Apple Maps is back with a brand-new edition, one that the company hopes makes it more appealing (and competitive) compared to the Google Maps and Wazes of the app world. Not only does the new Apple Maps look a lot better, thanks to all the details about buildings, landmarks, and terrain that Apple has packed in, but Apple is doubling down on privacy for your mapping experience.
There’s plenty to like about Apple Maps nowadays. Let’s start with its accuracy. Artur Grabowski ran a pretty geeky test back in 2018 that pitted Apple’s service against Waze and Google Maps. After comparing the estimated times provided by each of the mapping services for 120 total trips, Grabowski found that Apple Maps was the most accurate for estimated times—even though Google Maps, when tested, actually got him to his destinations slightly faster than Apple Maps and Waze.
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Rather than relying on third parties for the data that fuels Apple Maps, Apple now creates its own (thanks to a fleet of LIDAR-equipped vehicles that have been steadily driving around the country, as well as satellite imagery and other sources). This should, presumably, increase the accuracy of Apple Maps’ directions. No promises, but I’d at least give it a try—especially around any major metropolitan areas.
As for all the other quirky features you can find in Apple Maps, here’s a quick roundup of some of our favorites—for newbies and returning, directionally challenged users alike.
Setting up your favorite locations (and collections)
It’s a no-brainer to add your home and work to Apple Maps—which makes it easy to pull up directions via the app or a quick yell to Siri. But you can also add all the other places you like to visit, too. Tap “Add” under Favorites, right below Apple Maps’ search bar, and you’ll get a list of suggested locations that you frequent. Pick one, or enter the address manually, and you’ll then be able to customize its label and pick a contact to notify whenever you start navigating there.
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Screenshot: David Murphy
Once you have a handful of favorites, the best way to organize them is to drop them all into a collection. This can even be something aspirational: “bars I wantto drink at,” for example. Creating a new collection in Apple Maps is easy—look for the “New Collection” link under the Collections section. Tap it, name your collection, tap “Create,” and then tap on the collection to start adding locations.
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Screenshot: David Murphy
To share your collection with others—fellow bar-hoppers, as it were—simple swipe up and tap on the share button. (You can also swipe left on the specific Collection on Apple Maps’ main screen to share it.) Be sure to heed Apple’s warning before you pick an iPhone or iPad-using contact to share your list:
Screenshot: David Murphy
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Summon Street View Look Around to gaze at a location from afar
Unlike Google’s Street View, there’s no easy way to see all the areas Apple supports with Look Around—its “our car drove by and took a picture of this specific location” feature. If this is available, and you’ll likely have to zoom in to an area for this to happen, you’ll see a little icon of a pair of binoculars pop up in the upper-right corner. Tap it, and you’ll get a photograph of a particular location, which you can then pan around like a typical 360-degree image. Tap or move your finger around the map itself to warp to new locations—only those highlighted in blue, however, which might be tricky to see if you’ve zoomed out too far.
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Screenshot: David Murphy
Tap into your daily forecast
This is a tiny trick, but a useful one. When you’re viewing a location in Apple Maps, note the small weather icon (and air quality index!) in the lower-right corner. Long-press on that to pull up the forecast for the next few hours in that location, as well as a general look at the current weather, expected highs and lows, and the chance of rain.
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Screenshot: David Murphy
Screenshot: David Murphy
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Figure out how to use mass-transit
If you’re new to a location—or just want a reminder about all the mass-transit options available to you—all you have to do is tap on the “i” icon in the upper-right corner of Apple Maps. Switch your view from Map to Transit, and you’ll see lovely little highlights of all the mass-transit options available to you. (Sorry, busses. Subway and rail only!)
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Screenshot: David Murphy
Go for an indoor (virtual) stroll
As you’re zooming around Apple Maps, you might notice that some locations have a blue “Look Inside” link below their names on the map. Tap it, and you’ll be able to “open” them up, virtually, to see what’s inside. If you’re looking at a shopping mall, for example, you’ll be able to see its layout—including all the stores packed inside, across however many levels tall the building is. While it would be even better if you could walk through the mall, virtually, using Apple Maps’ Look Around feature, at least you won’t have to go find one of those weird mall kiosk map things the next time you’re lost.
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Screenshot: David Murphy
Silence (or summon) Siri to help with directions
Once you’ve picked a place to travel to, and you’ve loaded up directions on your iPhone, swipe your finger up from the bottom of your screen—the little bar just below the giant map. You’ll now see a few extra options to play with. You can add stops to your trip (a gas station, someplace to eat, or a coffee shop), and this is also where you can set how much you want Siri to help you out on your trip.
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Tap on Audio, and you’ll be presented with four different volume options for the directions Siri plans to shout at you during your trip: silence, low, normal, and loud. You can also use this screen to have Siri automatically pause your podcasts or audio books when she gives you directions, if you don’t want your experience to sound weird.
Screenshot: David Murphy
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To set a default volume for Siri, you’ll need to jump out of the Maps app and pull up your Settings app. Tap on Maps, and then select Driving & Navigation. Look for “Navigation Voice Volume,” and select your preferred option.
While you’re here in Apple Maps’ Settings, you can also pick the transit type you’d like Apple Maps to use by default: driving, walking, or mass transit. You can also turn off mass-transit options you never want Maps to use as part of its trip-planning process by tapping on the “Transit” option.
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Additionally, you can use Settings to switch between miles and kilometers in Apple Maps. You can also turn off its Air Quality Index and weather icon, and even whether you want Maps to help you out by taking note of where you parked your car. (As one who often finds himself lost in parking lots, why you wouldn’t want that feature is beyond me.)
Share your ETA with a friend
One fun feature that Apple added in iOS 13 is the ability to send a contact automatic updates about your trip’s progress—useful for date night, for sure. Once you’ve received directions to a location and are staring at your travel map, swipe up from the “arrival / end” section of your screen. From there, tap on “Share ETA,” and pick a contact.
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Screenshot: David Murphy
When you share your ETA to a location, your (iOS) contact will receive a little text message that tells them your, well, estimated time of arrival, as well as the name of the location you’re headed to. They can then tap on the location to also set up their own directions or to see where you are—useful if you’re both meeting somewhere. The feature works similarly for Android users, they just won’t get to tap through to pull up a map.
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Go on a virtual flight
Some locations in Apple Maps—mainly large cities—come with a special “Flyover” feature that you might see when you search for it. For example, look up Chicago, Illinois and tap the Flyover button to be treated to a pretty 3D view of the city. You can manipulate what you’re looking at by moving your phone around or using pinch/expand gestures with your fingers. I find it easier to just tap the “Start City Tour” button, which is a lot less motion-sickness-inducing. It almost reminds me of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Almost.
Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.
Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.
The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.
The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.
The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.
Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.
“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.
The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.
“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”
The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.
However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.
That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.
“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”
The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.
About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.
“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.
Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.
In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.
The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”
“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.
“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”
Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.
Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.
In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.
The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.
Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.
“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.
“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.
Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.
Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.
“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”
Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.
As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.
But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.
Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.
The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
