Apple updates Apple Maps, Siri to show support for 'Black Lives Matter'

AppleInsider

Apple is showing its support for the current Black Lives Matter movement and related protests with a pair of recent changes to Apple Maps and Siri.

The Washington, D.C. 'Black Lives Matter' mural on Apple Maps.

Amid ongoing global demonstrations protesting police brutality and the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly spoken out against racism and injustice. The company is also showing its support in other ways, too.

Apple recently updated its Washington, D.C. satellite imagery on Apple Maps to show off the new Black Lives Matter street mural near the White House. That's an impressive tribute since most satellite imagery is months or years old and the mural was only painted on June 5.

The message was approved by D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser, who also officially renamed that specific section of 16th Street "Black Lives Matter Plaza."

Siri's new respone to the question "do all lives matter?"

In another small gesture of support, Apple has also updated Siri to respond differently to the phrase "all lives matter," which has become a common retort to "Black Lives Matter."

The digital assistant now says "All Lives Matter' is often used in response to the phrase Black Lives Matter,' but it does not represent the same concerns," and redirects users to the official Black Lives Matter website.

Apple also paid tribute to the current human rights movement with Apple Music, which participated in "Black Out Tuesday" on June 2, and the App Store, which Apple updated to highlight various apps focused on racism, political action and those created by Black developers.

Although most protests have remained largely peaceful, the first weekend of demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd saw opportunists taking advantage of them to smash and loot Apple Stores and other retail locations.

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trashman69

Apple Maps should highlight the locations of the riots,   

mike1

Wow. Now Siri is editorializing and redirecting search results to a predetermined agenda. Not good at all. What's next?

apple ][

SIRI is white (the American female Siri at least).

Perhaps Apple should offer a black SIRI voice to people who are obsessed with race.

I believe that partisan politics should stay out of OSes and not be coded into them.

edited June 2020

mattcaffrey

Good to see Apple standing up for human rights. Well done.  

mattcaffrey

apple ][ said:

SIRI is white.

Perhaps Apple should offer a black SIRI voice to people who are obsessed with race.

I believe that partisan politics should stay out of OSes and not be coded into them.

Siri isn’t a human - or white for that matter. Also, Promoting human rights for black folks isn’t partisan. 

apple ][

mattcaffrey said:

apple ][ said:

SIRI is white.

Perhaps Apple should offer a black SIRI voice to people who are obsessed with race.

I believe that partisan politics should stay out of OSes and not be coded into them.

Siri isn’t a human - or white for that matter. Also, Promoting human rights for black folks isn’t partisan. 

I'm not sure what the case is with the newest versions of Siri, but previously at least, Siri was this woman:

Susan Alice Bennett (nee Cameron, born July 31, 1949) is an American voice-over artist and a former backup singer for Roy Orbison and Burt Bacharach[3]. She is best known for being the female American voice of Apple's "Siri" since the service was introduced on the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Bennett

p-dog

trashman69 said:

Apple Maps should highlight the locations of the riots,   

Do you mean the protests, or by riots, do you mean the violent rioting cops? Either way, they are almost too numerous to count.

razorpit

p-dog said:

trashman69 said:

Apple Maps should highlight the locations of the riots,   

Do you mean the protests, or by riots, do you mean the violent rioting cops? Either way, they are almost too numerous to count.

Riiight... Those “violent rioting cops” are just all over the place.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/5-statistics-you-need-know-about-cops-killing-aaron-bandler

hank2.0

I can see some benefits to this if implemented correctly. If someone wanted to participate in a peaceful demonstration, it could help find parking or public transport. If someone has to go somewhere else, it could provide routing around traffic congestion. On the other hand, it might also help the police with crowd control or violent looters (as opposed to peaceful demonstrators) to avoid the police and coordinate targets for destruction. Like any tool, there is a proper use and an improper use depending on who is using it.

rayz2016

apple ][ said:

mattcaffrey said:

apple ][ said:

SIRI is white.

Perhaps Apple should offer a black SIRI voice to people who are obsessed with race.

I believe that partisan politics should stay out of OSes and not be coded into them.

Siri isn’t a human - or white for that matter. Also, Promoting human rights for black folks isn’t partisan. 

I'm not sure what the case is with the newest versions of Siri, but previously at least, Siri was this woman:

Susan Alice Bennett (nee Cameron, born July 31, 1949) is an American voice-over artist and a former backup singer for Roy Orbison and Burt Bacharach[3]. She is best known for being the female American voice of Apple's "Siri" since the service was introduced on the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Bennett

Siri comes in lots of different voices, male and female in a variety of accents

apple ][

Rayz2016 said:

Siri comes in lots of different voices, male and female in a variety of accents

Yes, I know. I was referring to the American female Siri voice.

numnuts

The BLACK LIVES MATTER text looks just photoshopped in to me, not a new satellite image? 

bluefire1

While I applaud Tim Cook speaking out on social issues that he feels strongly about, his product line should remain apolitical and not become a conduit for his views.

edited June 2020

[deleted user]

apple ][ said:

SIRI is white (the American female Siri at least).

Perhaps Apple should offer a black SIRI voice to people who are obsessed with race.

I believe that partisan politics should stay out of OSes and not be coded into them.

The only people that think racism is political issue are racists. 

apple ][

Happy_Noodle_Boy said:

The only people that think racism is political issue are racists. 

And the people who go around accusing others of being racists are racists.

edited June 2020

mtriviso

What an empty gesture.

[deleted user]

apple ][ said:

Happy_Noodle_Boy said:

The only people that think racism is political issue are racists. 

And the people who go around accusing others of beings racists are racists.

The mental gymnastics that it takes to say that with a straight face are incredible. 

spheric

apple ][ said:

Happy_Noodle_Boy said:

The only people that think racism is political issue are racists. 

And the people who go around accusing others of beings racists are racists.

Impressive mind trick there. 

Have you found anyone it actually works on?

appleish

Good. Google?

yoyo2222

NumNuts said:

The BLACK LIVES MATTER text looks just photoshopped in to me, not a new satellite image? 

I'm not sure it really matters but I'm pretty you are correct. The letters don't line up with street/sidewalk features as they do in the photographs of the site.

As a trolling concept, I still like it.