Yep ... we're pretty sure that's not right. Photo: Apple
November 27, 2012: Apple fires the manager responsible for the disastrous Apple Maps app in iOS 6 after the glitchy software delivers embarrassingly bad data to users around the world.
Richard Williamson, who oversaw Apple’s mapping team, gets the ax from Eddy Cue, who takes over the team.
A lot has change since 2007. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The operating system that powers the iPhone has undergone radical changes since Apple launched the device 10 years ago.
As part of Cult of Mac’s collaboration with Wired UK to mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, we took a look at the evolution of iOS, from a simple touchscreen operating system lacking key features into a true computing behemoth with more tools than any one user could possibly need.
It might be time to get a new smartphone. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
WhatsApp is dropping support for older smartphones that aren’t compatible with its latest features. At least one generation of iPhone, alongside older versions of Android and Windows Phone, will no longer be able to use the service at the end of the year.
Apple Music isn’t available on Android yet — though it is coming — but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on Beats 1 radio. Thanks to a new web app, you can tune into the 24/7 worldwide broadcast on Android and other unsupported devices right away.
iCloud.com is free of Google Maps. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple Maps has been out for over two years, but it’s just finally completing its original mission to completely replace Google Maps in all of Apple’s products.
Starting today, iCloud.com users will see an online version of Apple Maps when using Find My iPhone instead of Google Maps.
A buggy iOS 8 update that killed cellular connections for iPhone 6 users is far more troubling than Apple's other recent missteps. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
“It just works.”
Those three words are synonymous with Apple. It’s the slogan Apple fanboys use when trying to convince their Android-loving friends that iOS is a better option. And it was used over and over by Steve Jobs as he unveiled new products at Apple keynotes.
That makes it even more embarrassing for the Cupertino company when things don’t “just work.” Especially when it royally screws things up — as it did with the hideously half-baked iOS 8.0.1 update that rolled out to millions of users Wednesday morning.
TomTom will continue to power Apple Maps. Photo: Apple
Since it was first released as part of iOS 6, Apple Maps has gotten a partially deserved bad rap. Although nowhere near as bad as it was at release, Apple Maps has a reputation for being unreliable compared to options like Google Maps.
One thing that was particularly frustrating about Apple Maps at release was the fact that while the app invited users to report incorrect locations and results, nothing ever seemed to happen with those reports. So if Apple gave you incorrect directions, it might take months for the error to be fixed.
But a thread on Reddit offers what appears to be conclusive proof that Apple has gotten its act together about Maps. According to the thread, Apple is now pushing through error corrections in Apple Maps on a daily basis.
Remember that old slang phrase from the 90s: “Talk to the hand, because the face ain’t listening?”
Apple seems to be taking a similar tack — except that you can substitute “talk to the hand” to “upgrade to iOS 7,” and “because the face ain’t listening” to “because FaceTime is no longer working on iOS 6.”
First spotted in a thread on the Apple Support Communities mini-site, a number of users running iOS 6-powered devices have reported an inability to either make or receive FaceTime calls. According to them, this problem dates back to April 16.
Last week, we posted a video by iOS hacker extraordinaire winocm, showing that he had managed to hack an iPad 2 so that it could boot between iOS 5, iOS 6 and iOS 7 at will. At the time, we said “elite skills necessary to hack your iPad to dual boot operating systems is beyond the ability of most of us mortals, and it’s unlikely winocm will ever make this process friendly for the everyman.”
Well, we’ve got egg all over our face on this one, because that’s exactly what winocm intends on doing. The legendary hacker has said on Twitter that he’ll be releasing the hack to the public. Unfortunately, there aren’t many details outside of that, including what devices this hack will work on, but if you want to have a schizo-iPad that can dual boot between Scott Forstall’s skeuomorphic iOS 6 and Jony Ive’s flat iOS 7, it’s coming!