It won’t surprise anyone who knows me that I have a bias for the Apple ecosystem over Google. When I hear people complaining about the new Apple Maps app, I find myself asking why people are so upset with Apple over this.

Consider the following:

1) While it’s true that Apple made the original iPhone Maps app that was powered by Google maps, Google has provided no intentions to release a stand-alone Google Maps app like the stand-alone YouTube app. Rather than make users happy by launching a stand-alone app, Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt prefers to make foolhardy statements like, “We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know?” Speculations have surfaced that Google is working on a stand-alone iOS maps app, but not anytime soon, so we’ll have to wait and see.

If it had been possible or easy for Apple to incorporate Google Maps features like turn-by-turn directions that gave the Android maps app a boost in popularity, I imagine they would have.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Gadgets

This may be old news for some (i.e. 2 months old), but I came across it just recently.  I have been enjoying the new iMessage functionality on my iPhone since it came out last fall.  Integrated into the existing Messages SMS/MMS app, it provides a more fluid, chat-like experience, although only to other iOS devices.  One of the features allows you to leave a conversation on one device, your iPhone for example, and pick it up on another, such as your iPad.

Since I only have an iPhone, that doesn’t really help me much.  But I do happen to message primarily with other iOS users, and spend a lot of time on my Mac, so I would love to be able to cross conversations between there and my iPhone.

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Andrew Crowe Categories: Gadgets

I’ve spent most of my life evaluating the impact of new technology and pondering how it can make life better, work more efficient and people more knowledgeable.

I’ve found that often people seem to get very frustrated when technology changes. Facebook is a famous example of this, as they change their interface regularly. I recently noticed that since switching to Timeline that Facebook had defaulted to showing all my photos and friends to all 800 million Facebook users. The interface to set Facebook privacy is poorly designed and de-centralized, so for the first time I find myself joining the bandwagon of discontented users.

But I’ve noticed it coming up in other discussions recently, such as learning to type on the iPhone and getting used to threaded or “smart” email systems. People often use the word, “intuitive” to describe technology interfaces when they really mean “familiar.”

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Andy Swindler Categories: Gadgets