Gadgetory

more apps are incorporating Maps I'm Bridget Carey this is your cnet update the facebook Messenger app is expanding into a mapping app of sorts with the latest update you can send a map of your location to a friend you can also put a little pin anywhere on the map to set a meeting place you'll find this option under the more button that's the ellipses facebook says it's not going to be gathering location data from your device in the background you have to have turned on location on your phone for it to work Facebook has been criticized recently for how the app previously tracked location because it wasn't always obvious that location was being shared in the background when you have the setting turned on the periscope video streaming app is also adding a mapping feature you can see pin dots of where people are broadcasting live around the world in the global section you can scroll through a map to jump to a broadcast at any location but do be careful when sharing your location if you stream from home anyone can get an exact pinpoint of where you live periscope which is owned by Twitter also now makes it easy to share links to broadcasts on Twitter as others add new map features Yahoo is removing Maps the site Maps yahoo com is closing at the end of June the company reported this in a blog post Yahoo Maps has been around for eight years but the company says it wants to focus on other priorities and here's another company changing its focus lycos is making a health tracking bracelet and a smart ring yes this is the same lycos that was big in the 90s as a search engine it's still alive although it morphed a little bit when it was acquired by a global marketing company in 2010 and now it wants to get into the wearable tech business the light coast band is a hundred and twenty-five dollars and the ring is sixty dollars both can be used as tools to unlock your phone and using NFC it can transfer data to someone else with a tap so for example you just tap it to share your contact information with another nearby phone the wristband has added health tracking features with a promise of a battery that can last two weeks and you can expect Sony to announce another smartband soon an app for the new sony smartband 2 appeared in the Google Play Store and it was soon pulled off the blog android police was quick to spot it before it was yanked the apt description reveals that this new band has a heart rate monitor that's something last year's $100 model did not include it also lists a smart week of feature to start your day that's all for this tech news update you could always feed your fix for more tech knowledge at cnet com and be sure to follow along on Twitter and subscribe to the cnet update podcast it comes in video and audio from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey