Venmo, iPhone, Google Maps, more Android

Venmo, iPhone, Google Maps, more Android

Venmo - a quick note. I have run into three people (that's everyone that I have sent Venmo money to) that have their privacy settings default to visible to friends. That means that when a friend clicks on your name, they can see every Venmo transaction that you have made. Not just to you, but to everyone. Go to Settings, Privacy and set Default Privacy Settings to Private. Then go to Past Transactions and Change All to Private. While you are in the vicinity, look at Friends List and set that as desired. I am assuming that this all works - I have not verified that it does as one would expect.

I was about to replace my Google Pixel 4a phone with an iPhone 13 mini. Then I saw a news article that shocked me. Always on lock screens might finally be coming to the iPhone 14. HUH? iPhones have had OLED screens for years. But they don't have an always on lock screen that shows the time at a glance, without interacting with the phone? Further research confirmed this. I use my phone as a clock - set it on a table or phone stand and I can see the time by looking at the phone. Scratch the iPhone mini. And apparently any future iPhones, since the small form factor is being dropped. This reminds me of European car makers that, for many years, refused to recognize the importance of cup holders in cars.

So looking back at Android phones - I took a trip to Johnson City, TN and needed to get to various places there. Google Maps always tries to find the shortest or "most fuel efficient" route. But that leads to back roads with no handy stores, restaurants, gas, and twice it led to one lane tunnels (one with and one without stoplights to help avoid wrecks). And it's difficult to learn the city with these routes. I could see on the maps that there were four lane roads that could easily be used, generally with a one or two minute ETA penalty. So I started either selecting a different route or ignoring the turn onto the back roads. But Maps has a feature to defeat this. It keeps searching for "better" routes. If it finds one, it displays a choice to switch routes. You have a few seconds to respond, and if you don't, your route changes.  I'm navigating roads that I've never been on and I must divert my attention to Maps to prevent it from ruining my trip.

And you only have these choices - No, Thank You or Accept.  Where is "IF YOU CHANGE MY ROUTE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION, I WILL ..."?

I missed a turn at one point - there was no street name at the corner. In the past, Maps would just say make a U turn. This time it took me on a 2 mile loop through narrow back roads. A U turn would have fixed the problem in a few seconds.

I see a lot of hype about artificial intelligence. I don't see any evidence of artificial intelligence in Maps. Or my Amazon Echo, which is still as stupid as it was when I purchased it.

New Google Store policy - I can't buy a new Kindle book from the Kindle App. I'm about to finish book 5 in a series. I can't just ask for book 6 - I have to go to Amazon and find it. I finish reading a sample from an ebook. I can't just ask to purchase the complete book - I have to go to Amazon and find it. Of course I am stuck with Android (see iPhone issue above).

Google has made their new privacy policy so abstruse that developers don't know how to comply with it. When you submit a revised app, they just say it doesn't comply - read the rules. They don't tell you what rule you have failed to comply with. This caught FairEmail, a superb app that I now use instead of Gmail (which crashes regularly - of course crashing multiple times a day doesn't keep an app out the Google app store). Having been absent from the app store for a while, apparently Google finally communicated the issue, and FairEmail is back in the store. Someone at Google missed their chance to destroy a great app.