• Habarug@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      I switched recently, and it is really good. It doesn’t have public transport yet (for the most part), and I rarely drive, but for walking, hiking and biking it is very nice. OpenStreetMap is shockingly well developed, I had no idea this existed. It has almost all the local businesses in my area, really did not expect that. It doesn’t have restaurant reviews and stuff though.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        My area was missing a bunch of businesses, so I added them. It’s really easy, so definitely consider helping fix stuff as you notice it. I usually take the time to add metadata like phone number, hours, and website, because sometimes that’s useful.

      • Nanook@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        Thank god it doesn’t… fuck that. Most times it’s bs anyway.

  • IllNess@infosec.pub
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    3 days ago

    Apple claimed Apple Maps was created because Apple wanted to protect its users from Google Maps’ data hoarding. We assume Apple is already hoarding data but now to be able to compete with other advertisement platforms Apple, would have to share that data with advertisers.

    One step forward, two steps back.

    • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Apple actually integrates several “anti tracking” technologies into their maps, so it IS an improvement in theory.

      • IllNess@infosec.pub
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        3 days ago

        Looks like we are both skeptical about those technologies. “All you have to do is turn off locations… on a maps app… that’s privacy!”

        • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Well apparently they ask for directions to your destination and 5 random others so that it’s not trackable server side.

          I haven’t investigated myself and that’s not entirely fool proof, but it’s leagues better than Google for privacy.

          • IllNess@infosec.pub
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            3 days ago

            It is. That’s actually really cool.

            But if they do start including ads, why would advertisers use a less effective and accurate platform than Google Maps?

            Either they change or their ad placements are cheaper.

            If they aren’t maximizing profits then why put ads at all? It’s not like they are losing profits.

            • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Why put ads on a new venue that may reach users that don’t use Google maps?

              Even if that ad is less effective, it’s still going to have some effectiveness

    • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I’m not happy about ads, but ads aren’t inherently anti-privacy. If they are not targeted at you based on tracking data then I don’t see any conflict with privacy. for example, mentioned in the article:

      For example, it reportedly considered charging for prioritization of search results in the app. It’s also plausible that it could sell the ability to make specific locations on the map more prominent to viewers.

      that would suck but it’s not a privacy issue.

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Well, this thing isn’t going to just enshitify itself, now is it.

    There was a time when Apple was able to infuse some level of class into its products relative to competitors. I suppose they were able to do that because their growth was driven by exciting products. With their now listless and moribund product strategy, they have to cash in the equity they built up in customer experience to fund shareholder value.

    • CatOP
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      3 days ago

      I will post a new link, I did not notice the date of the article.

      Edit: I changed the link.

    • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      So I don’t actually mind this.

      And odds are good you won’t notice them.

      They’ll just be carefully highlighted locations when you’re looking at a larger map, so the random buildings that get labeled in the more zoomed out views are chosen carefully.

      It gets better, when you search for “restaurants near me” the order won’t be organic but “pay to win”

      So “restaurant chain #5” will be at the top even if you hate their food.

      Not really awful as far as advertising goes.

      • stardust@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        When has a company ever shown itself to show restraint once it heads down the monetization train? And isn’t Apple’s premium price point that it isn’t ad infested like Android or Microsoft?

          • stardust@lemmy.ca
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            1 day ago

            I might have more faith in them if they weren’t a publicly traded company always having the expectation of exponential growth.

              • stardust@lemmy.ca
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                16 hours ago

                Yeah they won at capitalism. But it’s so crazy that because of stock price expectations even they won’t ever come to the finish line. It’s never good enough no matter how much they make. The ceiling just keeps going up and up and up.

        • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Yes, that’s not great, so ideally there’s an asterisk showing this…

          But if you look at the playing field as out exists today in advertising….

          It’s not really useable to change political beliefs or support authoritarianism.

          It’s not tracking you explicitly.

          It’s not profiling you.

          It’s relevant to what you’re already looking for

          There aren’t many scams you can run with it (except the locksmith scam)

          Soooooo, if I have to accept advertising, this feels on the tamer end.

          But I agree, it should be upfront.

          • fartsparkles@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            Apple do have a history of putting “Ad” next to anything that is an advertisement so hopefully they continue with that design pattern.

        • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Yeah people like to downvote things that they don’t agree with even if it’s a decent point.

          Oh well, at least I don’t base my self-worth on internet points. 😝

          • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 day ago

            I’m not sure you’re being downvoted for people not agreeing, per se.

            I think you’re being downvoted for coming across as a little misguided on your theory.

            And odds are good you won’t notice them

            Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of advertisers advertising if people ain’t going to notice them.

            Disclaimer: I use an iPhone and Apple Maps.

      • IamAnonymous@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        It will be annoying when you search for “Wings” and a restaurant shows up which is 30 miles away because it’s being promoted and is probably just a bar which sells wings and not a wings only place like Wingstop. This is how the App Store search works and that’s why I refuse to go to the app to search anything. I don’t know how you can say these types of search results are good for anyone. The top app/ search result is completely irrelevant and takes up space. It’s only beneficial for Apple.

    • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Any replacement is subject to the priorities of Apple’s major shareholders and its board. Those push for further monetization of Apple products and services.

      • reddig33@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Not in my experience. Apple products and services are driven by the yay or nay of the CEO. The employees often push back on things as well if they have enough clout.

        • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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          3 days ago

          If we look at other companies that have been in Apple’s position, this seems to be a temporary state of affairs even if it lasts for a while. If the expectation is for profit to grow year over year (it is), as growth of market share stalls because you’ve already expanded as much as you could, you’d get pressed to find profits by exploiting existing revenue streams. That’s the point when employee opposition stops working. Think of the recent events when the Google Search VP opposed the Ad VP’s requests to make search worse in order to improve ads revenue. The Ad VP got appointed to lead search and the previous search VP got moved to a dark corner somewhere. Once you run out of profit growth in the existing revenue streams, they’d ask you to find profit growth by reducing labor cost. We also saw that happening in various companies over the last little while.

          If Apple was a private corporation owned by some people who aren’t looking for ever increasing profits, I’d believe they might not follow this pattern. But they aren’t.

          That’s just my guess and the reasons behind it. Could turn out that you’re right and Apple is an exception to the rule. I mean, I hope it does but I’m not optimistic.