Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

WeGoHereletsyoudownloadmapsof

morethan 10 0countriestobrowseoffline

OpenStreetMap helps youfindyourway

aroundwithoutbeingspied on

Fruuxisanalternativeto

GoogleCalendarwith

lotsofhandyfeatures

StoreyourphotoswithPiwig ofor

unlimitedstorage andhundreds of plug ins

Give up for 2020

COVER

FEATU

RE

11 -26December 2019 43

Signupforfreeandyou’llget 5 0MB
ofpermanentstorage,alongwith
completeCryptDrivefunctionality.

MAPS
GoogleMapsisunquestionably
afantasticservice–youcandiscover
whatanarealookslikeinreallife,
thankstoStreetView;getturn-by-turn
directionswhenyou’reoutandabout;
andseealternativerouteswhenroads
areclosedortrafficgetstooheavy.If
you’veeverwonderedhowGoogle
knowswhatthetrafficsituationiswhere
youare,theanswerisitrecordsthe
locationandspeedofallusersofitsapp
(eveniftheyaren’tactivelyusingit).
Andyes,thatincludesyou.
Forthatreasonalone,it’sworth
switchingtoanalternativeservice
suchasOpenStreetMap(www
.openstreetmap.org).Thisiscreated
andupdatedbyordinarywould-be
cartographers–andletsyoumake
yourowncontributionsifyouwant
–andprovidesdirectionsfromone
placetoanotherbycar,bicycleoron
foot.OpenStreetMapisopendata,
whichmeansyoucanuseitinany
wayyoulike,providedyoucredit
OpenStreetMap.Youcanalsodownload
anumberofthird-partyappsthatuse
itsinformation.

Forexample,OsmAnd (osmand.net)
includesdatafrombothOpenStreetMap
andWikipedia,andis availablefor
Androidand iOS. It workstotally offline,
andincludesturn-by-turnvoice
guidance. If youwantadditional
features, suchas frequentmapupdates
andunlimiteddownloads,youcan
payfor asubscription,whichcosts
€7.99(£6.74) ayearandhelps support
theproject.
Another optionis WeGoHere (wego
.here.com), whichlets youbrowsemaps
ontheweb,get directions andview
trafficinformation,andprovides free

appsforAndroidandiOS.Ithasoffline

mapsoftheUK,US,Germany,France,

Spain,Italy,Canada,Australiaandmore

than 100 othercountries,andpublic

transitinformationformorethan 1 ,3 00

citiesincludingLondon,NewYork,

Sydney,Paris,Berlin,RomeandToronto.

PHOTOS

GooglePhotosletsyoustoreyour

imagesinthecloudforeasyaccess

fromanywhereandofferslotsofuseful

tools,butit’shardtoshakethecreepy

feelingthatGoogleisanalysingyour

pictures.OnaniPhoneoriPad,youcan

useiCloudinstead,butthereareother

third-partysolutionsavailable,suchas

theopen-sourcePiwigo(piwigo.org).

Withthisservice,youcanstorephotos

onyourownwebhostforfreeorpay

forPiwigo’sowncloudstorage,which

costsfrom€ 39 (£32. 87 )ayear.Youget

unlimitedstorageforyourimages,

accesstohundredsofpluginsthatadd

extrafeaturesandyoucancreatea

personalisedphotolibraryandshareit

withtheworld.Thereisamobileapp

available,too,butit’siOSonly(there

arethird-partyclientsavailablefor

Android, though).

Recall ( app.recall.photos)isanother

open-source alternativetoGoogle

Photos.Touse it,youneedto create a

freeaccountwithBlockstack

(blockstack.org)andcanstoreyour

photosthere,orchooseadifferent

storageprovider.There’salsoan

iOSapp.

CALENDAR

GoogleCalendarmakesiteasyto

keeptrackofeventhebusiestoflives,

butAppleprovidesiPhoneuserswith

acalendaroftheirown,andthereare

alternativeservicessuchasFruux

(fruux.com)andCozi(www.cozi.com)

thatarebothverygood.Fruuxis

availablefor

allmajor

platforms,

including

Windows,

macOS,

Linux,

Android,iOS

andtheweb.

Aswellas

calendars

withmultiple

views,Fruux

includes

contactsand

taskstools,

anditsfree

versionis

availableto

useonuptotwodevices.

Cozi isdescribedasasimplefamily

organiserforAndroid,iOSandtheweb.

Itincludesto-doandshoppinglists,

andafamilycalendarthatletsyouset

reminders,organiseeventsandsend

agendaemails.There’saplacetostore

recipesand

planmeals,

alongwitha

family journal.

Cozi is

ad-supported,

butyoucan

remove the

adsandgain

access to

additional

features,

suchas

contacts and

birthdays,by

subscribing

to Cozi Gold

for$29.99

(£22.84) a

year.There’sa

14-day free

trialavailable.

Organise your life from

your phoneusing Cozi’s

Android or iOSapp