Apple Improves Maps in Europe with EV Charging and Bicycle Rental Data→

Nate Lanxon reports for Bloomberg on some welcome updates to Apple Maps in Europe:

Apple Inc. is expanding the capabilities of its Maps app in Europe to help users charge their electric vehicles or find bike rental hubs.

The company has added the locations of the U.K.’s electric vehicle charging stations by incorporating data from Munich-based Cirrantic’s Moovility service, which lists re-juicing points for cars made by Tesla and Nissan, among others.

It has also added public bicycle rental and drop-off points to maps of London, New York and Paris in a catch-up to long-time mobile navigation leader Google, which has listed such stations in multiple countries for some time.

Last December Apple added ChargePoint integration to Maps to help users in the U.S. find electric vehicle chargers, so it’s nice to see something similar come to Europe.

The bicycle rental information is also welcome as Apple Maps continues branching out from simply providing directions to now being a central hub for various modes of transportation, such as ride sharing and now bicycling.

Permalink

The Successor to Wunderlist Is Here: Microsoft To-Do

Microsoft To-Do is the official successor to Wunderlist, the popular task management app acquired by Microsoft in mid-2015. Microsoft unveiled To-Do today in Preview, which is essentially a public beta. The service is built on Office 365 technologies, but according to ZDNet it is available to anyone with a Microsoft account; Office 365 is not required.

To-Do launches today on several major platforms, including iPhone, Android, Windows, and the web. Unfortunately iPad and Mac versions are not available at this time, but Microsoft says those apps will be available in the coming months.

After spending some time with To-Do on iPhone, my initial impressions are that it’s a beautiful, simple task management tool that very much feels like a worthy successor to Wunderlist.

Read more

Connected, Episode 138: Modern Day Moses→

Myke is back. Gurman is back. iPhone rumors and iPad wish lists are back.

On this week’s episode of Connected, we covered the latest “iPhone 8” rumors and started discussing what we would like to see in the next generation of iPad software and hardware. You can listen here.

Sponsored by:

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code WORLD at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • Mack Weldon: Smart underwear for smart guys. Get 20% off with the code CONNECTED.
  • Audible: You can’t make more time, but you can make the most of it. Start your free trial today.
Permalink

iWork, GarageBand, and iMovie Apps Now Free for All Users→

Juli Clover of MacRumors reports on an update to the pricing of several Apple apps:

iMovie, Numbers, Keynote, Pages, and GarageBand for both Mac and iOS devices have been updated and are now listed in the App Store for free.

Previously, all of these apps were provided for free to customers who purchased a new Mac or iOS device, but now that purchase is not required to get the software. Many Apple customers were already likely eligible to download the software at no cost if they had made a device purchase in the last few years.

All of these apps have been available free to anyone purchasing a new iOS device since September 2013 – or 2014 in GarageBand’s case – so today’s updated pricing should come as no surprise. Likely the majority of devices in the world today that are modern enough to run the latest versions of these apps will have already enjoyed the privilege of free downloads. Today’s change will be a welcome one to everyone with an older device though.

Permalink

How One Rising Musician Works from an iPhone→

David Pierce has a fascinating piece for WIRED on a hip-hop producer and artist, Steve Lacy, who makes music start to finish on his iPhone.

Lacy’s smartphone has been his personal studio since he first started making music. Even now, with all the equipment and access he could want, he still feels indelibly connected to something about making songs piece by piece on his phone. He’s also working this way to prove a point: that tools don’t really matter…If you want to make something, Lacy tells me, grab whatever you have and just make it.

Pierce describes a recording session he observed where Lacy used GarageBand, an iRig, and the iPhone’s built-in microphone to create music.

He paged through the drum presets in GarageBand for a while before picking a messy-sounding kit. With two thumbs, he tapped out a simple beat, maybe 30 seconds long. Then he went back to the Rickenbacker. He played a riff he’d stumbled on while tuning, recording it on a separate GarageBand track over top of the drums. Without even playing it back, Lacy then reached down and deleted it. It took three taps: stop, delete, back to the beginning. He played the riff again, subtly differently. Deleted it again. For the next half hour, that’s all Lacy did: play, tap-tap-tap, play again. He experimented wildly for a while, then settled on a loose structure and began subtly tweaking it. Eventually satisfied with that bit, he plugged in his Fender bass and starts improvising a bassline. A few hours later, he began laying vocals, a breathy, wordless melody he sang directly into the iPhone’s microphone. He didn’t know quite what he was making, but he was feeling it.

Lacy’s recording method is clearly an atypical one in the music industry, but it serves as a great testament to the power of iOS and the iPhone.

Permalink

Google Maps Adds Your Timeline, Directions Widget, and iMessage App

In its latest update, Google has added several new features to Google Maps for iOS. Most prominent among them is Your Timeline, a feature that has been available on the web and on Android since 2015, but is welcome nonetheless. Your Timeline keeps track of all the locations you’ve visited and allows you to easily view that travel history in one place.

Your Timeline is available in a couple of different locations within the Google Maps app. The primary way to access it is from the main menu, where it’s prominently listed near the top. The other place Your Timeline will appear is on the place cards of locations you’ve visited before. While viewing information about, for instance, a restaurant you visited on a prior vacation to London, you would see a label that tells you how long ago you last visited. Tapping that label will take you straight to Your Timeline and to the date of your visit, so you can easily view other exploits from your trip.

There are a couple of nice touches with Your Timeline that deserve mention. One is that you have the option to fully customize the information that’s logged in Your Timeline. Besides simply editing a location’s name or other basic details, you can also assign an activity to that trip. Options include ‘Boating,’ ‘Hiking,’ ‘Catching Pokémon,’ and many more. A second feature is that you can opt-in to receive monthly emails summarizing all the places you visited that prior month, which is a nice way to revisit and reflect on time past, and perhaps a source of encouragement to visit new places and try new things more often.

Although Your Timeline took almost two years to reach iOS, time has at least meant that it’s arrived well-polished.

The latest update to Google Maps also brought with it a new directions widget and an iMessage app. The directions widget provides directions for your current trip, allowing you to scroll through each step of the journey without needing to unlock your device. The new iMessage app serves only a single purpose: sending your static location to friends. Once you open the iMessage app, a still image of your current location is loaded up and available to send by message. It’s a simple utility, but perhaps some will find it useful.

Snapchat Introduces New AR Feature: World Lenses

One of the most popular Snapchat features since its launch has been Lenses, the AR tool that enables you to overlay photo subjects with all kinds of fun, sometimes wacky filters – you can make yourself or someone else look like a dog, bunny, or bumblebee, give them disproportionate features, colored hair, and more.

Today Snapchat has launched an expansion of its Lenses feature called World Lenses. Snap shares the news:

While Snapping with the rear-facing camera, simply tap the camera screen to find new Lenses that can paint the world around you with new 3D experiences!

There are a wide variety of Lenses available today, including floating bubbles, speech phrases, a house of mirrors-like effect, and more. Many of the Lenses contain several options within themselves – the speech phrases, for example, can be tapped on to cycle through alternate words and styles.

The current number of World Lenses available in the app seems healthy, but there are apparently many more in the pipeline. The Verge reports that the lineup of Lenses will change daily.

Snap has released a short video that shows World Lenses in action.

Logitech Adds HomeKit Support to Its POP Smart Button

Logitech announced today that it is adding HomeKit support to its POP Smart Button, which debuted last year. The second generation POP button connects to your home WiFi, supports up to three customizable gestures, and acts as a sort of macro to trigger other HomeKit devices. For example, you could put a POP button in your bedroom that when pressed in the morning would change the temperature of your HomeKit thermostat and turn on your lights. You could add another POP button to turn off the lights and lock your doors when you leave home. The POP button also works with some non-HomeKit devices like Sonos music systems and Logitech’s Harmony Hub home entertainment control device.

The adoption of HomeKit support by Logitech greatly expands the utility of POP buttons and may be a sign of the growing popularity of HomeKit devices. With the increasing number of HomeKit-enabled products, the POP button should make it even more convenient to trigger HomeKit’s scene functionality.

Logitech says that the POP Smart Button will be available soon exclusively at Apple Stores and on Apple.com and later this year from other retailers. The base POP Smart Button Kit will retail for $59.95 and includes one button and a bridge to connect it to your home WiFi. Additional Pop buttons will be available for $39.95 each.

Instagram Adds Tools to Organize Saved Posts into Collections→

Instagram has a new feature rolling out this week to enhance the current tool that enables saving other users’ posts:

Starting this week, you can save posts into private collections. Tap and hold the bookmark icon underneath any post to save it directly to a collection. You can create and name a new collection when you save a post, or you can add it to one you’ve already created. You can also create a collection out of your existing saved posts. Tap the plus icon in the top right corner, give your collection a name and select the saved posts you’d like to add.

You can find your collections on the saved posts tab on your profile. Just like all saved posts, your collections are private — only you can see them.

While some of Instagram’s biggest new features of late have appeared focused on targeting Snapchat, the ability to save and organize posts into collections brings Instagram closer into Pinterest’s space. Although all collections of saved posts are private at the moment, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see a future option to make select collections public.

Permalink