reportedly acquired an artificial intelligence startup that specializes in on-device machine learning software.

Silk Labs’ technology processes data without sending it to the cloud, which is a perfect fit for Apple’s privacy-conscious approach to AI. It’s not clear how much Cupertino paid for the company when the deal was struck earlier this year.

Waze adds podcast controls to brighten up your commute

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The Waze Audio Player puts podcast controls right next to your driving directions.
The Waze Audio Player puts podcast controls right next to your driving directions.
Photo: Waze

Long trips and podcasts go well together, and Google’s Waze navigation software just added support for controlling some popular streaming audio services from right within the app.

The goal of the new Waze Audio Player feature is making it less dangerous to adjust what you’re listening to while driving.

Apple joins opposition to Trump transgender policy

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President Trump: Apple encryption could protect ‘criminal minds’
Trump wants transgenders to be redefined out of existence.
Photo: Bloomberg

Some of the biggest company’s in the country have come out in open opposition to transgender policy changes proposed by US president Donald Trump.

Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are among 50 companies that signed a letter condemning Trump’s alleged plans to limit the definition of gender to birth anatomy. The companies — representing over $2.4 trillion in annual revenue — say that what harms transgender people harms their companies.

Hilarious bug gives Pixel 3 XL a second notch

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google pixel
Two notches are better than one, right?
Photo: Judner Aura

The monstrous notch on Google’s new Pixel 3 XL phone is getting even worse thanks to a hilarious software bug that is plaguing users.

A small number of users have reported on Twitter and Instagram that their Pixel 3 XL has sprouted a second notch from a software glitch that’s putting another blank space on the right side of the screen.

Google makes it way easier to delete your search history

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With just a couple of taps you can erase your Google search history.
With just a couple of taps, you can erase everything Google has stored about your search history.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Your iPhone does everything it can to protect your privacy, but using Google’s services punches a gaping hole in that protection. Google took a small step toward increasing user privacy by making it much easier to delete your search history.

Google doesn’t just save the terms your looked for, but also the pages you visited as part of the search. Both collections can be erased.

Google follows Apple with free 4K movie upgrades for customers

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Google 4K 1
Apple introduced the same deal one year ago.
Photo: Google

It’s not exaggeration to call Apple a trendsetter. When Cupertino does something, then other companies will invariably follow. As a result, it’s no surprise that Google has just announced that customers in the U.S. and Canada will receive free 4K upgrades of titles they have previously bought on Google Play Movies.

iPhone XS Max destroys Pixel 3 XL in speed test

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iPhone XS Max
Pixel 3 XL can't keep up with the iPhone XS Max.
Photo: PhoneBuff

Google’s new Pixel 3 XL smartphone is supposed to be the company’s best challenger yet to the iPhone. But when it comes to speed, Google still can’t keep up.

YouTuber PhoneBuff put the two new smartphones through a real-world simulated speed test and found that the Google Pixel 3 has some serious shortcomings when it comes to performance. Despite boasting a spec sheet that looks nearly as good as the iPhone XS Max’s, the Pixel 3 XL came in more than a minute slower than the iPhone XS Max.

Watch Google’s new phone get dominated.

Apple’s latest self-driving car crash is just another fender bender

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Here's how Apple Car might eliminate blind spots
Why are Waymo's self-driving cars involved in so many more crashes than Apple's?
Image: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

A car designed to test Apple’s self-driving system was involved in a minor accident Monday, but a human was driving at the time. This is only the second such crash of an Apple car on record.

Google, and its autonomous vehicle spinoff Waymo, haven’t been so lucky over the years.

New Google policy could raise the price of Android phones

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Android P has a similar swipe-based navigation system as the iPhone X, and it supports screen cutouts.
It's going to cost more to offer Android devices in the EU.
Graphic: Google

Google is being forced to start charging Android device makers a fee to use the software that previously came free with this operating system. It’s possible device makers will pass this cost along to phone buyers.

This only applies in Europe, though, as it’s a result of the EU ruling that Google used anti-competitive business practices. The company was also fined about $5 billion.