After four years of driving in parts of fifteen countries, Apple announced in June 2019 that its imagery collection vehicles had driven “over four million miles”.
And:
What makes this number interesting is that Google has made similar statements about its Street View vehicles over the years. Google first started collecting imagery in 2006 and by mid 2012, its Street View vehicles had driven more than five million miles.
And:
Five million miles over six years (Google) is slower than four million over four (Apple)—and it suggests that Apple has been driving the world faster than Google originally did.
But when it comes to releasing this imagery, Apple has been releasing it much slower.
What follows is an interesting, and quite detailed look at Apple’s imagery rollout in southern Canada and the US. If nothing else, check out the map showing the sparsity of US Look Around coverage (about halfway down the page) vs the map showing US places visited by Apple Maps vehicles vs the map of robust Look Around coverage in southern Canada.
If you swipe up on the Apple Maps interface where maps details are available, you can tap on a “Report” button that lets you flag an accident, a hazard, or a speed check, similar to other mapping apps like Waze.
Interestingly:
Tapping automatically flags your location with no confirmation window, so it shouldn’t be used except in a valid situation.
That does open the door to accidental flagging, but this is crowdsourcing, so it’s not likely a single report will trigger the flag.
You can also say “Hey Siri, there’s an accident” and Siri will send in a report to Apple Maps, and presumably, if enough people file reports, an accident site will show up in the maps app through the crowdsourcing.
The third-generation Apple TV, last made available in 2013, is slowly losing support from third-party app developers. YouTube recently announced that the YouTube channel will disappear in March, and now the CBS All Access channel is also being removed.
And:
The timing coincides with an upcoming shift that will see CBS All Access rebranding as Paramount+. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said in September that CBS All Access was being rebranded because the Paramount brand is more recognizable. The rebrand will be accompanied by original content designed to lure new subscribers.
And:
Though there will be no app on the third-generation Apple TV, Paramount+ content will be able to be streamed from an iOS device to a third-generation Apple TV.
CBS All Access and Showtime have a bundle deal. Will that deal continue under Paramount+?
On a related note, will we see a new Apple TV this year?
There’s been a steady drumbeat on Twitter recently, a river of tweets about fake/scammy apps on the App Store.
From the headline linked post:
I have spent the last four years of my life working on my very successful app only to have it ruined by scam apps with very obvious fake reviews as well as false advertising claims that Apple does not take action against. I can literally prove they are fake but Apple refuses to take action for undisclosed reasons, allowing thousands of more people getting scammed by these apps day by day.
Follow the link, read the post. This is a detailed breakdown of one developer’s experience, a very specific example that is one of many.
When you’ve read that post, hop over to this Michael Tsai rollup page with comments on another, perhaps more well circulated example.
App Store folks, spend some time reading through the linked comments on Michael Tsai’s page. There are links to examples, stories, and specific thoughts on small ways to address the problem. As is, one might think Apple is looking away. This has got to stop.
Shine on you Crazy Diamond is a seminal Pink Floyd song. There are many, many videos out there showcasing performances by Gilmour, by Floyd, and by other guitarists/performers.
For me, this one is the cream that rises to the top. Gilmour’s guitar sound is clean and pure, the audio capture and mix is excellent, and those background vocals by Crosby and Nash an understated rarity.
