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Apple's 3D Maps and Imagery See Incremental Improvements

Following last week's open letter from Tim Cook in which he promised that Apple "will keep working non-stop" until the iOS 6 Maps app meets customers' standards for quality, Apple has indeed been making improvements to the service. While there is certainly a ways to go, it is clear that the company is indeed moving quickly to address issues and improve coverage for the flagship 3D mapping and imagery features in the app. 

While improvements have been ongoing, MacRumors forum members yesterday began noticing what appears to be a larger set of additions to the 3D content in the Maps app, including both the satellite/aerial imagery and the standard maps. One region that was among the first to be noticed was the New York City area, with a number of improvements including new 3D imagery of the Statue of Liberty being seen.

We've also heard from users who have experienced new Flyover imagery showing up in Honolulu, Hawaii and in the San Fernando Valley in the Los Angeles area. The changes are also affecting the standard vector-based maps as well, with users reporting new 3D buildings showing up in New York City and London. 

Interestingly, not all users are seeing the new imagery, with some even doing side-by-side comparisons between devices with different results. The difference is presumably due to aggressive caching of maps and imagery, and users who are not yet seeing the new imagery should see updates in the relatively near future.

[Source: MacRumors]

Apple begins shipping its Lightning to 30-pin adapter at the speed of... freight

iPhone users with a flotilla of 30-pin devices, desperate to restore connectivity with their newest handset's natty connector, can rest easy. Cupertino has contacted several Australians who pre-ordered the 30-pin to Lightning adapter to tell them they can expect the first units to arrive tomorrow. The Stateside store is still promising a generic "October" launch, but it can't be too far away if the Antipodeans are getting theirs.

[Source: Engadget]

Apple acknowledges anniversary of Jobs's death with video tribute

Apple replaced both its main page and storefront with a moving tribute to Steve Jobs that remembers his passing one year ago today. The short video clip highlights Jobs's achievements and includes pictures and quotes from the Apple founder. The tribute ends with a brief letter from Tim Cook, who asks us all to "reflect on his [Jobs's] extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place."

[Source: TUAW]

Apple retail employees encouraged to report Maps issues

With many thousands of staffers in the US alone, Apple's retail team has numbers on its side. It also has geographic diversity, with stores in 45 of the 50 states. Lots of people in lots of places who presumably carry lots of iOS devices -- just what you need if, perchance, you're looking to clean up some facepalm-worthy glitches in a shiny new mapping dataset.

Gary Allen of ifoAppleStore tweeted early this morning that store managers are asking employees to report Maps errors that they see in iOS 6 while they are out and about while working, on the clock. We've independently confirmed that a communication to that effect did go out to retail staff members (at least in the US and Canada), although we don't know precisely what it said.

MacRumors suggests that the map quest will be fairly formal and well-organized, with teams of employees dedicating up to 40 hours per week, cumulatively, to the wayfinding fixes; submitted data would go through a dedicated Apple portal rather than being bundled with general user feedback. Allen's initial report suggested the effort would be voluntary.

Of course, calling for fixes to map errors isn't purely the province of those who are being paid out of Cupertino's hoard of dragon gold: you too can help the cause by reporting errors and missing features in iOS 6's Maps app. Tapping the page curl on the lower right corner of the map reveals several controls including the "Report a Problem" button, which in turn gives you all the necessary feedback options.

[Source: TUAW]

Does Apple have a Scott Forstall problem?

FORTUNE -- There's no shortage of embarrassing instances where Apple (AAPL) Maps "fell short" -- as Tim Cook's public apologyput it -- but on Friday Canadian reader John Garner pointed me to a particularly striking one.

Jason Matheson, a fellow Canadian with a knack for Mac programming, ran a quick Xcode script that compared the iPhone 5's map of Ontario with an official list of the province's cities and towns. Of 2,028 place names, Matheson reports, 400 were correct on Apple's Maps app, 389 were pretty close, 551 were clearly incorrect and 688 weren't on the map at all.

"There's no excuse," Garner writes. "Quality control on Apple Maps had to have been terrible to not get this right. Bluntly, Scott Forstall should be fired over this mess."

Garner is not alone in pointing the finger at Forstall, the senior vice president for iOS software and the Apple executive -- after Cook -- most often described as an heir apparent to Steve Jobs.

[Source: CNN Money - Read more there]

Fare thee well, Ping: 2010-2012

With an exit far more quiet than its heralded beginnings, Ping officially closed two years and a month after it was launched on Sept. 1, 2010. If you happened to have your iTunes still open from yesterday, see Ping in the menu, and click on it, you'll get the message seen above. Hit OK, and Ping disappears from your iTunes forever.

Ping has been succeeded by Facebook and Twitter integration in iTunes.

[Source: TUAW]

Apple quietly bumping iCloud storage to 25 GB until the year 2050?

Twitter user @mgleet tipped me off that Apple appears to have bumped his iCloud storage plan to 25 GBs until the year 2050. Multiple people here at TUAW are seeing the same plan bumps, though none of us has upgraded our plans, not to mention paid 38 years in advance.

Apple has been known to offer cloud storage upgrades for free in the past when their online services didn't live up to expectations (MobileMe). Could this be a way Apple is apologizing for the Maps debacle?

To check to see what your storage plan is, go to Settings>iCloud>Account on your iOS device. Free 20GB storage upgrades for previous MobileMe members are set to expire today, but currently a bunch of us are seeing that those plans are now set to expire September 30, 2050.

It's possible this could be a bug on Apple's end as they transition MobileMe members down from the 25 GB plan to the 5 GB plan, though it's October 1st in New Zealand and one of our writers there is reporting he's still on the free 25 GB plan, which should have ended at 11:59PM September 30 New Zealand time. We'll keep you updated as soon as we hear more information.

[Source: TUAW]

Hong Kong’s second Apple Store now official, opening in Kowloon on September 29th

As reported earlier, Hong Kong’s second Apple Store will open this week in Kowloon Tong in the Festival Walk shopping center.  Another store is rumored for Hysan Place in Causeway Bay.

Apple is also planning its first massive data center in the New Territories region of Hong Kong for opening early next year.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

iOS 6 becomes 15 percent of Apple mobile device traffic within 24 hours

There's been some trepidation among Apple device users over the upgrade to iOS 6 given that it takes away some components while adding others. You wouldn't guess it from the initial upgrade rate, however. Both ChartBoost and Chitika have determined that about 15 percent of iOS data traffic was already coming from Apple's latest release within its first 24 hours of availability -- not bad, considering that it took Android 4.0 roughly eight months to reach a similar ratio and iOS 5 about five days to hit 20 percent. ChartBoost adds that iPhone owners were the quickest to upgrade, which is only logical when the iPhone 4S gets the most new features. The contrast between Android and iOS was entirely expected, knowing Apple's limited hardware pool and reduced carrier oversight. We're more interested in the differences between iOS versions: they suggest that whatever advantages people see in iOS 6, as well as a widespread over-the-air update system, have been enough to spur on many early adopters.

[Source: Engadget]

Apple updates Garageband, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie, Cards, Podcasts, Remote, iTunes U, & Find My Friends iOS apps

As expected, Apple is releasing updates to many of its iOS apps today including Garageband, Keynote, Numbers, Cards, iPhoto, iMovie, and Find My Friends with support for iOS 6 and other new features. We also expect to see a few more updates headed towards the rest of Apple’s own iOS apps today following the public release of iOS 6 earlier today.

[Source: 9to5Mac - Read the full article there]

Apple expanding North Carolina data center operations with $3M, 200-acre land purchase

According to a new report from Hickory Daily Record, Apple is expanding its data center operations in North Carolina with the purchase of $3 million worth of land in Conover, Catawba County. The purchase would include 218.885 acres and another 0.251 acres for a new solar farm. HDR cited “deeds and a plat book at the Catawba County Register of Deeds”:

CONOVER, NC — California-based technology giant Apple has spent nearly $3 million to buy more than 200 acres of property in Catawba County for another solar farm… It’s another step in Apple’s pledge to have its Maiden data center running on 100 percent renewable energy by the end of the year…Apple recently closed on the land purchase that includes a tract of 218.885 acres and another tract of 0.251 acres, according to deeds and a plat book at the Catawba County Register of Deeds. 

 

We recently showed you new aerial shots of the progress being made on Apple’s construction of the current data center and solar farm in Maiden, N.C. According to Apple, those installations account for a 100-acre, 20-megawatt installation on the Maiden data center site and another 100-acre site just a few miles away. The over 200 acres in Conover is Apple’s only land in the Catawba County area other than its main solar farm and data center installations in Maiden.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

iOS 6 jailbroken already, but only on older A4-powered iPhones and iPods

iOS 6 probably won't go down in history as a revolutionary update, but fortunately it's anti-tamper measures don't seem to have changed much either. The iPhone Dev-Team has already managed to get its redsn0w tethered jailbreak working, at least for the A4-powered iPhone 4, 3GS and 4th-gen iPod touch, and you'll find full instructions as well as a healthy list of caveats at the source link below. As to how long it'll take to get some Cydia action on the iPhone 5 and other fresher devices and without the hassle of tethering, place your bets here.

[Source: Engadget]