MacRumors

Apple Maps has been updated with comprehensive transit data for the U.S. cities of Honolulu, Hawaii and Kansas City, Missouri, enabling iPhone users in the areas to navigate using public transportation, including buses and commuter rails.

Transit routing options in the Kansas City metropolitan area include RideKC buses and the downtown KC Streetcar. Directions extend to most suburbs in both Kansas and Missouri, including Overland Park, Olathe, Independence, Lee's Summit, Shawnee, Blue Springs, Lenexa, and other smaller communities.

Transit routing options in Honolulu include TheBus buses, with directions extending to destinations across the entire Oahu island.

Apple introduced Transit in Maps as part of iOS 9 in select cities around the world, including Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and 30 cities in China.

The feature has since expanded to a number of additional cities and regions around the world, including Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Montréal, Portland, Rio de Janeiro, Sacramento, Seattle, and New South Wales, Australia.

(Thanks, Ram!)

British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline recently announced the launch of a new clinical study, Patient Rheumatoid Arthritis Data from the Real World (PARADE), which will gather medical data and patient feedback using an iOS app powered by Apple's ResearchKit. Notably, GSK is the first major pharmaceutical company to implement ResearchKit into its research, which it hopes assists in lessening "the burden of patients in clinical studies by reducing the frequency of doctor visits."

The company noted that while it's "not testing a medicine right now," ResearchKit is helping put it on the path of a medicinal development process -- centered mainly around rheumatoid arthritis -- thanks to the insight and health goals of each patient that Apple's research framework provides. Through surveys and the sensors on an iPhone, the GSK PARADE app gathers info on symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, including joint pain, fatigue, and mood.

"Our goal is to engage with patients in a new way that integrates the research into their daily lives versus the traditional model that requires patients to travel to their doctors’ offices," said Rob DiCicco, Vice President of Clinical Innovation at GSK. "By making research as easy and accessible as possible for patients, we have the potential to disrupt the model for how we conduct research in the future and ultimately improve patient health."

The current goal is to track the activity and "quality of life measures" of 300 patients over a 3-month period using GSK's app. On the patient side of things, users will be able to access a dashboard which shows their own personal recordings and data from the study that they can easily share with their own healthcare providers to further investigate into more effective treatment and recovery plans.

GSK encourages anyone 21 years or older to participate in the ResearchKit-enabled trial by downloading the GSK PARADE app for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly secured exclusive orders for the A11 processor expected to power Apple's 2017 "iPhone 8".

According to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), the Taiwan-based foundry will be the sole supplier of Apple's next-generation A11 chip, which will be built on a 10nm FinFET process.

TSMC co-CEO Mark Liu announced at the company's recent investors meeting that its first 10nm customer product has been produced with "satisfactory yield" and that three products had already been "taped out".

Taping out refers to the initial design of the chip having been completed for creation of the masks that will be used to print the actual chips, although further tweaks are likely as test production is carried out. TSMC is said to have begun taping out the design for Apple's A11 processor in May. Xilinx, MediaTek, and HiSilicon are said to be the other customers that will use the company's 10nm process technology.

TSMC is already the exclusive manufacturer of Apple's A10 chip which will power the iPhone 7 range expected to launch this September. TSMC is thought to have reached the deal with Apple thanks to its advanced device packaging techniques, capable of higher-width memory buses and lower-power operation, which for consumers means better performance and efficiency.

TSMC's production for Apple's A11 chips is expected to start generating revenues for the company in the first quarter of 2017, with revenues to "ramp steeply" throughout the rest of the year, according to Liu.

Apple is said to have a radical redesign planned for 2017's "iPhone 8", possibly coming with a glass body and edge-to-edge OLED display that includes an integrated Touch ID fingerprint sensor and front-facing camera.

(Via DigiTimes.)

Pokémon Go launched this morning in 26 new countries across Europe, capping a blockbuster week in which the augmented reality-based title became the most popular mobile game ever and saw Nintendo shares set record trading volumes in Tokyo.

The announcement of the multi-country launch was made earlier today on the official Pokémon Go Facebook page.

Pokémon Go is available in twenty-six new countries. As of tonight, Trainers living in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland are able to download Pokémon GO from the Play Store or App Store.

As a major market, France remains conspicuously absent from the launch list, while rollout in Canada and across the Asian region has yet to begin. Users in several countries have also reported login problems with the game since this morning's announcement, suggesting continuing server-side issues for developers Niantic Labs.

Speaking to Reuters yesterday, chief executive of Niantic John Hanke said Pokémon Go will release in around 200 countries "relatively soon" as developers work to bolster server capacity to enable the wider rollout.

Those comments helped Nintendo shares surge another 10 percent on Friday, setting a record in daily trading volume for an individual stock on the Tokyo exchange. The shares have climbed 86 percent this week, adding $17 billion in market value.

Meanwhile in New York City, a stampede was caught on camera on Friday near Central Park, where a "Vaporeon" pokémon character reportedly showed up. People were seen jumping from cars to capture the creature.

Earlier this week, U.S. mobile carrier T-Mobile announced it plans to offer its customers free data to play the game, while Sprint and affiliated Boost Mobile stores are providing charging stations to players, and even training up store staff to help customers locate nearby game features.

Niantic has also revealed it is considering introducing a sponsorship scheme similar to one it has with its other AR-based game Ingress, which assigns sponsors' stores and vending machines as spots in the game.

Update: The Pokémon Go Servers Twitter account has linked to an article by The Independent claiming that a hacking group called PoodleCorp has claimed responsbility for taking down the servers using a denial-of-service attack. Gamers are advised to check back with the account for further updates.

Update 2: Pokémon Go is now available in Canada.

Update 3: Niantic has announced it postponed the launch of the game in France "as a sign of respect for the French people in this time of national mourning." The game was expected to release Friday, July 15 in the country, but the company didn't hint as to when the expected debut is now set to happen.

Yelp is getting in on the Pokémon Go action, adding a new filter that will let users discover restaurants and other businesses located near PokéStops to make it easier to find new Pokémon and other bonuses.

Added via an over-the-air update going out today, Yelp's new Pokémon filter is available at the top of the app when searching for a venue to visit, right alongside other filters like "Good for Lunch," "Price," and "Open Now."

Searching for locations by PokéStop is available on Yelp for the desktop and in Yelp's mobile apps, including its iOS app. Yelp is also asking customers to help identify businesses that have a PokéStop located nearby by checking in.

In order to leave no PokéStop unturned, we need your help! To identify a business that's in the vicinity of a PokéStop, check-in to that location on Yelp and answer a quick question to let fellow Yelpers and trainers know that this is the place they want to be. In just the past 24 hours, Yelpers have already identified thousands of PokéStops! With your help, we'll become Pokémon masters in no time.

Yelp's new PokéStop feature is available in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Yelp can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple Music's string of exclusive content continues today with the debut of "Rise," a new single from Katy Perry set to coincide with the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. The song was released late last night, and is an exclusive to iTunes as well as Apple's streaming music service.

In a statement, Perry said that the timing of the song felt right to share it now, instead of waiting for her next album, because she sees that "there is a need for our world to unite." NBC also confirmed that it will play Rise as the anthem of the Rio Olympics, with the new single set to play before and throughout the Summer Games.

“This is a song that’s been brewing inside me for years, that has finally come to the surface. I was inspired to finish it now, rather than save it for my next album, because now more than ever, there is a need for our world to unite,” the Grammy nominee said in a statement.

“I know that together we can rise above the fear – in our country, and around the world. I can’t think of a better example than the Olympic athletes, as they gather in Rio with their strength and fearlessness, to remind us how we ALL can come together, with the resolve to be the best we can be. I hope this song can inspire us to heal, unite, and rise together. I am honored that NBC Olympics has chosen to use it as an anthem before and during the Rio Games.”

Apple Music turned one year old in June, with subscriber numbers now reaching above 15 million, which Apple CEO confirmed during WWDC. Also during its keynote in June, Apple revealed an incoming redesign for its streaming music service, set to debut within iOS 10, where Apple Music will get a simpler navigation interface and bolder fonts. Following in the wake of multiple artist and song exclusives, Apple Music head of original content Larry Jackson described the service's current goal as "MTV in its 80s and 90s Heyday."

CBS today announced the launch of an all-new Apple TV app that will center around the network's always-on, 24-hour "CBSN" streaming network and has been designed exclusively for tvOS. In addition to the live stream of CBSN, the app curates news stories and video playlists for each user based on previously watched videos.

The new app will also take advantage of the 4th generation Apple TV's deep Siri integration, allowing users to tell Apple's personal assistant that they want to "Watch CBS News" to immediately start a full-screen broadcast of CBSN. While the stream is playing, users can interact with other parts of the app to browse related videos, bookmark some to watch later, and begin subscribing to specific playlists and topics.

"Our Apple TV app represents the future of how viewers will consume and interact with video," Christy Tanner, senior vice president and general manager of CBS News Digital, said. "We are taking advantage of the platform's cutting-edge, interactive technology to offer a customizable experience."

"The CBS News app on Apple TV delivers the full breadth of our original reporting and live, anchored streaming coverage combined with a layer of editorial curation, giving news consumers unprecedented flexibility and access to the stories they care about," Nancy Lane, senior executive producer of CBS News Digital, said.

The launch of the news-focused app is timed to get users ready for coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, according to CBS, which begin on July 18 and go through July 28. The network's new tvOS app isn't only politically-focused, however, with its daily coverage spanning most popular topics from entertainment and any currently breaking news.

Last night a few users began reporting that their Apple IDs had been compromised, causing them to be locked out of their accounts. Recovering and password resets worked for a handful of Apple IDs, but it was still unclear overnight what might have been happening to cause the small breach in Apple's otherwise secure universal log-in system.

This morning speculation came to a close as third-party email client Spark confirmed that an upgrade to faster servers for iCloud users on the platform triggered the issue and forced password resets in a collection of Apple IDs. The company mentioned that it has been preparing to launch Spark for Mac, which was the reason for the faster server upgrade, but now promises that "there's NO breach or data leak" that users have to worry about.

Readdle, the creators of Spark, reiterated what it tweeted out throughout the morning in a post on Reddit.

Hello guys,

Thank you for the feedback and comments! Our team has been investigating this for a few hours. What we know so far: 1. There's no breach or data leak according to our investigation. 2. The new, faster AWS server logic might have triggered iCloud security algos. We are already working with Apple to learn more details. We are doing some server side work to make Spark much faster, and to make it ready for the Mac version, which is already in Alpha. We will keep you updated once we have more news from Apple side.

Thank you.

As some users have noted, the security problem didn't hit all Spark users who use the service with their iCloud account. The company said that it's working with Apple to get the issue fixed as soon as possible, but it seems that users affected by the security lockouts need not worry about malicious attempts at entry into their private Apple ID at least. If Readdle posts any more updates on its fix for the problem, we'll update this story as well.

Music video platform Vevo has released a major update to its iOS app as part of a wider continuing effort to revamp the brand.

Users of the app can now create profiles to share their music preferences with friends, while an update to the main feed means videos play in zoomed portrait view in addition to landscape.

Machine learning has also been introduced to the app's server back end, offering more intelligent auto-generated playlists based on what users are already listening to.

Additionally, the company has partnered with a handful of original content curators, like Stereogum's Scott Lapatine and Rap Radar's Brian "B. Dot" Miller, to serve new videos and playlists to users directly through the app.

Back in February, Vevo released its Apple TV app – also soon to be updated – in a move that attempts to pitch it as an MTV-like music video destination for the digital era.

The platform currently has 400 million active monthly users, over half of which view Vevo content through the brand's mobile app.

Vevo is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

The European rollout of smash hit Pokémon Go continued today with App Store launches in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, joining the U.K. and Germany where the game debuted in the last couple of days.

In the U.S. alone, players on iOS are spending about $1.6 million each day on in-app transactions within the game, according to data from app analytics firm Sensor Tower. Of those IAPs, 30 percent of the revenue earned goes straight in Apple's pockets.

Nintendo shares jumped nearly 10 percent to a six-year high on Friday as the retro-styled title became more popular than Twitter just one week after its launch in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

"When you look at the way it's becoming a social phenomenon in the U.S., the rally is understandable even though it's not clear yet how much it will boost profits," markets analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama told Reuters.

"People still remember the time when the Wii and the DS became a hit and boosted Nintendo's shares," he added, referring to the company's popular game consoles – one of which Nintendo has announced will be returning to stores around the world on November 11 in the form of the 'NES Classic Mini'.

Meanwhile, in yet another Pokémon-related incident, two men fell down a 75ft cliff in Encinitas, California, yesterday as they tried to catch nearby virtual creatures. One of the men fell 50ft while the other reportedly fell all the way to the beach below.

According to FOX affiliate local news, rescue crews used a rope to reach one of the men, but despite the large fall neither of them suffered serious injuries.

Direct link to Pokémon Go on the Spain App Store.
Direct link to Pokémon Go on the Italy App Store.
Direct link to Pokémon Go on the Portugal App Store.