What wethinkof thisfortnight’s top tech newsstoriesandrumours,
andhow they affectyou
Discussweb news atwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 10 - 23 July 2019 9
Needto Know
Credit: Elena Rostunova / Shutterstock.comLiverpool, London,
Newcastle, Nottingham,
Oxford, Reading, Sheffield
andSouthampton. The
crowdedness predictions will
showup in Google Maps
when you use the app to plan
a journey on public transport.What dowethink?
If you have a Google product
on your phone andhaven’t
fiddled with the location-minute. This
flawwon’t
damage your
PC, Microsoft
says.What do
wethink?
This is a small
flawwith
limited
impact, but
it’s still annoying. Microsoft’s
Windowsupdates have been
buggy of late, andthis latest
issue only adds to the pile of
problemsusers face. Worse
bugs than this have been
discovered in the October
update, but the fact that
Microsoft is still spotting
themwill be frustrating to
those who use the software.Google Maps tells you how busy your bus is
USB-C bug could slow down Windows 10
based services section of
your privacysettings,
there’s a goodchance that
the tech giant is tracking
your whereabouts. Most of
the time,Google does this
not to benefit users but to
collect data for advertising
purposes. In this case,
however, the surveillance
could actually proveuseful
andhelp us avoid bus and
train crushes.
That said, most public
transport users are well
aware of when their
journeys will be crowded- it’s called rush hour for a
reason, after all. This
information would be more
useful if it were live, and
could tell us if a particular
train was unexpectedly
busy or if there was a seat
on the next bus, making it
worth the extra wait.
Updating to the latest
version will help solve the
problem, andthe latest
update issued in May
appears to be lessbuggy
than last year’s version, so
it’s worth taking the time
to download andinstall it.
Weonly wish Microsoft
took more timeto hunt for
bugs in the first place.What happened?
Google has addeda new
feature to its Maps app that
predicts how busy your
bus or train carriage will
be.The data isn’t live, but
is based on information the
company collected
previously by asking bus
passengers andtrain
commuters if their ride was
crowded andwhetherany
seats were available. The
aim is to give public
transport users more
information about what to
expect on their journey.
Alongside the
“crowdedness”predictions,
Google is rolling out live
transit updates to cities
that don’t already share
such information with
commuters, letting them
knowwhen their bus is
running late.What happened?
Microsoft has confirmed its
discovery of yet another
bug in Windows10. This
one involves devices that
connect to PCs and
laptops, such as chargers
anddocks, through the
USB-C port. The bug
appeared in the Windows
10 October 2018 update, so
anyone who still runsthat
version of the operating
systemis affected. It’s a
fairly niche bug, though:
you’ll only notice it if you
connect a device to a
USB-C port during
shutdownor in sleep mode.
If you do, Windows10 will
take longer to power off,
delaying shutdownby up
to a minute. Once theHow will it affect you?
The crowdedness predictions
will be availablein both the
Apple iOS andAndroid
versions of Google Maps, for
200 locations around the
world. In the UK, 18 cities and
towns will support the
feature to start with:
Birmingham, Brighton,
Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff,
Coventry, Crawley,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds,systemwakes up, the
connected device will still
work as it should.How will it affect you?
This flawonly affects
Windows10 PCs that use
version 1809, the update
released last October. If
you’ve updated to the more
recent version, 1903, it won’t
affect you, because Microsoft
fixed the flaw– adding
another reason to update
your operating systemif you
haven’t already. You can also
avoid the bug easily by
connecting any USB-C
devices before you shut
down. Even if you forget,
the consequences aren’t
serious, because the only real
issue is a delay of up to a