A few weeks ago, Google announced that users will soon be able to locate vaccination sites on Google Maps, starting with the Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas region. Now, Apple has announced a similar convenience for its own mapping and navigation service – Apple Maps. Users can now directly ask Siri, or search for vaccination sites within Apple Maps. To bring the feature to life, Apple has partnered with Vaccine Finder, a free service that helps people – who are eligible for a jab – check vaccine availability at a pharmacy or health facility.
Users can find nearby COVID-19 vaccination locations from the Search bar in Apple Maps by selecting COVID-19 Vaccines in the Find Nearby menu or by asking Siri, “Where can I get a COVID vaccination?”
In addition to finding vaccination spots, users will be able to see other important information such as operating hours, address, contact details, and a link to the official website of the vaccination service provider. All the aforementioned details will be readily accessible from the Apple Maps placecard for each vaccination site.
Operating hours, address, contact details, and a link to official websites can also be found
The company says that in the initial phase of rollout, Apple Maps will cover over 20,000 vaccination sites, with plans to add more in the weeks to come. While Apple is relying on Vaccine Finder’s database to show locations where you can access the COVID-19 vaccine, the company is allowing healthcare service providers, labs, and concerned businesses to submit information about vaccination sites as well as testing spots using the Apple Business Register page. And after due verification, they will be added to Apple Maps as well.
Apple Maps already shows COVID-19 testing locations in countries across multiple continents, details such as working hours for businesses, places that allow takeout facility, and more. Plus, users can also listen to the latest information and news about the ongoing pandemic from reliable sources in the form of short podcasts called Siri Audio briefs.
Facebook has today made a couple of major announcements regarding its effort to assist with COVID-19 vaccination efforts. First, the company will help people find reliable information regarding vaccination drives conducted by government and health authorities. And second, it will clamp down on misinformation by removing contents that spreads false claims about vaccines.
Facebook is bringing its COVID-19 Information Center to Instagram as well
The social media behemoth says that it will add links related to the local ministry of health websites on its COVID-19 Information Center to help people find information such as eligibility for getting the vaccine, and when and where can they get vaccinated. The company aims to expand this to other countries in the coming weeks. Facebook is also bringing its COVID-19 Information Center to Instagram soon, increasing the reach of useful information across all its apps.
Additionally, the company is also trying to help authorities as they try to relay verified and updated information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. “We’re giving $120 million in ad credits to help health ministries, NGOs and UN agencies reach billions of people around the world with COVID-19 vaccine and preventive health information,” the company says.
Image: Facebook
The second, and probably the more important announcement from today, was a promise to contain vaccine-related misinformation on its platform. The company says it will remove false claims regarding the COVID-19 vaccine from both Facebook and Instagram. It is also expanding the list of misleading information – which now broadly covers COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general – that will be removed promptly.
Facebook will remove vaccine-related misinformation, but the challenge is daunting
However, it appears that removing vaccine-related misinformation will be more challenging than it appears on paper. And right now, Facebook doesn’t appear to be doing a good job at that. As per a CNN report, 4 out of the top 10 search results for the keyword ‘vaccine’ returned anti-vaccination accounts. Here’s what the CNN team discovered further when it comes to Facebook-owned Instagram:
“Shortly after, Instagram updated its search interface on mobile devices to showcase three credible results, including the CDC’s account, followed by a “See More Results” prompt. Users who click on that option are then shown a number of anti-vaccination accounts, in what is arguably the digital equivalent to shoving the mess in a bedroom under the bed.”
And to make matters worse, some of the accounts peddling hoaxes and unsubstantiated non-scientific claims about the COVID-19 vaccine appear to have a sizeable following. It remains to be seen how effectively Facebook can enforce its new policy across its eponymous social media network and Instagram as well.
In a bid to lend support to the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Google has today announced that it will open some of its buildings, open spaces, and parking lots to be used as vaccination sites. The company is joining hands with health care provider One Medical and public health authorities for turning some of its sites into vaccination spots, starting with Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area in California, Kirkland in Washington and New York City, with plans of expanding the initiative to a national scale.
Google is pledging $150 million towards vaccine education and equitable distribution
Google CEO Satya Nadella mentioned in a blog postthat the company is setting aside an amount of $150 million that will go towards promoting vaccine education and ensuring equitable distribution. “Today, we’re announcing an additional $100 million in ad grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization, and nonprofits around the globe. We’ll invest another $50 million in partnership with public health agencies to reach underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information,” Nadella wrote.
Google Maps and Search will help with the vaccination drive
The search giant has also announced that in the coming weeks, Google Maps will show COVID-19 vaccination locations, and the same will be available via Search as well. Vaccination spots will first start appearing on Google Maps for Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, with additional states set to join the list soon. Following is an image that shows how vital information about COVID-19 vaccination will be accessible on Search as well as Google Maps:
Image: Google
Users will also get information such as the requirement for an appointment prior to getting vaccinated, if they qualify to be in the group that is eligible for vaccination in that phase, and more. Furthermore, the company plans to launch a “Get The Facts” initiative that will help users get access to authoritative information from reliable sources about vaccination across its Search platform as well as YouTube.
Since early last year, the Covid-19 pandemic has been affecting the tech world when it caused several major events to be canceled or postponed. It has also made us enter a new way of life, where we’ve had to make some changes to coexist with the virus. Some of those changes include all-digital product launches, more people working from home, and we have also seen several stores shut their doors to keep their employees and customers safe. That’s precisely what Apple is doing with its Apple Stores, once again.
We have seen how Apple Stores have been reopening their doors around the world, but a recent rise in Covid-19 cases has forced Apple to close several locations. Cupertino has closed nearly 100 of its stores during the holiday season, which leaves 401 Apple Stores open out of the 509 locations around the world. Now, if you’re looking for an open store in the US, you will most likely find that it is limited to Express storefront pickup of orders you make online.
Just yesterday, Apple closed two of its stores in Los Angeles, with eleven more stores closing today, with no word as to when they might open their doors again. Since earlier this month, all of Southern California is under stay-at-home order, but this order doesn’t force non-essential stores to close. This means that malls and stores are still working wire reduced capacity. However, Apple may have decided to close its stores to protect its employees.
I update my COVID-19 Apple Store tracker every day with the latest opening and closing information. Today I added a public map that details which locations have added Express storefronts: https://t.co/sDQBMRsxtnpic.twitter.com/72Nva8SiJg
If you’re looking to find out if an Apple Store is open close to where you live, you may want to look at the Apple Store tracker information map. It will let you know which locations are still open, which stores are operating with Express storefront pickups, and which are currently closed.
As people all around the world struggle with a global health pandemic, Google Maps has made a few improvements lately to help users adjust to this new normal and find helpful information. Recently, Google Maps introduced alerts from local transit agencies about travel restrictions, eligibility rules and guidelines for visiting a testing facility, and crowdedness predictions for public transit stations. Now, Google Maps is adding another useful tool in the form of a feature called COVID layer that will help users identify if an area is safe enough to travel depending on the severity of virus outbreak.
When you open Google Maps, tap on the circular layers icon in the top-right corner and select the “COVID-19 info” option from the tray. Once you do that, Google Maps will show a seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in each area. Additionally, an arrow graph or tag (“decreasing” or “increasing”) will show if the number of cases has gone up or reduced in each area. And to make it even easier, Google Maps will color-code each area to better explain how badly an area has been affected, with a darker shade of red representing a dangerously high pace of virus outbreak. The new Google Maps feature has already started to roll out on both Android and iOS platforms.
COVID layer is based on data from authoritative sources
Google says that the COVID-19 trend data is available on a city-level basis for all 220 countries where the service is accessible. Talking about COVID-19 infection rate data, Google says it uses information from authoritative sources such as Johns Hopkins, the New York Times and Wikipedia, which in turn get their data from the World Health Organization (WHO), government health ministries, as well as state and local health agencies and hospitals. Google says that the dataset used for creating Google Maps’ COVID-19 layer feature is the same one that brings up useful information in search.
Facebook has been battling the issue of misinformation for quite some time (with not too much of a success), but the company is trying to do better. And with a global pandemic raising the stakes even higher, the company has announced that it will notify users with some contextual information before they share an article about COVID 19.
When users are about to share an article that mentions COVID-19, a notification will pop up that will tell users the article’s source and the date it was first shared, in a bid to help them understand whether the source can be trusted and if the article is still relevant. The notification box will also have a link that will guide people to Facebook’s COVID-19 Information Center.
However, the notification will not appear for content posted by government health authorities and recognized global health organizations such as the World Health Organization. This is being done to make sure that the spread of vital information from credible health authorities is not slowed down by asking users to pause and do a double-check.
The Apple Watch Series 5, Fossil’s Gen 5 Carlyle HR smartwatch and more are on sale today
Deals. Come on, we know you want more Apple deals so yeah, awe got you. Amazon currently has the 40mm Apple Watch Series 5 for $99 off, leaving it at $300 shipped. However, this is the GPS only version but you can get the discount on more color variants. The Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle stainless steel watch is also $96 off, leaving it at $199 shipped. We have more deals on Motorola phones and Amazon products in the links in the description.
Razer’s new Blade 17 Pro offers a 300Hz display and NVIDIA’s RTX 2080 Super graphics
Razer just refreshed their Blade 17 Pro Laptop for this year in two different variants, and let’s just say both are insane in their own way. One with a 17.3in FHD IPS display at 300Hz refresh rate and another 17.3in 4K touch display at 120Hz. The specs include an 8-core 10th Gen Intel i7, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, up to 2TB of SSD and graphics can go up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max Q. It starts at $2599 and it will be available later this month. We have a full spec sheet for the ports and other details in the links in the description.
Asus ROG Phone 3 reportedly spotted on WiFi Alliance and Geekbench
We know a lot of you are huge fans of the ASUS ROG Phones and it looks like we might be getting another one soon, thought this one doesn’t seem like the powerhouse its predecessors were. It was just spotted on Geekbench and the WiFi Alliance, sporting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, 8GB of RAM and running Android 10. The model number is pretty similar to the one we got for the ROG Phone 2 so it only makes sense. This phone could launch in the second half of the year, we’ll keep you posted once we get more leaks.
It seems that Amazon Prime Day sales will be delayed until September
The WSJ claims that Amazon will be delaying their Prime Day this year for, obvious reasons. Previous reports speculated that they would delay it until August but this report claims that they will be pushing it back until September. This delay would create room for more inventory and prepare shipping for more types of products. This will most likely not hurt Amazon too much but instead the third party companies that get more sales through Prime Day. We don’t have an official date for Prime Date yet, but it won’t happen in July. Thing is, let’s be honest. I don’t think anyone is really looking for some crazy shopping in the current state of the economy.
The iPhone 12 may arrive without bundled earphones
According to Ming Chi Kuo, Apple is ready to make their next courageous move. In his latest report, Apple will stop shipping wired EarPods inside the iPhone 12 lineup’s box. This would create an inconvenience for most of the consumers which use these earbuds but, it would also boost up AirPods sales for the holidays. This goes along with Kuo’s report that Apple won’t be releasing more AirPods this year, as they might be trying to sell as much from the current models as they can. Some sources claim that we might get an AirPods bundle with the iPhone 12 but, you never know with Apple. Now why is this important? I know most Android OEMS don’t bundle earbuds, but the iPhone was always meant to be a successor to the iPod. It’s been legendarily known for the earbuds in the box since generation 1. You see people with them all the time. Oh well..
Story of the day:
Pixel 4a reportedly delayed again, might now be announced on July 13
And finally the most interesting news today continue to be Google Pixel 4a, but NOT necessarily for good reasons today. We’ve been getting more and more Pixel leaks lately because, we thought we were getting closer to the launch date for the 4a. First we were expecting it to launch around May 15th but that was clearly delayed, and we were expecting a June launch which made sense because of the Android 11 Event but it seems that won’t be the case, again… Gotta hand it to Jon Prosser for his track record in leaks, and in his new report, the Pixel 4a will be delayed once again and it will get a July 13th announcement. According to his sources, the phone is ready to ship but it keeps getting pushed because of the market’s condition due to the pandemic. Apparently it will bring a regular Snapdragon 7 Series chip with no 5G, and he also pretty much confirms that we won’t be getting an XL variant after all. The Pixel 5 might get pushed back as well.
This possible delay would allow Amazon to create room for more inventory and prepare shipping for more types of products. Whatever the case, this is still just another rumor, but hopefully, we will get a more specific date some weeks before the event takes place.
Several Apple products, gaming monitors and more, on sale today
Deals. Come on, we know you missed the Apple deals so we have some new ones for you. The latest 16in MacBook Pro is currently $300 off at B&H, leaving the 2.7GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage variant for $2099. The latest MacBook Air is also $100 off, leaving the 512GB of storage variant for $1200. For those of you gamers, the Razer Jungle Cat controller is also $15 off, leaving it at $85 shipped. We have deals on more Apple products, BenQ monitors and more in the links in the description.
iOS 13.5 brings Exposure Notification API, faster unlock experience while wearing a mask
Apple just started rolling out iOS 13.5 which brings some changes directly related to the pandemic. For starters, it brings the new notification exposure API they built with Google which is the foundation on which contact tracing apps will be developed. Other key features include Face ID now detecting that you’re wearing a mask and immediately asks for your password instead of it taking forever to realize, it also works with Apple Pay and other apps. We have the full list of changes in the description.
OnePlus might not launch another McLaren Edition phone in the future
Remember the phone with the coolest name ever? Yes, we’re talking about the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren Edition. It seems we won’t have another one to mock as, OnePlus is no longer listed in the official McLaren partners page. None of the companies has made a statement yet but it seems that their partnership has come to an end, meaning that we won’t see any McLaren branded phone from OnePlus soon. It could be a mistake or part of a strategy but, the logo still isn’t back on the site. We’ll keep you posted in case we have official statements. Let’s hope that if they do decide to work together again, the name becomes a bit less ridiculous.
We have new details about the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 launch event
Now as for some sad possible updates from the pandemic, well, Samsung usually hosts two major Unpacked Events each year for their flagship releases but. I’m actually shocked we still got the February Unpacked. Thing is, for obvious reasons this year will be different. According to a report from South Korea, Samsung has already taken their decision and this will be the first time ever that the company is releasing a flagship online. We get tons of silent releases online from Samsung but they will obviously have some sort of event for the Note’s Unpacked. The event is still slated for August but we don’t have any specific dates yet. Some other products we might get at this event include obviously the Galaxy Note 20, the Galaxy Fold 2 and some wearables.
Samsung Galaxy S21 could arrive with Chinese OLED displays
A couple of weeks ago we reported that Samsung could be ditching Samsung Display for the Galaxy S21 but, not entirely. According to some industry insiders, after a month of preliminary negotiations, Samsung just sent an official request for quotation to BOE which hints to the deal happening and also the fact that they are already working on the S21. Now, it isn’t clear if we’ll be getting a Galaxy S21 Ultra but, that one wouldn’t be using a BOE display because these orders are for 90Hz displays. They have also sent a quotation request to Samsung Display for 60Hz and 120Hz displays so, they aren’t leaving them completely. According to other insiders, Samsung is trying to get Samsung Display to lower the price on the panels and the threat of having BOE replace them might work.
Story of the day:
More rumors say that the Google Pixel 5 will have a mid-range processor
And finally, let’s call this the most interesting news today. I mean, Pixels have taken the spotlight for weeks now, though I wish they would sell as much as people care about the news. Thing is we’ve been getting several rumors that the Google Pixel 5 might not be a flagship. Yesterday we covered the fact that a Google survey showed that this phone might cost as low as $699. Now, XDA has found some new evidence in the Android 11 Developer Preview that hint to the Pixel 5 bringing the Snapdragon 765G processor. It isn’t clear if it will be the 765G or the new 768G but it is compatible to what they found in the new Google Camera APK for upcoming Pixel phones. The price tag also hints that this phone might not bring a Snapdragon 865 after all.
We know that Samsung is still planning to present the new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series and the Galaxy Fold 2 in the second half of 2020. We also know that Samsung usually holds its Unpacked event in the United States, in San Francisco and New York, but the current pandemic may change things a bit.
It seems that Samsung’s next Unpacked event would still take place in August, but with a different approach. According to a new report from South Korea, the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 launch event will be held online in August, but there’s no mention of a specific date. We will probably miss out on a huge show, like other years, but at least Samsung may have taken the best decision since mass gatherings are still prohibited because of the ongoing situation. This would be the first time Samsung changes the way it unveils its flagships, and let’s remember that we could also see the arrival of a new Samsung Galaxy Fold 2. Whatever the case, an online presentation would still be better than a press release, since Samsung is also known for launching some of its tablets, mid-rangers and a couple of wearables this way.
After Google and Facebook, who recently announced that some of its employees will be able to work from home until the end of 2020, another U.S. giant is taking a similar measure.
Twitter will allow some of its employees to work from home permanently. This refers to employees who can work remotely, and the decision makes Twitter the first major tech company to allow employees to work from home indefinitely.
Even in the case of those who are physically required to be at the office, Twitter said it will not re-open most offices before September, and, when it happens, “employees can choose whether or not to come to the facilities”, Reuters reports.
After declaring a company holiday for May 22, in order to combat burnout for those who are working from home, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly told employees that they’ll continue to work from home until the end of the year, opposed to the initial deadline which was set for June 1.
Those who are required to physically be in the office will be allowed to come back sometime in June or July, and will have to obey strict safety measures.
Facebook has also asked employees to continue working from home for the remainder of the year.
Under the current circumstances, chances are that more companies will follow suit, now that two of the largest tech companies have set an example.
WhatsApp recently reduced the message forwarding limit on its platform to curb the spread of coronavirus-related misinformation and even saw positive results after doing so. Moving forward in the same direction, WhatsApp has partnered with Poynter Institute to launch a bot for fact-checking COVID-19 claims and control the spread of false news and rumors.
The WhatsApp bot from Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checkers Network (IFCN) will let users in 70 countries quickly verify a coronavirus-related claim and check if it is true or just a hoax. The bot will rely on a bank of over 4,000 myths debunked by 80 fact-checking organizations from 74 countries across the globe.
Just save +1 (727) 2912606 as a contact or click on this link (http://poy.nu/ifcnbot), send a “hi” text and then follow the on-screen instructions. Users can send a simple keyword or phrase to fact check if there is any COVID-19 misinformation related to it. The chatbot currently has support for English language only, but more languages will soon be added to its database too.
Apple and Google have today revealed more information about their jointly-developed COVID-19 exposure notification system. The new resources are aimed at developers and include details such as UI design concepts and sample codes for both Android (as an SDK) and iOS (in the form of an Xcode toolkit) that will serve as building blocks for their respective apps.
The UI schematics give us an early look at how this system will work and look on mobile devices. Both the companies have also made it clear that the API will be restricted to one app per country, and in case a country goes for a regional/state-wise approach, the two companies will continue to provide additional updates.
Lastly, Apple and Google have also made a few changes to the policies governing the usage of exposure notification API, and they are listed below:
Apps must be created by or for a government public health authority and they can only be used for COVID-19 response efforts.
Apps must require users to consent before the app can use the Exposure Notifications API.
Apps must require users to consent before sharing a positive test result, and the “Diagnosis Keys” associated with their devices, with the public health authority.
Apps should only collect the minimum amount of data necessary and can only use that data for COVID-19 response efforts. All other uses of user data, including targeting advertising, is not permitted.
Apps are prohibited from seeking permission to access Location Services.
