Apple Maps
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Apple looking to improve Maps service, recruits experts
Apple is looking to improve its ill-fated Maps service by employing a host of navigation experts and asking for the assistance of its huge iOS userbase.
The iPad mini creator is attempting to improve its Apple Maps service by recruiting full-time experts to its team.
A whole range of Maps related jobs have appeared on Apple’s careers page, including a host of posts for Maps Ground Truth Local Experts.
“The Maps team is looking for people with a passion for mapping, great testing skills, and deep regional knowledge to help us build better and better maps”, reads the job listing. “In this position, you will be responsible for the quality assessment of Apple Maps for your region, including both data and map services. You will monitor changes to our maps, provide feedback on unique local map requirements, collect ground truth information, and evaluate competing products.”
For these positions, Apple is looking for Ground Truth Local Experts in specific cities all across the world, in an attempt to build more accurate maps for those cities and locations.
Apple is also looking to hire several map experts within its Cupertino HQ. Positions range from geodata scientists to QA staff to weed out any bugs in the service.
When Apple Maps launched last year there was a huge amount of consumer outrage after the service listed misnamed towns, poor journey planner results and often missed out entire roads altogether.
The service was actually so poor that Apple CEO Tim Cook actually issued an apology to iOS users.
In order to avoid repeating its previous mistakes, Apple is coupling the addition of experts with an opt-in “Help Improve Maps” service for iOS 7 users.
iOS 7 users will be asked if they wish to help Apple improve its Maps app, which also ties into the new Frequent Locations feature. This function allows Apple Maps to remember places the user has been, which can be saved to iCloud so that directions to that location can be quickly and easily presented to the user.
“If you choose to enable Improve Maps, Apple will correlate the street address associated with your Apple ID with the GPS coordinates obtained through the Frequent Locations feature on your device,” reads the iOS 7 Maps disclaimer. “This will enable Apple to better approximate the geographic location of that address.”
Also Apple has acquired location data company Locationary, indoor mapping service WiFiSLAM, and transit app HopStop to improve the Maps service.
Next, read our iPhone 5 tips and tricks.
Via: AppleInsider
Monday, November 25, 2013
Call of Duty Ghosts multiplayer teased ahead of reveal
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Ahead of the Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer reveal on August 14, Activison has released a teaser video on YouTube.
The video not only aims to build the hype ahead of tomorrow’s multiplayer reveal, but also lists the dates and locations for future Call of Duty: Ghosts events.
The Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer reveal will take place on August 14 in Los Angeles, with the event and live stream starting at 10.30am PDT or 6.30 BST.
Presented by Microsoft, the multiplayer unveiling is happening earlier than usual, as Activision is usually known to show off their COD multiplayer features in September.
However, from the multiplayer reveal teaser, it seems like there will be other Call of Duty: Ghosts events dotted around the globe.
With the Los Angeles event kicked things off, it will be followed by:
August 21 – Cologne, Germany (GamesCom)
September 26 – Dubai
September 26 – London (EuroGamer)
October 3 – Moscow, Russia (IgroMir)
October 4 – Sydney, Australia (EB Games Expo)
October 23 – Sao Paulo, Brasil (Brasil Games Show)
October 30 – Paris, France (Paris Games Week)
Activision has already confirmed that the Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer will feature character customisation and a new dynamic experience shown off in the pre-order bonus multiplayer map: “Free Fall”.
“Dynamic map event change the way players approach the game, and Free Fall does a great job illustrating this new mechanic,” said Mark Rubin, the game’s Executive Producer. “As the match progresses, the geometry of the world continues to change and players need to adjust on the fly or else.”
Call of Duty: Ghosts will be released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on November 5. The game will also ship as a launch title on the Xbox One and PS4.
The game will also be available for PC and Wii U.
Next, read our hands on review of Battlefield 4.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Apple iOS 6 Maps vs. Google Maps 2.0 for iOS labels local search
As Apple prepares its latest enhancements to Maps with iOS 7, Google has released its own major update for Google Maps on iOS. Here's how the two compare in location data and local search, our fourth segment looking at mobile maps.
Source: Apple
Introducing iOS 6.0 Maps
Using Maps Offline
2: Maps and visualizations
3: Transit directions
4: Map labels & local search
5: Routing & traffic
As previous segments in this series have detailed, Apple's new iOS 6 Maps introduced cutting edge technology related to efficient 2D and perspective vector maps, as well as 3D visualizations of satellite maps, a feature Apple calls Flyover. In these areas, Apple is well ahead of the mobile apps from Google and Nokia, the existing market leaders.
Apple's mobile iOS 6 Maps is even well ahead of Google and Nokia in the arena for 3D mapping visualizations using a full powered desktop.
Google Maps 3D still a work in progress, even on full power desktops
On top, Apple will be bringing its own desktop class Maps app to OS X Mavericks, providing larger map views without the performance constraints imposed by mobile devices.
Apple's Maps also handle offline use much more efficiently. If you do any traveling where you work outside of the network service area, being able to efficiently work offline is a major feature.
For example, after going off the mobile grid on the way to the airport in Hamburg, Germany, Google Maps for iOS gave me nothing but pixelated mess of jagged lines well before I got there, while Apple Maps properly cached enough vectors show where I was, navigate the highways and read the street labels of the major roads.
Google Maps fail rapidly, while Apple Maps continue to work for miles offline
At the same time, Apple's iOS 6 Maps doesn't provide its own transit information, relying instead on third party partner apps to deliver this. And in many reviews, Apple's new Maps have been criticized over misplaced map labels and inferior search results.
To see how well (or poorly) Apple's map labeling and location search stands up to competitors (and companion iOS 6 alternatives in the App Store, including Google Maps for iOS and Nokia Here), we conducted a series of tests to see how well each performs at finding and locating points of interest and (as will be detailed separately in a future segment) in providing driving directions and traffic information. You can skip the historical context of iOS 6 Maps below and jump to our comparison of iOS map apps on page two.
Last fall's release of iOS 6 Maps wasn't Apple's first move into the business of maps and location-oriented technology. The company began laying the groundwork for location awareness and finding and labeling locations at least five years earlier. Within six months of launching the original iPhone, Apple added the beginnings of a location system to its Maps app, originally based on WiFi base station data compiled by Skyhook Wireless (because the original iPhone lacked hardware support for "real" GPS in the form of the satellite-based Global Positioning System).
In iOS 2, alongside the release of the App Store, Apple began recognizing the potential for misuse of location data and the need for protecting users' security from intentional or inadvertent mishandling by third party apps. It gave users the ability to turn location data off before it even launched the App Store, and forced app developers to ask the user for permission before accessing the device's location for any reason.
In iOS 3.0, Apple added remote location capabilities for MobileMe's new "Find my iPhone" feature, similarly protected via a user-secured account. It also introduced Core Location, a framework that enabled third party apps to develop turn by turn navigation apps.
In parallel, Apple also launched a new version of iPhoto in early 2009 that added geolocation awareness to photos on the desktop, a feature it named Places. Beyond just reading the geotag metadata of a photo and plotting it on a map, iPhoto also performed reverse lookup of place names from the latitude and longitude data, as Apple's Phil Schiller demonstrated at Macworld Expo. While Apple continued to use Google's map data, it was beginning to develop its own location database for Places.
At the same time, Apple also began acquiring location based mapping companies, including Placebase in July 2009. That startup's employees had been working on maps product before Google brought its own Maps to the web for free; Placebase then changed direction to offer a more customizable product to layer "private and public data sets" together. Former Placebase employees subsequently joined the "Geo Team" at Apple to work on a series of location-based initiatives in iOS and OS X, and in apps like iPhoto.
Apple continued hiring staff to work on maps, with one job posting in late 2009 noting, "we want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We've only just started."
By 2010, most of Apple's iPhone installed base now had GPS, but Apple's other products, including the iPod touch, all WiFi-only iPads and Macs, still relied on WiFi location. That spring, Apple began providing its own location information in place of data from either Skyhook or Google. It also began supporting iPhoto Places on iOS 3.2 for iPad.
And that summer, Apple released iOS 4 with additional security features related to location services, which it also enhanced to "define geographic regions and monitor when the user crosses the boundaries of those regions," a technology referred to as geofencing.
Apple also enhanced its Map Kit framework in iOS 4, adding support for map overlays to "provide a way to create more complex types of annotations. Instead of being pinned to a single point, an overlay can represent a path or shape that spans a wider region." Apple told developers, "you can use overlays to layer information such as bus routes, election maps, park boundaries, and weather maps on top of the map."
The company also acquired Poly9, a Canadian company that produced mapping products used by companies including Skype, which was later purchased by Microsoft. And through the end of 2010, Apple continued to hire new engineers related to mapping services, asking for candidates with "deep knowledge of Computational Geometry or Graph Theory" and posting listings related to "distributed image processing on a server cluster."
In 2011, the company announced in April that it was "collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database." The collected data sparked a controversy after users discovered caches of large amounts of data that were being unnecessarily backed up to iTunes, issues that Apple addressed with an iOS update in May.
Apple subsequently introduced iOS 5, which added new support for geofencing in location-based Reminders, a feature that later made its way to the Mac. This feature was an application of the Location Services and Map Kit enhancements Apple had first introduced in iOS 4.
When iOS 6 arrived, it should not have been huge surprise that Apple was now serving its own maps within the app, rather than Google's. At the same time, however, a variety of features that users commonly associated with Google Maps were actually Apple's own work.
This included the original iOS Maps user interface (which Apple patented) and the Map Kit frameworks developers use to interact with it and to locate places and draw points of interest, bus routes, arbitrary regions and other annotations on a map. Developers were fully aware of this, but many users did not seem to be.
However, after years of internal work, the new iOS 6 Maps was released last fall without full and official recognition by Apple that some elements of the new product were brand new and still being completed, particularly its Flyover 3D satellite renderings, which were only finished in a variety of U.S. cities.
Critics, unaware of Apple's years of work invested in Maps (many of whom apparently thought that that iOS 5 Maps was entirely a Google product) virtually ignored all of the new product's innovations to focus on four things: Flyover glitches in areas that hadn't been fixed (such as the Brooklyn Bridge), the lack of Google's Street View, the lack of integrated transit data, and a variety of improperly located or otherwise incorrect points of interest.
Maps, a primary strategic product for Apple in iOS 6, rapidly became one of the most ridiculed and dismissed products in recent history. Pundits' contempt for the new Maps grew so loud and scathing that Apple's chief executive Tim Cook issued an apology for any inconvenience to users and recommended a variety of alternative mapping tools in the App Store and on the web for iOS 6 users.
It has since been widely reported that Scott Forstall, then acting as the head of iOS development, refused to make the public apology himself. That was said to be the last straw in what has been characterized to be a series of contentious management issues, and resulted in Forstall being stripped of his responsibilities. Management of the Maps team has now been delegated to Eddy Cue, who runs the rest of Apple's online services including iCloud, iTunes and the App Store, and the Siri service integrated into Maps.
Source: Apple
Introducing iOS 6.0 Maps
Using Maps Offline
2: Maps and visualizations
3: Transit directions
4: Map labels & local search
5: Routing & traffic
As previous segments in this series have detailed, Apple's new iOS 6 Maps introduced cutting edge technology related to efficient 2D and perspective vector maps, as well as 3D visualizations of satellite maps, a feature Apple calls Flyover. In these areas, Apple is well ahead of the mobile apps from Google and Nokia, the existing market leaders.
Apple's mobile iOS 6 Maps is even well ahead of Google and Nokia in the arena for 3D mapping visualizations using a full powered desktop.
Google Maps 3D still a work in progress, even on full power desktops
On top, Apple will be bringing its own desktop class Maps app to OS X Mavericks, providing larger map views without the performance constraints imposed by mobile devices.
Apple's Maps also handle offline use much more efficiently. If you do any traveling where you work outside of the network service area, being able to efficiently work offline is a major feature.
For example, after going off the mobile grid on the way to the airport in Hamburg, Germany, Google Maps for iOS gave me nothing but pixelated mess of jagged lines well before I got there, while Apple Maps properly cached enough vectors show where I was, navigate the highways and read the street labels of the major roads.
Google Maps fail rapidly, while Apple Maps continue to work for miles offline
At the same time, Apple's iOS 6 Maps doesn't provide its own transit information, relying instead on third party partner apps to deliver this. And in many reviews, Apple's new Maps have been criticized over misplaced map labels and inferior search results.
To see how well (or poorly) Apple's map labeling and location search stands up to competitors (and companion iOS 6 alternatives in the App Store, including Google Maps for iOS and Nokia Here), we conducted a series of tests to see how well each performs at finding and locating points of interest and (as will be detailed separately in a future segment) in providing driving directions and traffic information. You can skip the historical context of iOS 6 Maps below and jump to our comparison of iOS map apps on page two.
iOS 6 Maps was not Apple's first location project
Last fall's release of iOS 6 Maps wasn't Apple's first move into the business of maps and location-oriented technology. The company began laying the groundwork for location awareness and finding and labeling locations at least five years earlier. Within six months of launching the original iPhone, Apple added the beginnings of a location system to its Maps app, originally based on WiFi base station data compiled by Skyhook Wireless (because the original iPhone lacked hardware support for "real" GPS in the form of the satellite-based Global Positioning System).
In iOS 2, alongside the release of the App Store, Apple began recognizing the potential for misuse of location data and the need for protecting users' security from intentional or inadvertent mishandling by third party apps. It gave users the ability to turn location data off before it even launched the App Store, and forced app developers to ask the user for permission before accessing the device's location for any reason.
In iOS 3.0, Apple added remote location capabilities for MobileMe's new "Find my iPhone" feature, similarly protected via a user-secured account. It also introduced Core Location, a framework that enabled third party apps to develop turn by turn navigation apps.
In parallel, Apple also launched a new version of iPhoto in early 2009 that added geolocation awareness to photos on the desktop, a feature it named Places. Beyond just reading the geotag metadata of a photo and plotting it on a map, iPhoto also performed reverse lookup of place names from the latitude and longitude data, as Apple's Phil Schiller demonstrated at Macworld Expo. While Apple continued to use Google's map data, it was beginning to develop its own location database for Places.
At the same time, Apple also began acquiring location based mapping companies, including Placebase in July 2009. That startup's employees had been working on maps product before Google brought its own Maps to the web for free; Placebase then changed direction to offer a more customizable product to layer "private and public data sets" together. Former Placebase employees subsequently joined the "Geo Team" at Apple to work on a series of location-based initiatives in iOS and OS X, and in apps like iPhoto.
Apple continued hiring staff to work on maps, with one job posting in late 2009 noting, "we want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We've only just started."
By 2010, most of Apple's iPhone installed base now had GPS, but Apple's other products, including the iPod touch, all WiFi-only iPads and Macs, still relied on WiFi location. That spring, Apple began providing its own location information in place of data from either Skyhook or Google. It also began supporting iPhoto Places on iOS 3.2 for iPad.
And that summer, Apple released iOS 4 with additional security features related to location services, which it also enhanced to "define geographic regions and monitor when the user crosses the boundaries of those regions," a technology referred to as geofencing.
Apple also enhanced its Map Kit framework in iOS 4, adding support for map overlays to "provide a way to create more complex types of annotations. Instead of being pinned to a single point, an overlay can represent a path or shape that spans a wider region." Apple told developers, "you can use overlays to layer information such as bus routes, election maps, park boundaries, and weather maps on top of the map."
The company also acquired Poly9, a Canadian company that produced mapping products used by companies including Skype, which was later purchased by Microsoft. And through the end of 2010, Apple continued to hire new engineers related to mapping services, asking for candidates with "deep knowledge of Computational Geometry or Graph Theory" and posting listings related to "distributed image processing on a server cluster."
In 2011, the company announced in April that it was "collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database." The collected data sparked a controversy after users discovered caches of large amounts of data that were being unnecessarily backed up to iTunes, issues that Apple addressed with an iOS update in May.
Apple subsequently introduced iOS 5, which added new support for geofencing in location-based Reminders, a feature that later made its way to the Mac. This feature was an application of the Location Services and Map Kit enhancements Apple had first introduced in iOS 4.
Maps-gate, right out of the gate
When iOS 6 arrived, it should not have been huge surprise that Apple was now serving its own maps within the app, rather than Google's. At the same time, however, a variety of features that users commonly associated with Google Maps were actually Apple's own work.
This included the original iOS Maps user interface (which Apple patented) and the Map Kit frameworks developers use to interact with it and to locate places and draw points of interest, bus routes, arbitrary regions and other annotations on a map. Developers were fully aware of this, but many users did not seem to be.
However, after years of internal work, the new iOS 6 Maps was released last fall without full and official recognition by Apple that some elements of the new product were brand new and still being completed, particularly its Flyover 3D satellite renderings, which were only finished in a variety of U.S. cities.
Critics, unaware of Apple's years of work invested in Maps (many of whom apparently thought that that iOS 5 Maps was entirely a Google product) virtually ignored all of the new product's innovations to focus on four things: Flyover glitches in areas that hadn't been fixed (such as the Brooklyn Bridge), the lack of Google's Street View, the lack of integrated transit data, and a variety of improperly located or otherwise incorrect points of interest.
Maps, a primary strategic product for Apple in iOS 6, rapidly became one of the most ridiculed and dismissed products in recent history. Pundits' contempt for the new Maps grew so loud and scathing that Apple's chief executive Tim Cook issued an apology for any inconvenience to users and recommended a variety of alternative mapping tools in the App Store and on the web for iOS 6 users.
It has since been widely reported that Scott Forstall, then acting as the head of iOS development, refused to make the public apology himself. That was said to be the last straw in what has been characterized to be a series of contentious management issues, and resulted in Forstall being stripped of his responsibilities. Management of the Maps team has now been delegated to Eddy Cue, who runs the rest of Apple's online services including iCloud, iTunes and the App Store, and the Siri service integrated into Maps.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Apple CEO Tim Cook on cheap smartphones 'We're not in the junk business'
Facing criticism over higher-than-expected pricing of the new iPhone 5c, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has defended his company's strategy, saying there's plenty of room to grow — and retain its profits — in the high-end handset market.
Apple executives Craig Federighi, Tim Cook, and Jony Ive. Source: Bloomberg Businessweek.
Following the introduction of his company's mid-range iPhone 5c and flagship iPhone 5s, Cook was joined by Apple design chief Jony Ive and software head Craig Federighi in speaking with Bloomberg for its latest cover story. The three executives exude confidence in the interview, with Cook saying that his company's share price doesn't affect his mood.
Apple's CEO noted that the trend toward cheaper electronics is not new, having occurred previously among VCRs, DVD players, cameras, and PCs. Now that it's occurring again with tablets and smartphones, Cook said he doesn't feel compelled to take Apple down that path.
"There's always a large junk part of the market," Cook said. "We're not in the junk business."
Instead, the Apple CEO said he'd prefer to "compete like crazy" for customers who want premium devices that meet their needs. But he won't "lose sleep" over cheaper electronics, because those kinds of devices simply aren't in Apple's DNA.
"Fortunately, both of these markets are so big, and there's so many people that care and want a great experience from their phone or tablet, that Apple can have a really good business," he said.
Prior to its announcement, observers though the iPhone 5c — Apple's new plastic-backed, multi-colored handset — might become a more affordable option in the company's smartphone lineup. Analysts presumed that Apple might price the device around $400 without a contract subsidy, helping increase sales in emerging markets like China, India and Brazil.
Instead, the iPhone 5c was introduced as Apple's new mid-range handset, available for $99 with a new two-year service contract, or $549 without a carrier subsidy. That price, along with the fact that Apple did not announce any preorder figures for the iPhone 5c this week, sent the company's stock tumbling.
In response, Cook said his company never had any interest in selling a low-cost iPhone. Instead, he said the purpose of the iPhone 5c is to offer a "great phone and provide a great experience" at a lower cost than the flagship iPhone 5s.
Also featured in the exclusive Bloomberg interview were Federighi and Ive, who revealed that their desks at Apple are a one-minute walk from one another. Both executives were assigned larger roles at the company last year, in a corporate shakeup that was designed to increase collaboration among the company's different departments.
Ive stressed how Apple spends a great deal of time focusing on the smallest of details — something that consumers appreciate when purchasing a premium product, rather than a cheap alternative.
"I do think that we sense when somebody has cared," Ive said. "And one thing that is incontrovertible is how much we've cared."
Apple executives Craig Federighi, Tim Cook, and Jony Ive. Source: Bloomberg Businessweek.
Following the introduction of his company's mid-range iPhone 5c and flagship iPhone 5s, Cook was joined by Apple design chief Jony Ive and software head Craig Federighi in speaking with Bloomberg for its latest cover story. The three executives exude confidence in the interview, with Cook saying that his company's share price doesn't affect his mood.
Apple's CEO noted that the trend toward cheaper electronics is not new, having occurred previously among VCRs, DVD players, cameras, and PCs. Now that it's occurring again with tablets and smartphones, Cook said he doesn't feel compelled to take Apple down that path.
"There's always a large junk part of the market," Cook said. "We're not in the junk business."
Instead, the Apple CEO said he'd prefer to "compete like crazy" for customers who want premium devices that meet their needs. But he won't "lose sleep" over cheaper electronics, because those kinds of devices simply aren't in Apple's DNA.
"Fortunately, both of these markets are so big, and there's so many people that care and want a great experience from their phone or tablet, that Apple can have a really good business," he said.
Prior to its announcement, observers though the iPhone 5c — Apple's new plastic-backed, multi-colored handset — might become a more affordable option in the company's smartphone lineup. Analysts presumed that Apple might price the device around $400 without a contract subsidy, helping increase sales in emerging markets like China, India and Brazil.
Instead, the iPhone 5c was introduced as Apple's new mid-range handset, available for $99 with a new two-year service contract, or $549 without a carrier subsidy. That price, along with the fact that Apple did not announce any preorder figures for the iPhone 5c this week, sent the company's stock tumbling.
In response, Cook said his company never had any interest in selling a low-cost iPhone. Instead, he said the purpose of the iPhone 5c is to offer a "great phone and provide a great experience" at a lower cost than the flagship iPhone 5s.
Also featured in the exclusive Bloomberg interview were Federighi and Ive, who revealed that their desks at Apple are a one-minute walk from one another. Both executives were assigned larger roles at the company last year, in a corporate shakeup that was designed to increase collaboration among the company's different departments.
Ive stressed how Apple spends a great deal of time focusing on the smallest of details — something that consumers appreciate when purchasing a premium product, rather than a cheap alternative.
"I do think that we sense when somebody has cared," Ive said. "And one thing that is incontrovertible is how much we've cared."
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Hidden iOS 7 beta option points to 'iOS in the Car' AirPlay support over Wi-Fi
A newly discovered developer option in Apple's iOS 7 beta shows controls for "iOS in the Car" over both USB and Wi-Fi, suggesting the company's AirPlay protocol may be used to stream visual and audio data to supported automotive infotainment systems.
According to Hamza Sood, who discovered the options in the iOS 7 beta's "Accessory Developer" settings menu, the three toggle switches seen above are preferences linked to Apple's AirPlay.
Apple's iOS in the Car made its debut at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June. As an extension of Siri Eyes Free, the feature grants access to basic phone functions, but goes further by displaying a customized version of iOS on an infotainment system's screen.
While it appears that "normal" hard-wired USB connections will still be an option for iOS in the Car, via a 30-pin or Lightning input, the new wireless protocol support would bring an even greater level of convenience for users. With AirPlay over Wi-Fi, an iPhone can beam Siri, Maps, music, communications, and other information to a car's receiver without being taken out of a user's pocket or bag.
As a side note, Apple's choice to use AirPlay could be one of the reasons why BMW said in June that it was reluctant to throw support behind iOS in the Car.
At the time, the German auto maker claimed it would have to make significant architectural changes to the company's built-in iDrive and ConnectedDrive interfaces, adding that the process of integrating iOS into a dashboard system is "not as simple as it sounds." The luxury brand does, however, plan to support Siri Eyes Free in its 2014 model-year lineup.
For now, major automotive manufacturers planning to adopt Apple's second-screen iOS in the Car capabilities include Honda, Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Infiniti, Ferrari, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, Opel and Jaguar.
According to Hamza Sood, who discovered the options in the iOS 7 beta's "Accessory Developer" settings menu, the three toggle switches seen above are preferences linked to Apple's AirPlay.
Apple's iOS in the Car made its debut at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June. As an extension of Siri Eyes Free, the feature grants access to basic phone functions, but goes further by displaying a customized version of iOS on an infotainment system's screen.
While it appears that "normal" hard-wired USB connections will still be an option for iOS in the Car, via a 30-pin or Lightning input, the new wireless protocol support would bring an even greater level of convenience for users. With AirPlay over Wi-Fi, an iPhone can beam Siri, Maps, music, communications, and other information to a car's receiver without being taken out of a user's pocket or bag.
As a side note, Apple's choice to use AirPlay could be one of the reasons why BMW said in June that it was reluctant to throw support behind iOS in the Car.
At the time, the German auto maker claimed it would have to make significant architectural changes to the company's built-in iDrive and ConnectedDrive interfaces, adding that the process of integrating iOS into a dashboard system is "not as simple as it sounds." The luxury brand does, however, plan to support Siri Eyes Free in its 2014 model-year lineup.
For now, major automotive manufacturers planning to adopt Apple's second-screen iOS in the Car capabilities include Honda, Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Infiniti, Ferrari, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, Opel and Jaguar.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Facebook outlines new Timeline design, following News Feed revamp
Facebook's new Timeline layout is much clearer
Facebook has followed up last week's News Feed overhaul, by announcing a redesign for its Timeline profile pages, bringing a cleaner, easier to read layout.
The social network said it had responded to users who'd complained that the current Timeline layout, with posts and activities appearing simultaneously in two columns across the page, was hard to follow.
The revamped profile page, which will begin rolling out to users today, clearly segregates new posts (status updates, links, photos) to the site on the right hand side of the page.
Meanwhile, users' recent activity from apps like Instagram and Spotify, along with the Friends and Photos sections will appear exclusively on the left side of the Timeline, beneath the About listing.
In a post on the Facebook Newsroom blog, Rose Yao wrote: "We heard from you that the current timeline layout is sometimes hard to read. Starting today, all posts are on the right side of your timeline, with photos, music and other recent activity on the left."
Meanwhile, the About section itself is also part of the revamp, allowing folks to add their favourite movies, books and albums, while also sharing what they're currently watching, reading or listening to.
As well as organising, users can also use the about section to customise which apps appear within your Timeline. For example you can add or remove an Instagram section by visiting the Activity Log.
Yao, who is the project head for Facebook Open Graph, added: "Now it’s easier to organize the things you care about on your About page. Redesigned sections give you one place to add music, movies, TV shows and books that interest you, alongside your photos and friends.
"If you’re a movie buff, you can add your favorites to your movies section or use apps like Flixster and Netflix to share what you’re watching."
The revamp comes less than a week after the company unveiled its brand new News Feed, which also brought a cleaner, more focused design with dedicated feeds for photos, likes, music and more.
Via CNET
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Durex Fundawear experiment brings app-controlled foreplay for couples
Durex Fundawear
Condom maker Durex has just announced its latest innovation, Durex Fundawear, app-controlled underwear that allows couples to connect even when separated by distance.
Durex Fundawear works by wiring the technology normally used to make smartphones vibrates into underwear for men and women. These actuators can then be remotely stimulated via a smartphone app with sensors in different locations within the garments.
Read our 35 HTC One Tips and Tricks
According to the Durex Australia Facebook page, Durex Fundawear is being designed to improve “the ultimate pleasure” and is a produce of the condom manufacturer’s durexperiment project.
Durexperiment is about “testing new ideas and produces to push the limits of pleasure”, with Fundawear aims at couples in long distance relationships. The vibrating underwear could be used to “tease, tickle and tantalise even when apart” said the Durex Fundawear YouTube videos.
The specially designed knickers, boxers and bras will be paired with companion smartphone apps that show a basic diagram of the partnering underwear. Upon these diagrams are round touch screen buttons positioned in various points on the virtual underwear. Of course, when pressed these buttons correspond to the location on the other person’s underwear, allowing users to make contact with their partner even when not in the same room.
The app also recognises the pace and intensity of the touchscreen input, with the Durex Fundawear vibrations matching this.
Durex has dubbed the vibrating underwear the “future of foreplay”, but a commercial release date is currently unknown. The condom company is reaching out to couples willing to partake in the testing program.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
-
Pros
Simple app for backing up information from cards in your wallet. Quick setup. Free.
- Cons PIN only protects cards, not app. No categorizing options for loyalty cards, membership cards, or anything other than credit and debit. Too many of the features aren't apparent.
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Bottom Line
Lemon Wallet offers a decent way to backup information stowed away in your wallet, but it's not a bona fide virtual wallet system, nor is it secure enough to be one anyway.
If my wallet went missing, I don't know if I'd be able to account for every card that's in it, much less find all the phone numbers to cancel accounts or order replacement cards. (To tell the truth, I actually keep two pouches: one for cash and primary credit cards, and I can quickly tell you exactly what's inside, and a second one for frequent flyer cards, loyalty punch cards, my library card, and other miscellaneous stuff that I may not be able to name off the top of my head, but they are low-stakes cards and it wouldn't hurt terribly if they went missing. Then again, I'm hyper organized.) Nevertheless, the point is most people don't back up the information in their wallets. The Lemon Wallet iPhone app (free) does just that. Lemon Wallet stores pictures of everything in your wallet, including receipts you might need for expense reports.
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But in the virtual wallet game, Lemon doesn't cut the mustard, falling well short of other apps that cover the same ground, Adaptu Wallet (free, 4 stars) being the best example. Adaptu can house a backup of your wallet information, but it is also a personal finance app with budgeting tools and connections to bank accounts, too. Adaptu Wallet has a whole feature dedicated to letting you upload images of credit cards, licenses, business cards, and other odds and ends from your wallet, but the app does so much more than that. Lemon Wallet doesn't do much else.
In other words, Lemon Wallet falls very short of being a virtual wallet. One of my personal favorite personal wallet apps, Google Wallet (free, 4 stars, for Android only) supports payments right through the phone handset via NFC chip, but Google's solution is admittedly rudimentary. It needs more time and development work to mature fully, but at least it strives to really achieve "virtual wallet" status. In light of Google Wallet, Lemon Wallet tastes pretty sour.
Early adopters who aren't on one of the five supported Android phones or one tablet that support Google Wallet can instead try LevelUp or Pay With Square, because both are freely available on iPhone and Android devices.
Features, Both Buried and Obvious
Setting up Lemon Wallet is straightforward: download it from the App Store and create an account. You'll enter an email address for your account and set a four-digit PIN.
The app asks you to start snapping pictures of your cards (a simple camera function) before it allows you to explore anything else in the app, which creates a problem. As you finish uploading your first card, Lemon dumps you onto the virtual wallet screen so you can see it—without showing you how to rename the card or adjust other settings. Most of the settings are so buried that you could easily overlook them now and forever more. None show up on the home screen or under the Settings button. You have to move through at least two screens to find them.
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Additionally, should you find the settings and features to make adjustments to your uploaded cards, the classifications you can add are credit, debit, and other, a measly selection if you ask me. Why not add some of the other common card types, like frequent flyer, membership, loyalty, identification, insurance, business cards, and so on?
If you do go hunting for features, you'll find more than just ways to organize your cards. Lemon Wallet contains a system for uploading receipts to help you with expense reports, and the app can import from and export to Expensify, Evernote, and Box.
Lemon did impress me at one point with some nifty automation. When I scanned a museum membership card, which has an image from Van Gogh's Starry Night on the front and no text whatsoever, Lemon Wallet named the card "Starry Night," which was technically wrong (I changed the name later) but I was still impressed that it could identify the artwork. I wouldn't be surprised if Starry Night were a common image theme people choose for their credit cards.
When I shut down Lemon Wallet and later opened it again, I was shocked it didn't ask me to enter my PIN! Inside the app, I tapped on the preview of one of my cards to open the full image of it, which is when Lemon decided I needed to prove myself. For me, this isn't tight enough security. Any app that uses a PIN should require it before it lets you in. Period.
Skip the Lemons
Lemon Wallet is not my app of choice for backing up my wallet. On iPhone, I think Adaptu is a better option, and Android users should be curious about, but not necessarily yet sign up for, Google Wallet. By and large, virtual wallet apps just aren't ready to be used yet the way they're intended—as a complete mobile payment replacement system, but they're getting close. Mobile wallet companies have to take security very seriously, and a PIN requirement to enter the app itself should be the absolute bare minimum, which Lemon Wallet neglects to do. If you're interested in mobile payments and living a wallet-less lifestyle, be an early adopter of Google Wallet, Pay With Square, or LevelUp. And skip the lemons.
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Sunday, November 3, 2013
Apple to reportedly stream Oct. 22 special event to London press, employees
As it did with the recent iPhone 5s and 5c launch in September, Apple is said to be setting up an international satellite event for its upcoming October special event, at which new iPads and OS X Mavericks are expected to debut.
According to London-based press outlets that received invitations to the broadcast (via 9to5Mac), Apple will be streaming the event live to a gathering at Kings Place Hall, a relatively small venue.
Apple first sent out press invites for the Oct. 22 event at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Tuesday, noting a start time of 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. The UK broadcast is said to begin at 6 p.m. local time, meaning Apple is live streaming the anticipated iPad announcement.
In addition to British media, Apple employees from offices around the world will also reportedly be able to watch the stream, though locations and availability are not known at this time.
When the iPhone 5s and 5c debuted in September, Apple held a special event for Chinese press ten hours after the U.S. announcement.
According to London-based press outlets that received invitations to the broadcast (via 9to5Mac), Apple will be streaming the event live to a gathering at Kings Place Hall, a relatively small venue.
Apple first sent out press invites for the Oct. 22 event at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Tuesday, noting a start time of 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. The UK broadcast is said to begin at 6 p.m. local time, meaning Apple is live streaming the anticipated iPad announcement.
In addition to British media, Apple employees from offices around the world will also reportedly be able to watch the stream, though locations and availability are not known at this time.
When the iPhone 5s and 5c debuted in September, Apple held a special event for Chinese press ten hours after the U.S. announcement.
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