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Google Maps now looks more like Apple Maps – and a lot of people aren’t happy
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Google Maps has had a rejig of the colors used to denote different elements, and a significant portion of its regular users aren't happy about the change.

As you may have seen, this change in color palette was first spotted back in September, but now it’s widely rolling out to users of Google’s navigation app.

Google Maps now has gray roads like Apple, rather than white or yellow roads as before, and forests are a darker green. On the other hand, the shade of blue used for water is lighter.

However, the active route is a much darker blue, with alternate routes shown in lighter blue (these used to be gray).

See the pic above for a comparison of the old (left) and new (right) design, and the one below (in the tweet) for another look at the freshly revamped colors.

These may not sound like massive changes – and to be fair, they aren’t, they’re essentially tweaks. But they have rubbed a number of users up the wrong way. As Android Authority points out, there’s some quite spicy feedback on the new Google Maps on Reddit, X (formerly Twitter) and other online forums.

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Analysis: Lacking clarity?

Some of this is unfamiliarity, as no one likes change, and it takes time to acclimatize to a new look – but there are some consistent and well-observed pieces of feedback on the redeployment of colors for Google Maps.

One common thread is criticism of the new colors lacking clarity, and making it trickier to see what’s what at a glance (and when driving obviously you will just be glancing at the display).

As one Redditor put it: “I’m finding it a little hard to read as quickly as I used to. The toned down look is cute but not practical.”

Another problem highlighted by multiple users on Reddit is that the new alternate routes being blue – as well as the main route, albeit that’s a darker blue – is an issue. It can be difficult to tell those routes apart on a phone at a bit of a distance (and with other potential factors thrown into the mix like sun glare).

Overall, Google may want to have a rethink, particularly around the alternate routes. That said, not everyone is unhappy with the changes, but the majority seem to be at least according to a poll Android Authority is running.

This shows that 44% of respondents don’t like the new colors, compared to 28% who do (with the rest abstaining). So, that doesn’t look great for Google, though of course, it’s a limited sample of around 800 people (at the time of writing).

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WhatsApp is upgrading its voice chat tool so it can host a lot more people
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WhatsApp is upgrading the Voice Chat feature on mobile so users can now host large group calls with up to 128 participants. 

The platform has yet to make a formal announcement of the changes through its usual avenues although details can be found on its Help Center support website. On the surface, the tool’s functionality is pretty straightforward. You can start a group voice chat by going to a group chat, tapping the audio read-out icon in the upper right-hand corner, and selecting Start Voice Chat. The company states this is “only available on your primary device” and calls will automatically end the moment everyone leaves. Additionally, they instantly end after an hour if no one “joins the first or last person in the chat”. 

Silent calls

There is more to this update than what’s on the support page as other news reports reveal a much more robust feature. According to TechCrunch, Voice Chat for Larger Groups is “designed to be less disruptive” than a regular group call. Participants will not be rung when a call starts. Instead, they will “receive a push notification” with an in-chat bubble you have to tap in order to join. 

At the top of the screen is a series of controls where you can mute, unmute, or message other people in the group without having to leave. Of course, you can hang up any time you want using the same controls. Like with all forms of messaging on WhatsApp, the large voice chats will be end-to-end encrypted.

Availability

The Verge states the patch will be rolling out to the Android and iOS apps over the coming weeks, however, it’ll first be made available to bigger groups hosting 33 to 128 participants. It’s unknown why smaller chats will have to wait to receive the same feature. But as The Verge points out, it could be because the Group Voice Call tool already exists. Meta is seemingly prioritizing the larger chats first before moving on to all users.

No word if WhatsApp has plans to expand this to their desktop app; although we did ask. This story will be updated at a later time.

With Black Friday around the corner, we expect a lot of discounts for major brands. If you want to see what’s out there, check out TechRadar’s roundup of the best Black Friday phone deals for 2023. 

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Microsoft wants people to love Windows 11’s Outlook app again – even if they have an iPhone
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Microsoft has given Windows 11’s desktop email app, Outlook, a major revamp with the addition of Apple iCloud functionality for people who use iPhones or other Apple devices, plus other features. This upgrade is available to all Windows 11 users and you can add your iCloud account to your Outlook app by doing the following: 

1. Click the cog icon in your Outlook menu, which should open your Email accounts setting. This is where you can see all of the accounts that are connected to your Outlook and manage them. 

2. Select Add account and sign into your Apple iCloud account. This should connect your iCloud account. 

The Outlook app had supported Apple’s email service in the past before Windows 11’s launch, but according to Windows Latest, Microsoft is in the process of deploying a new Outlook app in place of the old one. Apparently reception has been lukewarm from users, but Microsoft is adding lots of new features with every new version.

One of the biggest complaints users have with the renewed Outlook app has been that it launches in a web wrapper. The old app was a fully functional UWP app, with both online and offline support. However, the new app only got offline support very recently. User complaints about the new app persist, and Microsoft is continuing to develop the app to hopefully improve users’ experiences and improve their opinion of the new app.

The latest in a string of new developments

This development follows shortly after Microsoft also added compatibility with Gmail, Google Calendar, and contacts to Outlook. iCloud support is also now available to all Windows 11 users, and Microsoft is reportedly working on extending offline support for more parts of the Outlook app, including events and Calendar. 

One feature that users have to look forward to as part of Microsoft’s new Outlook is being able to RSVP to meetings. Windows Latest spotted this as an upcoming update in the Microsoft 365 roadmap, which details what Microsoft has in store for various Microsoft 365 apps. This will help users receive information about the nature of any specific meeting and better decide if they would like to attend. This development is expected to debut in March 2024.

Another feature that has been added will help users understand their meetings and schedules. Microsoft explained on its Tech Community blog that users will be able to track declined meetings better in the Outlook calendar. This will be useful  for many users, especially those who have overlapping or densely-packed meetings, and want to better understand what they are and aren’t attending.

meeting

(Image credit: Bild von Free Photos auf Pixabay)

How to turn on visibility for declined meetings

The above is now available within the most up to date version of Outlook, but is disabled by default. You can enable it through the following steps: 

1. Open the Outlook app. 

2. Go to: Settings > Calendar > Events & Invitations > Save declined events

3. Tick (Click) the Show declined events in your calendar box. 

This should turn on the feature and declined meetings should begin to be displayed in your Calendar. 

In order for a meeting to be classified as declined, you will have to have declined the meeting in all Outlook clients and Teams, with the exception of the original Windows Outlook client. 

It’s going to take a little more to win over Windows users it seems, but these seem like some solid steps. These are available to all Windows 11 users with a valid copy of Outlook as far as we know and if you don’t have these features yet, you may need to update your Outlook app. It is to be confirmed if this extends to free users who use Outlook online.

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Google Search can help people learn English with new language tutor tool
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Duolingo may have a new rival on its hands as Google Search on Android will soon begin helping people in certain countries practice and improve speaking English.

Over the next few days or so, the company will be rolling out an “interactive speaking” tool to users in Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Venezuela. It provides practice sessions where students will be asked questions and they must verbally respond to them “using a provided vocabulary word” in their answer. As an example, Google Search might ask “what do you do for fun?” with the vocab word being “Play”. Students can respond by saying “I play video games in my free time” or “I like to play sports with friends”. Above the question will be a little animation of a cartoon character interacting with you.

Each session lasts about three to five minutes. After which, the tech will deliver “personalized feedback” as well as the “option to sign up for daily reminders” to continue lessons so you don't fall behind.

English tutor on Google Search

(Image credit: Future)

According to the announcement post, the feature can be accessed through a small window under Google Translate on the search engine. Tapping it activates the lesson. Once done, you’ll be taken to a “Speak” section where users can see a calendar of how many times per week they practice, the total amount of words practiced, and the classes they’re a part of. 

You can try out multiple courses at once. Plus you can pause them whenever you want if you’re short on time. Google states that since this will be on Android phones, people can learn “at their own pace, anytime, anywhere.” 

Focusing on context

Something we found particularly interesting is the type of feedback students will receive because it focuses heavily on context. 

You have semantic feedback, telling users if their “response was relevant to the question” at hand and if it could be understood by the other person (or in this case, the AI). It’ll also teach you ways to improve your grammar by pointing out missing words. Below the feedback will be a series of sample answers “at varying levels of language complexity”. They’re meant to show a student alternate ways of responding to questions. You don’t always have to say the same thing – that’s the idea Google wants to teach.

Google's personalized feedback

(Image credit: Future)

Additionally, the search engine will provide “contextual translation” if someone is having a tough time understanding a phrase. You can tap on any word in a sentence to see what it means in a particular context.

Future expansion

We highly recommend reading through the post on the company’s Research blog as it explains the technology behind this feature. It's rather interesting. It explains how the feature is powered by several machine learning models like LaMDA, the same AI behind Google Bard.

Google does have plans to expand its language tutor to “more countries and languages in the future” although no word on exactly when this update will arrive. So we reached out asking for more details on its future availability. We also wanted to know if the tutor will ever arrive on desktop or iOS. At this time, it’ll remain exclusive to Android. We will update this story at a later time.

While we have you, be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best language learning apps for 2023.

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Google Maps is getting a big accessibility update that could change how people connect with the world
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Google is introducing new accessibility features to several of its platforms to help people with disabilities get around town more easily.

A few of the six changes will be exclusive to smartphones. Search with Live View on Google Maps will receive “screen reader capabilities… [giving] auditory feedback of the place around you”. This tool is meant to help “people who are blind or low-vision” get helpful info like the name or category of a location and how far away it is from their current position. All users have to do to activate it is tap the camera icon in the Google Maps search bar and then aim the rear camera at whatever is around them.  

Google Maps screen reader

(Image credit: Google)

The screen reader is making its way to iOS starting today with the Android version rolling out in the coming months. Also coming to mobile, the Chrome app’s address bar will be able to detect typos in text and display “suggested websites” according to what the browser thinks you’re looking for. This second tool is meant to help people with dyslexia find the content they’re looking for.

Google points out these two build on top of the recently released accessibility features on Pixel phones like the Magnifier app as well as the upgraded Guided Frame. The latter can help blind people take selfies by utilizing a “combination of audio cues, high-contrast animations, and haptic feedback”. 

Guided Frame is available on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro with plans to expand it to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 by the end of the year.

Magnifier on Google Pixel

(Image credit: Google)

Easier navigation

The rest of the update consists of minor tweaks to select apps.

First, Google Maps on mobile is adding a “wheelchair-accessible transit” option for people looking for locations that don’t have any stairs at the entrance as well as buildings that are wheelchair friendly. Similarly, Maps for Android Auto will indicate “wheelchair-accessible places” on the screen with a little blue icon next to relevant results. Additionally, local businesses have the opportunity to label themselves as “Disabled-owned” on Google Search in case you want to support them directly.

The last change sees Assistant Routines on Google Home become more like the company's Actions Block app as users can configure the icons on the main screen however they want. For example, the on-screen icons can be increased in size and you can alter the thumbnail image for one of the blocks.

A Google representative told us this batch is currently rolling out so keep an eye out for the patch when it arrives.

We recommend checking out TechRadar’s list of the best text-to-speech software for 2023 if you’re looking for other ways to help you navigate the internet. 

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Windows 11 remains an unloved OS – but why won’t people upgrade?
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Windows 11 is still struggling to attract folks to upgrade, going by the latest stats on the desktop OS market from a major analyst firm.

TechSpot noticed the new figures for last month from StatCounter, one of the main outfits that keeps tabs on Windows versions and their relative levels of adoption.

So, on the cusp of two years after its release (technically, it was released two years ago, but the adoption figures are for September 2023), Windows 11 now holds a 23.6% market share.

For almost two years of existence, that’s not a very impressive inroad carved into the desktop OS world. What makes it worse is that the needle has barely moved for Windows 11 since April 2023, when it was at 23.1%.

In other words, over the past five months, Windows 11 has managed to gain 0.5%, which is a pretty poor show. Half a percent in almost half a year…

Windows 10 still holds a 71.6% share of the desktop market, with Windows 7 having dwindled away to 3.3% of diehards at this point.

Analysis: Why might people be avoiding Windows 11?

If we draw a comparison to what Windows 10 managed to reach in just under two years of its life, that was 36.6%, a good deal more than Windows 11 has achieved now. Indeed, at the two-and-a-half-year point, Windows 10 overtook Windows 7 – and clearly Windows 11 taking the desktop OS top spot isn’t going to happen in six months’ time.

Why is Windows 11 struggling so much compared to its predecessor? There are a few likely reasons, but a primary one is that it makes life more difficult in terms of upgrading.

New system requirements for Windows 11, most notably TPM (security) and ruling out older generations of processors, have left many folks with somewhat older PCs unable to upgrade even if they wanted to. At least not without modifying or upgrading hardware, which many PC owners aren’t keen on doing, frankly, especially not to get access to an operating system which isn’t all that different to Windows 10 at its heart.

That’s another major issue here. Yes, Windows 11 does make a good number of changes, but under the hood, deep down, it remains much the same OS as Windows 10 in many ways. So, there isn’t as much of a drive to upgrade in that respect.

Except maybe for gamers, who do get some interesting goodies with Windows 11 – and there’ll be more important stuff to come, certainly when DirectStorage gets wider support on the PC gaming scene – and that’s reflected in the current Steam stats for Windows 11. Those show Windows 11 securing a 37.4% market share with gamers on Steam, which is a good deal higher than StatCounter observes with everyday PC users.

Coincidentally, that level is about where Windows 11 should be for non-gaming users, if it had managed the same pace of adoption as Windows 10.

Other reasons folks may give Windows 11 a swerve include adverts sneaking into the OS more, privacy issues bound up in that, and some odd design decisions with the interface (like removing the ‘never combine’ taskbar option, though that choice has now been corrected). A steady stream of bug reports popping up and weirdly persistent problems like sluggish SSDs probably don’t help, either.

At any rate, it looks like Windows 11 adoption is going to continue to be a sluggish affair for Microsoft, and perhaps the only factor that’ll really speed it up is when the end of support starts to come into view for Windows 10. (That support deadline is October 2025, incidentally, so still two years away).

Via PC Gamer

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Apple may be considering a cheaper Vision Pro model – so people might be able to actually buy the headset
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The Apple Vision Pro is probably the most ambitious product to be announced this year, combining an interesting design and staggering price tag with some exciting-sounding tech that could make it really stand out from other virtual reality headsets (not that Apple wants the Vision Pro to be considered a VR headset). It features two 4K microLED panels that at the moment are only sourced from Sony, with the manufacturer capping annual display production at just a million units dedicated to the headset. 

This puts a spanner in the works, as not only will Apple be unable to produce as many units as possibly needed, but it also means the company has no negotiating power with component prices, as only Sony is making them. However, it seems like two Chinese suppliers are currently being evaluated to produce the microLED technology, which could enable mass production and hopefully, a cheaper model. 

According to The Information, two people “with direct knowledge of the matter” claim that Apple is “testing advanced displays” by two companies for possible inclusion in future models. 

A source cited in the article also hints at the possibility of a non-pro, more financially accessible, version of the Vision headset, stating that Apple is evaluating BOE’s and SeeYa’s – the two companies mentioned above –  displays for future models of both the Vision Pro and a cheaper headset internally code-named N109, which The Information previously reported was in an early stage of development.

The cheaper the better 

Apple already uses BOE for iPad and iPhone displays, so there is a good chance that they would collaborate again for Vison Pro panels. When the augmented reality headset was announced in June of this year, the steep price tag of $ 3,500 caused concern about who could actually afford to buy one.

In a time when people are concerned with the cost of living, who is this device actually for? During WWDC 2023 many people felt there was no clear audience for the Vision Pro, and at $ 3,500 not many people would be willing to shell out just to give the experimental technology a try. 

Hopefully, as Apple searches for cheaper display manufacturers and considers a more ‘basic’ Vision headset, it will give more people a chance to try out the impressive tech. Obviously, a cheaper alternative will have watered-down features, but I would rather spend half the price on a headset I can afford, that may be missing a few features than to be completely priced out of such exciting tech. 

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Google said to be testing new life coach AI for providing helpful advice to people
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For the past several months, Google has been consistently rolling out generative AI tech like the launch of the Search Engine Experience and giving Chrome the ability to summarize news articles. In the future, the tech giant may be taking artificial intelligence into a new frontier: offering life advice.

This information comes from a recently published New York Times article detailing the company’s next big AI project. DeepMind, Google’s own artificial intelligence research lab, has been testing new technology that could effectively turn generative AI “into a personal life coach”. They state that DeepMind is trying to find a way to have their model “perform at least 21 different types of personal and professional tasks”. As we already established, this includes giving people life advice, such as  “ideas, planning instructions, [plus] tutoring tips”. 

For example, you could conceivably ask the chatbot to drum up a workout or meal plan if you want to lose weight. Or maybe you could ask for suggestions related to specific situations like what to do if you can’t make a friend’s wedding.

Intimate knowledge

Technically, these described functions are already present on Google Bard, so this is nothing new. What’s different, according to the piece, is that the company is seeking to improve the AI’s ability to “answer intimate questions about challenges in people’s lives.” To make this whole thing possible, DeepMind apparently brought together “100 experts with doctorates in different fields… [to] assess the tool’s responses”. 

Presumably, this group includes mental health professionals. The problem is that the New York Times doesn't provide concrete details. We don’t have opinions from any of the experts on exactly how good Google’s life coach chatbot is at the moment. 

Still, the main takeaway is whatever the tech giant is cooking up, it appears to be pretty substantial.

An AI arms race

What’s particularly interesting about this life coach project is it flies in the face of company policy. Google’s Bard Privacy Help Hub recommends not to rely on the chatbot’s responses for “medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.” 

So, why the about face? The New York Times theorizes this could be part of an effort to overcome rivals like OpenAI. As pointed out in the piece, corporations and start-ups have been engaging in an AI arms race ever since ChatGPT launched, vying for the top position in the industry. Google essentially creating a “robo-therapist” may be the edge it needs.

There is, however, a chance this tech will never see the light of day. A DeepMind spokeswoman told the Times that developers are indeed testing the AI, but evaluations are not indicative of a “product road map.”

We will say the idea of an AI that can help with creating robust workout plans or tutoring people in a skill does sound pretty helpful. Hopefully, a breakthrough will come from these experiments.

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ChatGPT pulls plug on Bing integration after people used it to bypass paywalls
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Party’s over for ChatGPT Plus subscribers as OpenAI announced it has temporarily disabled the Browse with Bing beta tool from its service. The reason? Apparently, people used the feature to completely bypass paywalls and consume content for free.

Browsing with Bing gave ChatGPT the ability to pull information from recently published sources so it could answer time-sensitive questions. However, it appears the company’s developers underestimated the feature’s capabilities. According to an official help page, “if a user specifically asks for a URL’s full text,” the AI will fulfill the request, including displaying content from paywalled articles. OpenAI stated it’s fixing this issue because it wants “to do right by content owners.” The tool will return someday in the future. Exactly when is unknown at the time of this writing.

What’s also unknown is how the AI was able to bypass paywalls although there is some speculation on the ChatGPT subreddit. One user points out that since “some paywalls are simply pasted over” articles, ChatGPT could simply read the code rendering the text and display the content without a problem. 

Analysis: Avoiding trouble

The response to this announcement has been pretty negative as subscribers flocked to OpenAI’s Community forums to air their grievances.  Some state Browse with Bing was the sole reason they purchased ChatGPT Plus in the first place. One poster says the feature allowed them to read some repositories on GitHub or forum posts that were in another language. Others said that without Browse with Bing, they’re not getting their money’s worth.

As angry as these people are, it’s totally understandable why OpenAI would disable the tool. The company has been hit left, right, and center by multiple lawsuits. Just to give you an idea, you have the lawsuit from the California-based Clarkson Law Firm which alleges “ChatGPT massively violated the copyrights and privacy of countless people when it used data scraped from the internet to train its tech.” There are authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad who claim OpenAI used their books to train the generative AI “without attribution”. And you have Georgia radio host Mark Walters suing the developers for defamation after ChatGPT claimed he embezzled “funds from a non-profit organization.”

What's crazy is all those lawsuits are just from this past month.

Needless to say, OpenAI is currently navigating some rough waters. The last thing the company needs right now is to get hit with yet another lawsuit. Better safe than sorry.

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Windows 11 SSD slowdown bug has been hanging around for months – and people are fed up
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Windows 11 continues to have a problem for some users whereby their SSD speeds are being seriously slowed down, and it’s still not clear what Microsoft might be doing about this issue.

Windows Latest highlights the ongoing stream of reports about SSD slowdowns which first began back in March 2023 (with update KB5023778).

Since then, after every cumulative update for Windows 11, including the update for June, there have been folks complaining about performance being hampered with even the best SSDs.

That also includes the June preview (optional) update, which will become the July update a week tomorrow (July 11), and so is very likely to carry the problem.

Windows Latest points to a whole string of complaints on Reddit and Microsoft’s Feedback Hub for Windows 11 (as well as the tech site’s own forums).

Here’s one example of an affected user on Reddit: “Yes, I only encountered this issue after I installed the Moment 2 update [March update] before Moment 2 everything was fast and responsive. To this day none of the patches fixed the bug for me. Microsoft should really fix game-breaking bugs before working on releasing new features.”

With the latest preview update for June (that’ll become July’s update, as mentioned), another complaint runs like this: “Oh, so there actually is a storage bug going on? My NVME SSD has around 1200 MB/s sequential write speed right now, it should be up to 4400 MB/S. Read speeds are normal.”

Analysis: Let’s have some communication here, Microsoft

We have to agree with the Windows Latest report, as we’ve definitely noticed that with the notes for every patch release on Reddit, there’s an SSD complaint in there somewhere. Either someone new hit by the issue, or people asking if the slowdown gremlin has been fixed for other folks, as it hasn’t for them. Invariably, the answer is no, it hasn’t.

So, what’s Microsoft doing about this? We’ve not seen any official replies on those mentioned threads, and according to Windows Latest, Microsoft has confirmed it has received these bug reports, but hasn’t said anything further. That’s far from ideal, of course, even if this isn’t a hugely widespread problem (we’re not entirely sure of the scale of the numbers of those affected, but there are certainly a fair few folks out there complaining).

Needless to say, those in that particular boat are none too pleased, and are bemoaning Microsoft working on new features – and lauding the likes of DirectStorage for speeding up PC games and SSD loading speeds – while leaving a flaw like this apparently unaddressed over a period of months now.

Microsoft can surely do better, if not in delivering a fix for what seems to be a pretty clear problem at this point, then at least in letting us all know what’s going on. As of right now we don’t even know if this is on any priority lists for being investigated, let alone resolved.

If we had to guess, the drive slowdown problem may be tied to multiple issues – which is perhaps why new folks seemingly keep finding themselves affected down the line – and this is a messy one for Microsoft to untangle. It’d be nice to get an update on exactly what’s going on to tackle this, though, and hopefully we’ll see that soon enough.

Meanwhile, your only recourse if affected is to uninstall the update that caused the SSD to hit performance issues. But of course, that leaves you without the latest security fixes, which could be an even bigger problem ultimately, if you get unlucky.

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