Jeff Gamet

Apple wants its own Maps app and service to be the best there is, so the company is completely rebuilding everything from the ground up. Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue told Tech Crunch Maps is ditching its dependance on other mapping services and has been working over the past four years to make its own map data. Cue says the new Maps will be built from Apple’s own data and include much more information, get faster updates for new and changing roads, and offer a level of detail not found in other map platforms. Cue said:

We wanted to take this to the next level. We have been working on trying to create what we hope is going to be the best map app in the world, taking it to the next step. That is building all of our own map data from the ground up.

The new Maps is launching in California with iOS 12, and expanding out from there over the next year. I find all of the current map app options lacking in different ways, so bring on the new and better Apple Maps.

Facebook has a patent application for a way to use your smartphone’s microphone to eavesdrop on you without your knowledge. The system triggers with a sound too high for humans to hear, records whatever your phone’s mic can pick up, and then sends the data back to Facebook. Don’t worry about that being creepy because Facebook says the patent is to stop other companies from spying on us, and they won’t ever use this tech on us. Or so they tell Mashable. If only Facebook didn’t have a history of abusing our privacy.

Smart home technology may add convenience to our lives, but there’s a darker side, too. The New York Times explores how domestic abusers are using smarthome devices to control and gaslight their victims. Reports of smart home devices in domestic abuse cases has been on the rise over the past year, too. From the report:

One woman had turned on her air-conditioner, but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line that she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there.

It’s a stark reminder that abusers will find a way to turn anything into a weapon against their victims.