Technologies

2 new Google Maps features and where to find them

We’ll also tell you five other useful Google Maps tips you can start using.

This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2021, our list of ideas, by topic, by recipient and by price, to help you discover the perfect gift.

If you’ve just started holiday shopping, or haven’t bought anything at all yet, it can be stressful trying to figure out where to go when crowds of other people are doing the same. Fortunately, you can use Google Maps to help ease the stress while navigating through the holidays. For instance, you can use the app to check out how busy a store or restaurant is before deciding to go.

You can also use Google Maps to let your family know your whereabouts when you’re running late. Plus, you can book reservations in advance through the app instead of calling a restaurant. We’ll tell you all the ways Google Maps can help make your holidays go smoothly and how to use all seven features.

New: Navigate through airports, malls and transit stations

If you need to quickly find a store in a large mall, Google Maps is expanding its Directory tab for all airports, malls and transit stations, it announced in November. This can help prevent running around the airport, trying to find a place to eat or grabbing a last-minute souvenir before catching your flight. The tab will tell you the business hours and which floors it’s on. You can look through restaurants, stores, lounges and parking lots.

New: Browse Google Maps to see how busy a place is

Google added a new feature to its Google Maps’ busyness tool. Before, you needed to search a location, like a business, to see a chart that showed how crowded it is in real time. But now, a new feature called Area Busyness lets you see when entire map areas as clogged with people.

Using the new feature, you open the Google Maps app on your Android or iPhone (or your computer’s browser) and move around the map to find a general area, say downtown, a riverwalk or a quaint nearby town. The busyness information will now automatically appear on the map, so you don’t need to specifically search a place to see how crowded it is. Google Maps may say something like «Busy Area,» and when you click for more details, it could say, «As busy as it gets.»

Track your trip itinerary in Google Maps

Of course, Google Maps can chart your travels, but it can also quickly show you your holiday flight, hotel, car rental and restaurant reservations, saving you the hassle of searching through your email for check-in times and confirmation numbers.

To see your upcoming reservations:

1. In Google Maps, tap Saved in the bottom menu row.

2. Tap Reservations. Here, you’ll see a list of upcoming reservations you’ve made that Maps has pulled from emails in Gmail.

3. Select an item to see more about the reservation, including date and location.

4. You can also search for «my reservations» in the Google Maps search box to see a list of what you’ve booked.

Make a restaurant reservation right in Google Maps

Planning and preparing a holiday dinner can be a multiday chore. If you’d rather spend time with family and friends instead of sharp knives and hot stoves, Google Maps can help you book a lunch or dinner reservation.

1. In Maps, tap the Restaurants button at the top of the map to see a list of places to eat.

2. Select a restaurant that looks good, and in the window that pops up, reserve a table or join a waitlist, if it gives you that option (not all do).

Remember to use the «busyness» feature mentioned above to pick the least packed place. Also, note that some restaurants are still closed to dine-in, but will often allow delivery, curbside pickup or outdoor seating.

Use Google Maps offline

Heading someplace remote where you may not have a mobile network connection? Google Maps can still give you directions when you’re offline.

1. Before you head out, in Maps search for the location where you’ll want directions.

2. In the location’s window, pull up the menu at the bottom.

3. Scroll right through the tabs and tap Download and then, in the next window, tap Download again. Maps will download a map to your phone for the area you selected.

Now, as you use Google Maps for directions in the area you downloaded a map for, when you lose your cellular connection, Maps will switch to the offline map to guide you. Because you’re offline, Maps won’t be able to offer real-time traffic info, of course.

Find EV charging spots and gas stations wherever you are

If you’re taking your electric vehicle out for shopping, dinner or a holiday drive, Google Maps can help you find EV charging stations on your route, along with estimated wait times for a charging port. You can also filter your search by connector type — such as J1772, CCS (Combo 1 or 2) and Tesla — to see just the stations that are compatible with your EV. (Note you can also search for gas stations by following these same directions.)

1. In Maps, scroll through the tabs on the top of the screen and tap More.

2. Scroll down to the Services section and select Electric vehicle charging.

3. Maps will display nearby charging stations and how many are available.

4. Tap a charging station on the map to have Maps add it as a stop on your trip.

(You can also use this trick to search for other places along your route, like a coffee shop.)

Share your location through Google Maps

Is anything more crazy-making during a group activity than when the group gets split up and no one can find each other? Google Maps can help bring you all back together.

1. In Google Maps, tap your profile icon in the top right corner and tap Location sharing.

2. Tap Share location and select who you want to share your location with and for how long you want to share it.

3. Tap Share, and Google Maps will send your location to everyone you’ve selected.

4. If you want to see someone else’s location, tap that person’s icon at the top of the window and then tap Request.

If, after all this, you’d rather stay inside during the holidays, here’s how to use your Prime benefits to your advantage while shopping. And if you don’t intend to leave your couch at all, here are the best new TV shows to watch.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, May 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 24.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

No matter how many NYT Mini Crossword puzzles I’ve done, those double-meaning clues always trip me up. So I see 8-Across, «army shirt,» and am trying to make «khaki» or «camo» fit. And I see 10-across, «wand-waving org,» and my mind goes to Harry Potter. I was wrong on both. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: «Get a load of ___!»
Answer: THIS

5A clue: Ability to keep one’s balance on a ship
Answer: SEALEGS

8A clue: Army shirt?
Answer: TANKTOP

9A clue: Chicago trains
Answer: ELS

10A clue: Wand-waving org.
Answer: TSA

11A clue: Flowers depicted in classical Chinese art
Answer: PEONIES

13A clue: By oneself
Answer: ALONE

14A clue: Phileas ___, «Around the World in Eighty Days» protagonist
Answer: FOGG

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Something «read» in the divination method of tasseography
Answer: TEALEAF

2D clue: Sci-fi hero with the line «Never tell me the odds»
Answer: HANSOLO

3D clue: Kind
Answer: ILK

4D clue: Where a story takes place
Answer: SETTING

5D clue: Lather, rinse or repeat
Answer: STEP

6D clue: «Take a look for yourself!»
Answer: GOSEE

7D clue: Places to get pampered
Answer: SPAS

12D clue: Eggy holiday drink
Answer: NOG

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Note, Paint and Snip With AI: Microsoft Adds New Features, but Not for Everyone

Notepad is getting an AI-generated text feature, and Paint and Snipping Tool are also getting AI upgrades.

Three longtime staples of the Microsoft ecosystem are getting artificial intelligence enhancements, but they won’t necessarily be available to all. With the updates, Notepad users will be able to use generative AI to write text; Paint users can now create AI-generated stickers; and Snipping Tool users can deploy a «perfect screenshot» feature.

The catch, however, is that the Notepad AI update will be available only to Microsoft 365 or Copilot Pro subscribers and Paint’s new AI features will work only on Copilot Plus PCs.

Everyone will be able to use the new Snipping Tool enhancements, however.

The AI additions to Notepad will use Copilot, Microsoft’s «AI-powered assistant» that can search the internet, give answers to all kinds of questions, create documents and more. While in Notepad, you can right-click from anywhere in the document, select Write and then type instructions for the text. After the AI generates the text, you can choose either Keep Text or Discard.

To use the new Write feature in Notepad, you have to be either a Microsoft 365 or Copilot Pro subscriber and then use some of your allotted AI credits.

Paint and Snipping Tool also are leveling up with AI, using Copilot. According to the Windows Insiders blog, in Paint you can create a sticker with a prompt such as «cat wearing sunglasses.» In the Snipping Tool, you can create a «perfect screenshot.» The blog describes a couple of methods to do this, but the end result is AI will deliver the screenshot so that you will not have to crop or resize the image.

Technologies

iPhone 17 Rumors, From a Slim ‘Air’ Model to a 25% Tariff Threat

Apple couldn’t keep the iPhone out of the tariff wars forever, it seems.

We’re still months away from Apple’s anticipated reveal of the newest iPhone, which we expect to happen in the company’s usual September window for launching the next edition of its popular line of smartphones. In the meantime, plenty of rumors are swirling about what the upcoming device, likely called the iPhone 17, could look like.

From a redesigned camera module to a slimmer «Air» version of the iPhone 17, there’s been lots of buzz about what Apple’s next lineup will bring. We might even see a fresh blue color option for the Pro models.

But the biggest news could be that iPhones get pricier thanks to tariffs. President Donald Trump threatened that Apple phones made outside the US would be subject to a 25% tariff, which could tack $200 or more on to the prices of the iPhone 17 series if all that extra cost was passed along to the consumer. We’ll have to wait and see how Apple and CEO Tim Cook respond to this proclamation.

And the rumors aren’t just about external appearances; reports suggest Apple will overhaul the look and feel of its software with the launch of iOS 19 as well. There are also rumors about increased RAM across all four expected devices.

Here’s what analysts and leakers predict about the iPhone 17 lineup.

A slimmer iPhone 17 ‘Air’

One of the biggest rumors surrounds a possible iPhone «Air,» a thinner version of Apple’s flagship device that would replace the iPhone Plus option.

The Air could feature a 6.6-inch screen, making it slightly smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max but still bigger than the baseline model, according to analysts Jeff Pu and Ming-Chi Kuo. A Bloomberg report from March supports those rumors, and notes that the iPhone Air could measure 5.5mm thick. The report also suggests the phone will cost around $900, putting it on par with the iPhone 16 Plus and maintaining its place in the iPhone hierarchy.

For Apple to slim down a device, it would need to make hardware trade-offs, and that might include the phone’s camera. According to both Kuo and Bloomberg, it’s possible this version of the iPhone 17 would have only one main camera, doing without the ultrawide and 5x telephoto lenses that have been staples of Apple’s premium iPhones for years. This would place the slim iPhone in the same camp as the $600 iPhone 16E when it comes to cameras, as that phone has only one rear lens. The good news, though, is that the selfie camera on the iPhone Air could get a boost; more on that later.

One key challenge will be maintaining a high battery capacity, since a slimmer build typically means less space for the battery and thus a potential compromise on battery life. Bloomberg suggests Apple is focused on tackling that shortcoming. The report also notes that the iPhone 17 Air is expected to have superslim bezels, a Camera Control button and the Dynamic Island.

The phone will likely feature an A18 or A19-branded chip, Pu suggests. This would reportedly match the chip in the baseline iPhone 17. It could also include the Apple-developed 5G modem, called the C1 chip, which debuted on the iPhone 16E.

A higher refresh rate across the board

Rumor has it all models of the iPhone 17 will feature a 120Hz display, bumping the non-Pro models up from their current 60Hz refresh rate. That could be a welcome change, as the discrepancy between the Pro and non-Pro refresh rate is surprising; when Apple debuted the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus with a 60Hz display, there was a bit of an outcry from folks who expected more in 2024. This rumored update could remedy that — and possibly bring the always-on display to the baseline model.

What we likely won’t see is a new anti-reflective display that Apple was reportedly working on, according to MacRumors. A source reportedly told the publication that Apple scrapped plans for a more scratch-resistant display coating which could have appeared on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. This would have made them the first iPhones with an anti-reflective screen, giving them a feature that CNET’s Patrick Holland deemed one of the best attributes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. According to MacRumors, «Apple ran into problems scaling up the display coating process, and it is currently no longer a planned feature for the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models.»

Camera upgrades

It’s not an iPhone release without a camera upgrade, and there have been plenty of rumors about what the camera module could look like on Apple’s upcoming phones. In January, a leaked image from Majin Bu on X suggested the phone could feature a pill-shaped camera bar, essentially resembling what you’d find on Google’s Pixel 9 phone. In February, Bu followed up with CAD renders of what’s said to be the iPhone 17 lineup, featuring horizontal camera bars, as well as larger rectangular bars on the iPhone 17 Pro models.

iPhone 17 Lineup CAD pic.twitter.com/xednTkpJnq

— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) February 23, 2025

Front Page Tech also shared iPhone 17 Pro renders in a video in February, depicting a larger camera bar that maintains the lens’ stacked layout. A separate video on the iPhone 17 Air shows a smaller camera bar, with one lens on the left.

In April, Bloomberg reported the «iPhone 17 Pro will look a lot more like the 16 Pro than anticipated,» adding, «From the front, the 17 Pro will appear quite similar to the 16 Pro. It’s the back camera that will look meaningfully different.» The latest rumors suggest the iPhone 17 Pro’s three-lens camera arrangement will be maintained, but will sit on a new panel that stretches across the phone’s width.

Later in April, Bu again posted an image of the purported iPhone 17 lineup, showing those wider camera bars with the stacked lenses still configured to the left.

iPhone 17 Lineup pic.twitter.com/oUEEH9bJn5

— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) April 22, 2025

Not until next year, for the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, will Apple be «preparing a major shake-up» for the phone’s design, Bloomberg says. That includes a (long-rumored) foldable version and a «bold new Pro model that makes more extensive use of glass.»

Another camera-related rumor is that the selfie camera on all iPhone 17 models, including the Air, will be upgraded to 24 megapixels, according to Pu. That’s a decent bump from the current 12-megapixel front-facing camera on the iPhone 16 lineup, though it’s important to remember that more megapixels don’t automatically mean better photos. Still, given how much people increasingly rely on their front cameras to snap selfies and record videos for TikTok and Instagram, this will surely be a welcome advancement.

A sky blue iPhone 17 Pro

It’s not clear what colors will be included in the iPhone 17’s lineup. But in April, Bu said the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max could include a sky blue option. In an article, Bu wrote that «sources close to the supply chain confirm that several iPhone 17 Pro prototypes have been made in various colors, with Sky Blue currently the frontrunner.»

The New iPhone 17 Pro Possible Color
Full Article:https://t.co/IKBZ8tmRou

— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) April 21, 2025

Bu describes the sky blue color as being «even more stunning than the much-loved Sierra Blue of the iPhone 13 Pro, with a brightness and refinement that make it irresistible.» (My colleague Jeff Carlson isn’t so thrilled about this rumor.)

iOS 19 could bring a fresh look

Regarding what’s on the inside, Apple is reportedly looking to revamp its mobile operating system with the release of iOS 19. According to Bloomberg, this «includes updating the style of icons, menus, apps, windows and system buttons.» Sources reportedly told the publication that Apple is «working to simplify the way users navigate and control their devices,» and that the design borrows from the Vision Pro’s operating system. For instance, VisionOS features more circular app icons and translucent navigation panels. It’s possible what you’ll see on your future iPhone could more closely mirror this aesthetic.

The software revamp would reportedly extend to iPad and Mac, therefore bringing consistency across Apple’s devices. Bloomberg notes this would be the biggest software shakeup since macOS Big Sur’s release in 2020 and iOS 7’s release in 2013.

Other possible features

The rumors on what frames the iPhone 17 lineup will feature have gone back and forth, but Pu recently suggested the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all have aluminum frames. He noted that the iPhone 17 Air could be the outlier with a titanium frame.

Additionally, the iPhone 17 Pro Max could have a narrower Dynamic Island, thanks to a smaller Face ID sensor. Pu has said the Dynamic Island on other iPhone 17 models would reportedly stay the same size.

In February, Kuo noted Apple will swap out Broadcom’s Wi-Fi chips for in-house chips across the iPhone 17 lineup, stating this would «enhance connectivity across Apple devices.» It’s not yet clear what exactly this would mean, but it would be interesting if Apple’s C1 chip were accompanied by its own Wi-Fi chip, too.

In April, tipster Digital Chat Station noted that given the use of Apple Intelligence and AI on a «large scale,» all the phones will come with 12GB of RAM. Digital Trends notes this aligns with previous suggestions from Kuo, which gives the rumor some added weight. The iPhone 16 lineup tops out at 8GB of RAM, so this would be a notable leap.

We’ll continue to update this piece as more rumors surface, so be sure to follow along.