Apple Maps now highlights food deliveries, hospitals, pharmacies during COVID-19 pandemic

Apple Maps made a few changes to promote essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic better. The categories on the app now prominently feature grocery stores, nearby restaurants that are open and offer delivery options, pharmacies, and hospitals. The less practical categories have been relegated to the bottom of the list. Previously, Apple Maps prioritized Restaurants, Fast Food, Gas Stations, and Cafes.

Google Maps made a similar change earlier but with a few more tweaks. Google Maps adds a COVID-19 warning message when looking for medical facilities. The warning tells people to call their doctor first before visiting medical locations if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Google also makes it clear if businesses are temporarily closed because of the pandemic. These features aren't available on Apple's navigation app.

Source: 9to5Mac

Toronto Smartphone Film Festival will be postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19

Credit: Burak K / Pexels

Due to COVID-19 and the number of cases that continue to rise, the City of Toronto has cancelled all major city events until June 30. One affected event is the Toronto Smartphone Film Festival (TSFF). The 9th annual event was initially supposed to occur from June 12 to 14, but it's now postponed indefinitely. The organizers have already reached out to the applicants and thanked them for their submissions. The TSFF has been holding annual events since 2002, and it's considered the largest film festival in Canada. Unfortunately, that means it's one of many events that has been affected by the global pandemic.

Source: MobileSyrup

Federal government now has a COVID-19 resource app

The Government of Canada has a new dedicated COVID-19 app to serve as a centralized resource for the country on the pandemic and help prevent the spread of misinformation. The app is available on both iOS and Android. It's designed to provide personalized, evidence-based information about COVID-19. The app also provides up-to-date data, recommendations, and essential resources. There is a self-assessment tool as well to help you determine if you need to be tested for COVID-19.

Other information available on the app includes data on the confirmed cases in Canada by province, the importance of physical/social distancing, and how to wash your hands properly. You can also see press releases issued by the government on the pandemic as well as things like travel advisories and answers to commonly-asked questions.

Source: MobileSyrup

Shaw offers free online lessons for kids during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has kept children from going to school to learn. Shaw hopes to do its part by offering some online learning lessons to help your kids keep up with their studies. The company is using an established education platform called EVERFI to bring these select learning games and lessons to kids between kindergarten and grade 12. You can check this initiative out over at this link.

This offer is part of the company's #ShawHelps campaign, which hopes to keep people connected, safe, and engaged during this crisis. The telecom company has already donated $1 million to food centres in Canada and offered free internet to low-income families, among other initiatives.

Source: MobileSyrup