Maps are now a section in the App Store

Realizing how upset people are with Maps in iOS 6 map apps are now highlighted in the App Store in their own section.

This is a good effort on the part of Apple to appease those that are inconvenienced by the Maps app on iOS 6.

Tim Cook apologizes for Maps in iOS 6

Read the open letter by Tim Cook here.

Apple acknowledged the flaws in their Maps app and apologized today. Stating they only wanted to provide a better user experience than they were currently allowed to provide with Google Maps. Also suggesting other map apps you may want to try out whilst Apple works out the kinks with their own Maps app.

To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO

Flipboard as a YouTube viewer

I mentioned Jasmine in a previous post but now I'm going to talk about Flipboard in regards to watching YouTube video.

As good as Jasmine is, there are some drawbacks, namely the inability to comment whilst still watching the video. You have to take your turn and do them separately. Also I noticed some glitchy behavior with regard to rewind, fast forward, and AirPlay streaming. That is why for the time being I prefer to use Flipboard, although I still use Jasmine for when I want to reply to someones comment (as far as I can tell, I can start a new comment, but not reply to an existing comment on Flipboard. If this is wrong, please correct me).

Just go to the "Account" section of Flipboard, from there you can log into YouTube and a plethora of social networks. After you are signed into YouTube you can start viewing videos directly within the Flipboard app itself. As you will see in the images below, all your usual suspects are there. Subscriptions, Favorites, Playlists, Trending, popular, etc.

At the bottom are the Comment, Like, and Share buttons. Unfortunally there is no unlike button like there is on the YouTube website (Jasmine has stars, like the old YouTube had before switching over to the like/dislike system). Also in the Share menu is the Flag Inappropriate option. If you have a Pocket account you can even save the video to watch later from within Share.

And when watching a video in full screen, the controls are exactly the same as they were in the old native YouTube app in iOS 5. Complete with a shrink button (something Jasmine doesn't have) so you can continue to watch whilst as the same time leaving a comment.

Overall, I like both apps for watching YouTube and both offer a little different experience. I prefer watching the videos on Flipboard and for basic commenting, but if I wish to reply to a comment, I still have Jasmine for that. Give both apps a try and use whichever one you prefer.