iPad By Davis: “Mildura Police warn drivers against relying on Apple iOS 6 maps” plus 6 more

Mildura Police warn drivers against relying on Apple iOS 6 maps
Instagram kills Twitter integration deader
No iMore show tonight -- come back Wednesday!
Gifts for iPhone photographers: 2012 holiday guide
Weekend iPad Wallpapers: Retina Stripes Patterns
Square apps updated to support Passbook and gift cards
Coverage? App for iPad Updated – Massive Map Update

Mildura Police warn drivers against relying on Apple iOS 6 maps

Posted: 09 Dec 2012 09:13 PM PST

Police in Mildura, Victoria, Australia, have issued a warning to motorists, cautioning them against relying on Apple's new iOS 6 Maps. This comes after receiving distress calls from motorists who had become stranded in a national park after following iOS 6 maps directions. The Victoria Police News reports:

Tests on the mapping system by police confirm the mapping systems lists Mildura in the middle of the Murray Sunset National Park, approximately 70km away from the actual location of Mildura. [...] Some of the motorists located by police have been stranded for up to 24 hours without food or water and have walked long distances through dangerous terrain to get phone reception.

Apple replaced the previous, Google-fed iOS Maps app with in iOS 6 with a new, better looking, worse working app. Apple CEO Tim Cook has apologized for the situation with iOS 6 maps, and promised Apple is working on making it better.

Apple has also posted a list of alternative maps apps on the App Store for those experiencing problems with iOS 6 Maps.

Yet none of that matters when people are getting stuck in the middle of nowhere, because that's where Apple Maps put them.

Apple needs to get ahead of this as fast as possible.

Source: Victoria Police News

Instagram kills Twitter integration deader

Posted: 09 Dec 2012 06:49 PM PST

Instagram kills Twitter integration deader

Instagram, the Facebook owned social photo network, that previously cut off support for Twitter's media-rich card feature has now cut off all support for any all forms of embedded images. Twitter confirmed the change in an update to their original post:

Instagram has disabled photo integration with Twitter. As a result, photos are no longer appearing in Tweets or user photo galleries.

While tweeting links to Instagram photos is still possible, you can no longer view the photos on Twitter, as was previously the case.

The result is that Twitter users will no longer have any idea what they're going to see when they tap or click on an Instagram link.

So for Instagram to win, Twitter users have to lose?

No iMore show tonight -- come back Wednesday!

Posted: 09 Dec 2012 04:52 PM PST

No iMore show tonight -- come back Wednesday!

No iMore show tonight, folks. But all is not lost! We'll be back on Wednesday night with our annual gift guide edition!

We'll also have a brand new Debug for you tomorrow to tide you over, with a very special guest. Don't miss it.

Previous podcasts

Gifts for iPhone photographers: 2012 holiday guide

Posted: 09 Dec 2012 11:10 AM PST

Gifts for iPhone photographers: 2012 holiday guide

The iPhone is equipped with an excellent camera that has the effect of turning people into photography enthusiasts and iPhone photographers known as "iPhoneographers". If you know one such person, the good news is that there are tons of great products available that your photography-loving friend or family member will be thrilled to receive as a gift this holiday season.

Olloclip 3-in-one lens system

The Olloclip 3-in-on lens system is a great gift for any iPhone user, but photography enthusiasts will really appreciate it. This tiny little accessory is equipped with macro, wide-angle, and fisheye lenses that slip over the iPhone's built-in camera. This great little kit is small enough to carry in your pocket, yet makes the iPhone's camera a lot more versatile. If your photography-loving friend doesn't already own an Olloclip, I guarantee s/he has been dying to get one.

$69.99 - iPhone 4/4S - Buy now
$69.99 - iPhone 5 - Buy now

Glif Tripod Mount & Stand

The Glif Tripod Mount & Stand is great for the iPhoneographers who are into self portraits, night photography, or other types of photography that require a tripod. It's a small little accessory that snugly holds the iPhone and attaches to a tripod. In addition to working as a tripod adapter, the Glif can also be used as a stand that props up the iPhone in various angles for handsfree use like watching movies or FaceTiming.

There are two different versions of the Glif available: Glif and Glif+. The Glif+ is a deluxe package that includes a Serif and Ligature. The Serif is an additional piece that is designed to keep your iPhone even more secure on a tripod and stores snuggly inside the Glif when not in use. The Ligature is a simple keyring loop that attaches to the tripod thread on the Glif so that the Glif can be attached to your keychain, backpack, or purse so that it's always with you and available.

$20 for Glif - Buy now
$30 for Glif+ - Buy now

GripTight GorillaPod Stand

For the more extreme iPhone photographer, the GripTight GorillaPod might be a better tripod option. The grippy leg joints on this tripod bend and rotate 360 degrees allowing you to secure your iPhone to just about anything including trees, bars, rocks, benches, fences, and more. The new adjustable grip fits all iPhones with or without a case making this gift useful even when the recipient upgrades to the next iPhone.

$29.95 - Buy now

Lifeproof Case

It's not uncommon for a photographer to do whatever it takes to get that perfect shot... providing it doesn't cause destruction to their camera. A Lifeproof Case will offer your photographer friend the best possible protection to their iPhone allowing them to take photo in even the most extreme conditions, including under water! Lifeproof also makes a GoPro adapter and bike and bar mounts so that you can attach your iPhone to your head, bike, waist, and more.

$79.99 - Buy Now

Retina iPad

One of the best companions for the iPhone photographer is a Retina iPad. The gorgeous screen on the Retina iPad allows photographers to show off their photos in all their glory as well as choose from a wide selection of photo editing apps in the App Store. Sure, the iPhone has both of these things too, but when it comes to photography, bigger is better!

Starting at $499 - Buy now

iPhoto for iPhone and iPad

Speaking of photo editing apps, Apple's iPhoto is a great and affordable app to get for that photography-loving friend or family member. iPhoto includes multi-touch editing, brushes, high-quality effects, photo journals, and more. What I, personally, love about iPhoto is that even though it isn't the most powerful photo editing app available, it has more than most people need and is super easy to use making it great for quick edits.

$4.99 - Download now

Weekend iPad Wallpapers: Retina Stripes Patterns

Posted: 09 Dec 2012 09:56 AM PST

This weekend our featured iPad wallpapers are three more great retina wallpapers for the iPad 3 and iPad 4. The theme for these is stripes and stripy patterns. Once again, these are all created by Brett Jordan (no relation) and shared to our iPad Insight Flickr group.

The first one, shown above on my iPad 3 home screen, is called Graphite Teal Stripes. This is my favorite of the three, mostly because I love the color teal. It also has the app icons sitting quite nicely within the stripes in both landscape and portrait mode.

(...)
Read the rest of Weekend iPad Wallpapers: Retina Stripes Patterns (122 words)

Square has just updated all their apps to add support for gift cards. It also doesn't stop there, the gift cards will also be Passbook compatible. The Square Wallet app will now allow you to create and receive gift cards at your favorite places locally while the Square Register app has received an update to allow merchants to redeem gift cards through the service.

For end users, you can simply search for the place you'd like to create a gift card for. There is nothing for the merchant to set up or allow before hand. Tap on the place and choose the gift card option. You can enter any denomination you'd like and add a contact and a personalized message. They'll receive the gift card and can store it in their Square Wallet for use later.

Gift card recipients can also send their gift cards to Passbook for easy access at any time and notifications when they're within the vicinity of that merchant.

Merchants will then be able to redeem the gift cards on their end through the Square Register app. There's nothing for the merchant to configure or do. They'll automatically see gift cards as they're available for redemption.

Merchants and consumers using Square can pick up the update now.

Source: Square

Coverage? App for iPad Updated – Massive Map Update

Posted: 09 Dec 2012 09:16 AM PST

Coverage?, the excellent iPad and iPhone app for comparing US cellular carrier coverage, has been updated again this week – to Version 2012.11.

This is a great app for looking at which carriers have the best coverage in your local area or anywhere in the US – for 2G (yikes), 3G, 4G, and LTE. It's the only app around that lets you overlay maps and make direct comparisons between carriers.

This latest update is labeled as a massive map update. Here's the rest of the change list:

- All carriers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint & T-Mobile
- Return of full resolution T-Mobile maps (note: T-Mobile does not designate 3G vs 4G on their own maps, so we show all their 3G/4G coverage under the '4G' setting.)
- Clearer edge boundaries on all maps
- Subtly faster performance of coverage map loading

We have been working behind the scenes to improve our map creation techniques, and this is our first experiment with trying a 6-week update cycle. We continue to try to find the right balance between keeping the app updated and the amount of effort required to update the maps and get through the approval process.

I'm a big fan of the Coverage? app. It helped me decide on which carrier to use for my iPad mini. It's great to see the developers continually updating and improving the app.

Here's an App Store link for Coverage?; it's priced at $2.99 and is a universal app designed for both iPad and iPhone.