Google Maps gets a facelift, Airbnb is making changes in Canada, and France fines Apple for $27 million
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Google Maps is getting a major update to ring in its 15th birthday. The update includes detailed transit data and tabs to navigate the app more easily, and improved augmented reality, helping to point users more easily toward a destination. When it comes to competition, Google Maps’ only real adversary is Apple, which recently redesigned its own maps offering, while touting privacy credentials superior to Google’s. Apple recently announced that no sign in is required for Apple Maps, and it’s not connected to your Apple ID at all
Airbnb is trying something new: It’s banning people under the age of 25 from renting entire homes across Canada. The new mandate, which a lot of users on LinkedIn are talking about, follows a recent shooting at a rented Airbnb in downtown Toronto that left three people dead. The under-25 set will still be able to rent private rooms within a home. Airbnb is also introducing a 24/7 telephone hotline system for residents that reflects Airbnb’s ongoing efforts to regulate unauthorized parties following a global ban on party houses in November.
And lastly, Apple has been fined by the French government for its 2017 patch that could slow down iPhone 6, iPhone 7 and iPhone SE units that had a depleted battery, and for not informing users that it was doing so. The story has quickly caught fire on Reddit, where users quickly pointed out fine is “chump change” for Apple, and that Android phones have performed similar tactics in the past but haven’t faced the same consequences. In a final report, the French agency behind the fine says the conclusion was reached due to the lack of information to consumers which “constituted a misleading commercial practice by omission.”
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