Mapping app Waze was today updated with a new Voice Recorder feature, allowing users to record their own voice prompts to enable custom directions in a user's own voice. The Voice Recorder option debuted on Android devices in May, but has now expanded to iOS devices.
Recorded voice prompts can be shared with family, friends, and fans, meaning celebrities can also record and then share Waze prompts. Waze plans to work with a network of YouTube creators to create voice packs for distribution on Waze.
Waze, the free, real-time crowdsourced traffic and navigation app, has provided custom voice prompts that have thrilled and delighted Wazers on their daily drives for years. Now, Waze is happy to announce the new Voice Recorder feature, which lets you record all your voice prompts any way you like.
Waze users can turn on the Voice Recorder in Settings/Sound & Voice, where multiple voice prompts can be recorded. A link to the recording can then be shared with friends. There are more than 40 total commands to record. app
Many iPhone users who commute prefer Waze because it offers up superior traffic information and warnings about nearby police officers, along with neat features like the aforementioned custom voice packs.
Waze can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Apple Maps has been updated with comprehensive transit data in several higher populated areas of Nevada, enabling iPhone users to navigate with public transportation directions throughout the Silver State.
Newly supported areas include Las Vegas, including the nearby cities of North Las Vegas and Henderson, as well as the state capital Carson City and the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area in Western Nevada.
Many popular destinations are supported in Las Vegas, including McCarran International Airport and the Las Vegas Convention Center.
RTC Transit bus routes extend to North Las Vegas and Henderson, while RTC Washoe bus directions are available in and between Carson City, Reno, and Sparks. Jump Around Carson (JAC) bus routes are also supported within Carson City.
Apple Maps can also provide directions for Silverado Mainline buses, which travel between each of the cities, such as Reno to Las Vegas.
Apple Maps gained a Transit tab in iOS 9. The feature lags several years behind Google Maps, but Apple's public transportation support is exhaustive, mapping all station entrances and listing departure times.
At launch, the feature was limited to Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and over 300 cities in China. Since then, Apple has been working to expand support for public transportation to other cities around the world.
Newer additions include Atlanta, Calgary, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Miami, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Montréal, New Orleans, Paris, Portland, Pittsburgh, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, and Singapore.
For a complete list of cities with Apple Maps transit, visit the iOS Feature Availability page on Apple's website.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra update to developers for testing purposes, more than two weeks after seeding the original second beta and over a month after introducing the new software at its 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.
The new beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air using the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
macOS High Sierra focuses on new core storage, video, and graphics technology, introducing a new Apple File System (APFS), High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) and an updated version of Metal with support for VR and external GPUs.
Some apps are also gaining new features. Photos is being updated with a new sidebar that's designed to make it easier to access editing tools and albums, and there are new filters and editing options like Curves and Selective Color. Photos also supports external editing apps like Photoshop and Pixelmator, saving changes made in those apps, and it interfaces with third-party printing services.
Safari is gaining speed enhancements, an option to end autoplay video, and a new feature that puts a stop to data tracking. Siri in macOS High Sierra has expanded music capabilities and a new, more natural voice, and Spotlight supports flight status information. There are also improvements to iCloud, FaceTime, Messages, and Notes.
macOS High Sierra is available for both registered developers and public beta testers, and it's likely a new public beta that's identical to the third developer beta will be released later this week.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 11 update designed for the fourth-generation TV, nearly three weeks after seeding the second beta and more than a month after releasing the first beta during the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.
Registered developers can download tvOS 11 by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software using iTunes.
tvOS 11 received little attention at the Worldwide Developers Conference, but according to Apple's release notes, it introduces a few new features to the operating system, and the third beta likely focuses on bug fixes, as the second beta did.
tvOS 11 introduces automatic switching between light/dark mode based on local time, Home screen syncing options that keep multiple Apple TVs in a household in sync, new background modes and notification support, Focus API improvements, custom sound support, network-based pairing and development support, improvements to Mobile Device Management, and more.
The new tvOS 11 update is available for registered developers and for the first time, public beta testers. A new tvOS 11 beta for public beta testers is likely to come out later this week.
Apple today seeded the third beta of iOS 11 to developers for testing purposes, more than two weeks after releasing the original second beta and over a month after introducing the new update at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Registered developers can download the iOS 11 beta from Apple's Developer Center, or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed.
The second iOS 11 beta included a slew of bug fixes, addressing issues that were discovered in the first beta. The third beta will also include many bug fixes, but could also focus more heavily on feature tweaks and changes. In iOS 11 beta 2, there were only a handful of changes, most notably the enabling of Do Not Disturb mode.
iOS 11 introduces some design changes, including a customizable Control Center and a new Lock screen that's merged with the Notification Center. Peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments are being introduced in the Messages app, which is also gaining a new App Drawer, and there's a new Do Not Disturb feature that is designed to help drivers stay focused on the road. Siri, Photos, the Camera app, and more are also gaining significant improvements.
ARKit for developers will result in a wide range of new augmented reality apps, while a Core ML SDK will allow apps to become a whole lot smarter. iOS 11 is also the biggest update ever for the iPad, with a new Dock that introduces much improved multitasking, a Files app for better managing files, improved Apple Pencil support, a revamped App Switcher, and system-wide drag and drop.
iOS 11 available for both registered developers and public beta testers. A second public beta test that's identical to the third developer beta should be released later this week.
Charitybuzz today launched an auction in which the winning bidder will have lunch with Apple's services chief Eddy Cue at the company's newly constructed Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California.
The auction has an estimated value of $50,000. Bids can be placed between now and Tuesday, July 25 at 12:01 p.m. Pacific Time, in support of non-profit organization Autism Movement Therapy, based in Van Nuys, California.
Autism Movement Therapy works to provide expressive movement therapy and workplace readiness skills resulting in meaningful, dignified employment for individuals with autism and related disorders, according to Charitybuzz.
Here's your chance to have lunch with Eddy Cue at the stunning new 175-acre Apple Headquarters in Cupertino, CA, where you will learn more about Apple's industry-leading content stores and online services. This is a rare opportunity to see "Apple Park" and engage in a one-on-one, in-depth conversation with one of the most innovative business minds of our generation.
The private meet and greet will be scheduled at a mutually agreed upon date between August 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018. The winning bidder must be at least 18 or older. The cost of the meal and gratuity is included, but travel and accommodations are not. The experience cannot be resold, re-auctioned, or transferred.
The lunch does not include a formal tour inside Apple Park facilities, and photography is not permitted, according to Charitybuzz.
Cue, who is officially Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, currently oversees the iTunes Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, Siri, Apple Maps, iCloud, and Apple's iWork and iLife suites of productivity apps.
Apple executives have participated in several Charitybuzz auctions over the years, with CEO Tim Cook most recently raising over $680,000 for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
Update: Cue's latest lunch auction brought in $26,000 for Autism Movement Therapy.
Apple's market share in movie sales and rentals has been halved by competition from the likes of Amazon and Comcast, according to a report published on Sunday.
An article by the Wall Street Journal said Apple's share for selling and renting video content has dropped to between 20 and 35 percent, down from over 50 percent in 2012, according to sources in Hollywood.
At the same time as the sharp fall in iTunes Movies sales and rentals, Amazon has grown its share to around 20 percent, said studio executives, thanks to both its Amazon Prime subscription service and its standard Amazon Video catalog. Major U.S. cable provider Comcast meanwhile now claims 15 percent share of the market through movie and TV show sales and rentals.
Interestingly, Apple's loss of market share in the digital movie business isn't uniform across genres, according to sources. "Apple has promoted independent films and signed deals for exclusive rights some content produced outside the major studio system, making it a stronger competitor in that space," said WSJ.
Apple responded to requests for comment by explaining that it focuses on providing users with content from subscription services like Netflix and HBO through the App Store. Apple also said its movie rentals and purchases had increased over the last year and had reached their highest level in more than a decade.
WSJ's in-depth report explains that the overall video market is growing, with digital movie rentals and sales said to have risen 12 percent to 15.3 billion last year. However, subscription services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have contributed to a $1.8 billion decline in video-on-demand rental revenue, according to the article. Citing figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the report said movie sales had also slowed, reaching 21 percent year-on-year growth last year compared to 29 percent in 2015.
Apple is set to spend $921 million on a second data center in Denmark run entirely on renewable energy. The news was relayed by the Danish government's Ministry of Climate Energy and confirmed in a statement to Reuters by Apple's Nordic director Erik Stannow.
"We're thrilled to be expanding our data center operations in Denmark, and investing in new sources of clean power," Erik Stannow, Nordic manager for Apple, told Reuters in an email.
"The planned facility in Aabenraa, like all of our data centers, will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one, thanks to new clean energy sources we're adding," he said.
Apple said the new data center would begin operations in the second quarter of 2019 and would power its online services, including the likes of iMessage, Siri, Maps, and the App Store.
The data center is located in Aabenraa near the German border, which is a couple of hundred miles south of the data center the company has built just outside of Viborg, which is due to start operations later this year.
Apple said a planned data center in Athenry, Ireland, announced in 2015, had yet to begin construction and is awaiting judicial review. Apple faced multipleobjections from local groups because of the planned facility's possibly harmful effects on the nearby wilderness. Originally it aimed to have the Irish data center up and running by early 2017.
Apple could make its upcoming OLED iPhone available in four different shades, including a new "mirror-like" reflective version not seen before in previous models. That's the latest claim from mobile leaker Benjamin Geskin, who shared an example image via Twitter over the weekend showing what the new color option could resemble.
The image the leaker provided is just an iPhone in a third-party reflective case, but it offers some idea of what a purported "mirrored" handset might look like if Apple decided to offer such a design as part of its color options.
Geskin offered no details regarding the source of his information, so there's no way to verify the claim, but it follows predictions from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo earlier this month that Apple's flagship iPhone model could come in limited "boutique" color options, alongside more typical "S" cycle updates to the existing iPhone 7 line-up.
No clarification was forthcoming regarding the other three color options for the redesigned iPhone, but it's possible some of them could be plucked from the existing six iPhone 7 shades currently available, which include jet black, black, gold, silver, rose gold, and (PRODUCT)RED.
Last week's prominent and perhaps most controversial rumor was that the new iPhone may not include TouchID at all, with Apple favoring some sort of face recognition technology as a replacement security feature. The rumor muddied the waters regarding the future of Apple's fingerprint recognition, with previous rumors appearing to indicate that the company had come up with a solution to integrate TouchID in an OLED display, with facial recognition used as an additional security feature via new 3D sensors in the front-facing camera.
Otherwise, Apple's major iPhone redesign is said to include some form of wireless charging, a faster A11 processor, and a glass body. The 5.8-inch "iPhone 8" is expected to be announced in September.
Apple's upcoming 2017 iPhone lineup is expected to include an inductive wireless charging feature enabled through a standalone charging accessory, and new information shared by Apple blogger John Gruber suggests the accessory might not ship alongside the iPhones in September.
In a tweet shared this evening, Gruber says he's heard that the inductive charging accessory will be sold separately rather than included with the iPhones, a rumor we've heard previously, and that it might be shipped later in the year alongside an iOS 11.1 update.
I’ve heard that inductive charging will (a) be sold separately, and (b) might be late, waiting for iOS 11.1 (a la Portrait mode last year). https://t.co/N65dHMNQIJ
— John Gruber (@gruber) July 8, 2017
Gruber's wording says the charging accessory "might" be late, so the delay is not confirmed, and it is not yet clear why Apple would hold off on shipping the rumored standalone charger.
Early rumors about the OLED "iPhone 8" and its two companion devices, the "iPhone 7s" and the "iPhone 7s Plus," suggested Apple was considering a long-range charging feature, but that technology is still new and there are likely many hurdles to overcome before it's ready for inclusion in a device like the iPhone.
Instead, Apple is rumored to be introducing Apple Watch-style inductive charging, enabled through a standalone charging accessory.
An example of a Qi wireless charging solution
In a research note published earlier this week, trusted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the three iPhones coming in 2017 will adopt glass bodies to facilitate WPC-standard wireless charging functionality. WPC-standard refers to the Wireless Power Consortium (Apple is a member), which supports the Qi wireless charging functionality built into many Android devices.
If Apple's upcoming iPhones do indeed support a universal inductive charging technology like Qi, the devices could potentially work with a range of already-available charging solutions once the wireless charging feature is enabled. Apple's exact plans for its inductive wireless charging solution remain unclear, however, and it could be limited to Apple-designed accessories.
Even though the first two days of this week were spent by most Americans celebrating the Fourth of July, there were still a ton of happenings in the iOS gaming arena. Kicking things off was a story surrounding a puzzling update from Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon. Now, this comes with the massive caveat that Cawthon is no stranger to (intentionally or unintentionally) trolling his audience with updates on the state of development of games in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, but, you really never know.
If Scott Cawthon is to be believed, he's been working on Five Nights at Freddy's 6 but eventually decided to pull the plug on the project due to the pressure that comes from trying to develop another unique entry in the series — particularly with the sky-high expectations surrounding another FNAF sequel. Allegedly, instead he's going to be working on smaller projects loosely based on the FNAF universe like the upcoming movie, a VR title, and other things.
What has us raising our eyebrows particularly high on this one is that Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location was "delayed" because it was "too scary" and then the game was released four days later. Either way, kids are (still) crazy for FNAF, so it seems worth paying attention to, even if these odd updates seem like a strange way to promote a game.
With Season 3 of Rick and Morty only a few weeks away, Adult Swim has updated Pocket Mortys with online multiplayer battles, new dimensions to explore, and tons of other things. Pocket Mortys features a supremely agreeable free to play system that feels truly optional, and is easily among the best, if not the best Pokemon-like game on the App Store. It's packed with Rick and Morty fan service, but even if you've never seen the show, it's a fantastic collection and battling game only made better by this update.
Another Rome: Total War port is on the way to the App Store, and this time players will travel back in time to an entirely new scenario that begins with the Macedonians and escalates all the way to the Persian Empire. Rome: Total War - Alexander will launch as a standalone expansion for $4.99 soon. The original iPad port of Rome: Total War was received incredibly well by fans of strategy games, so it seems safe to assume Alexander will be just as good.
Telltale's Minecraft: Story Mode is a clever mash-up between Telltale's signature narrative-based games and the Minecraft universe which has practically no story in it at all. The first season of the game spanned eight individual episodes that at times felt a lot like playing a Minecraft-y version of the movie The Goonies. Few details are available yet for the second season except for the trailer and the release date of July 11th, but we'll be keeping a close eye on this one.
The original Sorcery! is now available for free on the App Store, and is a game everyone should download during this promotion. We've written extensively about the game, but CliffsNotes effectively amount to Sorcery! is easily among the best game books on the App Store. If you've never played one, imagine Choose Your Own Adventure novels from when you were a kid, but fleshed out to an unbelievable extent. There are two more entries in the series, so if you find yourself enjoying Sorcery! be sure to check out the two sequels.
While it seems like everyone and their brother is riffing on Supercell's Clash Royale these days, Tilting Point and Simutronics released Siege: Titan Wars this week which is another incredibly polished spin on the formula. Players dispatch swarms of troops and powerful titans, and unleash magic spells in realtime PvP battles. This style of game works incredibly well on mobile, so if you weren't into Clash Royale for whatever reason, it's worth giving this one a try.
In Hearthstone news, surrounding rumors, speculation, and legitimate leaks, Blizzard finally announced the next Hearthstone expansion: Knights of the Frozen Throne. Launching next month, Knights of the Frozen Throne is loosely based on the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King, but with the requisite signature Hearthstone twist. New Death Knight Hero cards are being introduced, which provide each class with a new Undead-centric hero power.
Finally, Tencent's Honor of Kings will be launching globally this year. It's unlikely you've heard of this game unless you're in China, but Honor of Kings has been unbelievably successful, sporting over 50 million daily active users and raking in over $140 million a month. The game is so popular in China that the developers were actually forced to limit how much people can play it by the Chinese government. It's a situation that's almost impossible to believe, but I'm incredibly curious to see how it does outside of Asian markets.
That's it for this week! As always, if you appreciate these iOS gaming roundups and are interested in way more content like this, head over to TouchArcade where we're posting iOS game news, reviews, guides, and more all day long. We've got an iOS gaming Twitch channel, a fantastic Discord server, and a weekly podcast that are also all worth checking out.
Since 2015, Apple has been using LIDAR-equipped mapping vehicles to capture street-level imagery for the Apple Maps app. Apple has expanded the areas where it is collecting data several times over the course of the last two years, and according to the latest update to the company's support page, Apple Maps vehicles have recently made their way into Spain.
Apple regularly highlights the countries and cities around the world where its vehicles are located, and between July 3 and August 13, Apple will collect data in the Biscay province of Spain, in Arratia-Nerbioi, Busturialdea, Durangaldea, Enkarterri, Greater Bilbao, Lea Artibai, and Uribe-Kosta.
Apple is also collecting data in new areas in England, France, Italy, and multiple U.S. states during the months of July and August, but Apple Maps vehicles have been seen in these countries in the past. Data collection in Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire in the United States may be new, however.
According to Apple's support page, the information collected by the mapping vehicles will be used to improve Apple Maps, but just what Apple plans to do with the data remains unclear.
Because Apple promises to blur faces and license plates ahead of publication, there's been speculation that the company is working on a "Street View" addition to Apple Maps to mirror Google Maps, but it's also possible that the imagery is being used to bolster the autonomous driving software that's in development at Cupertino headquarters, as was recently proposed by analyst Neil Cybart.
Over the course of the last two years, Apple's mapping vehicles have surveyed more than 30 U.S. states and several countries including England, Ireland, Italy, France, and Sweden.
For over a decade, Apple has offered an annual Back to School promotion, offering higher education students, parents of higher education students, and educators incentives, such as a free pair of Beats headphones or an Apple Store gift card valued up to $100, with the purchase of a qualifying Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
We've been receiving questions about the Back to School promotion for a few weeks now, but there's still no sign of an imminent launch. Some have wondered whether Apple is canceling the program entirely, but it's too early to say, as there are still several weeks remaining before students begin returning to classrooms.
Since 2006, Apple has launched its Back to School promotion in the United States and Canada as early as May 25, and as late as July 23. The promotion is usually extended to several European countries such as France, Germany, and Italy on either the same day, or no more than a few weeks later.
These have been the exact kickoff dates each year for North America:
2016: June 2
2015: July 23
2014: July 1
2013: July 2
2012: June 11
2011: June 16
2010: May 25
2009: May 27
2008: June 3
2007: June 5
2006: June 4
Apple's Back to School promotion is highly anticipated because it's one of the few times a year that Apple offers deals to customers, and many hold off on summer purchases until the event begins. Apple offered free Beats headphones in 2016 and 2015, free Apple Store gift cards in 2014, and free iTunes gift cards in 2013.
Apple launched a Back to Uni promotion in Australia and New Zealand in February, offering a free Apple Store gift card valued between $70 and $100 with the purchase of a qualifying new Mac or iPad Pro.
The Back to Uni promotion in Australia and New Zealand can sometimes foreshadow what Apple plans to offer in other countries, but not always. In 2015, for example, Apple offered an Apple Store gift card worth up to $100 in Australia and New Zealand, but the deal was free Beats headphones in the United States.
Apple's stock price has declined around 9 percent from its all-time high of $156.10 in May, but Wall Street analyst Brian White believes the recent sell-off represents "yet another buying opportunity" as investors turn their focus to the so-called "iPhone 8" rumored to launch this fall.
White believes Apple remains "among the most underappreciated stocks in the world," according to his research note distributed to clients today. A copy of the report was obtained by MacRumors.
In our view, Apple's quarterly results will be less important this summer as investors are focused on the iPhone 8 this fall, along with the company's raised capital distribution initiative, depressed valuation and new innovations as showcased at WWDC. We still believe Apple remains among the most underappreciated stocks in the world.
White, an Apple bull, added that the upcoming iPhone cycle is setting up Apple to reach his $202 price target over the next 12 months, which would value the iPhone maker as over a trillion dollar company based on market capitalization. Apple's current market capitalization is around $737 billion.
Similar to the bottoming process in Apple during the summer of 2013 that drove a strong rally into the spring of 2015, we believe the bottom in the stock during May 2016 and the upcoming iPhone cycle is setting up Apple to reach our $202.00 price target over the next 12 months.
In May, RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani also said Apple could reach or exceed a trillion dollar market cap within 12 to 18 months, with a stock price of $192-$195. Like White, Daryanani said the "iPhone 8" will be a major catalyst towards Apple's path to a trillion dollar valuation.
White maintains the highest price target for Apple's stock among all institutional analysts. AAPL closed at $142.73 on Thursday.
Last week, Jay-Z's new album "4:44" debuted exclusively on his own music streaming service Tidal, and then reports predicted that the album would expand to Apple Music and other services one week later. Now, 4:44 has begun streaming on Apple Music, and is available for $9.99 on iTunes [Direct Link].
Earlier in the week, Jay-Z debuted a video for one of 4:44's tracks, The Story of O.J., on Apple Music while the album was still a Tidal exclusive. Even during its one-week exclusivity window, 4:44 went platinum in under a week, certifying that the record has sold 1 million equivalent album units in the United States. One equivalent album unit represents one full album sale, ten tracks sold from an album, or 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video streams from an album as of February 2016.
In the midst of Jay-Z's new album launch, Kanye West -- one of Tidal's initial sixteen artists/co-owners -- was reportedly seeking to end Tidal's exclusivity rights over his new music and break from the service (via Billboard). West was said to claim he was owed "more than $3 million" because his album "The Life of Pablo" "resulted in 1.5 million new subscribers to Tidal, for which he was supposed to get a bonus but the company hasn't paid."
Now, a source close to West has said that Tidal's exclusivity rights to his music have been terminated, "based on what is alleged to be Tidal's failure to honor its financial obligations." West has been vocal in the past about company rivalries negatively affecting the music industry as a whole, eventually allowing The Life of Pablo onto Apple Music after first saying it would "never" happen.
In addition to Apple Music, 4:44 has also begun streaming on Amazon Music Unlimited, although Spotify has not been included in the expansion of Jay-Z's newest album. Earlier this year, Jay-Z removed his entire catalog of music from Apple Music and Spotify, without giving a clear indication as to why, and while many of the songs reappeared on Apple Music a few days later, most of it remains missing from Spotify.
Apple Maps has been updated with comprehensive transit data in Calgary, Alberta, enabling iPhone users in the Canadian city to navigate with public transportation, including the CTrain light rail system and buses.
Apple Maps transit directions are also available for buses in the smaller Southern Alberta cities of Red Deer, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat.
Apple Maps enabled transit routing in Calgary just in time for the 2017 Calgary Stampede, which runs between July 7 and July 16.
Apple Maps gained a Transit tab in iOS 9. The feature lags several years behind Google Maps, but Apple's public transportation support is exhaustive, mapping all station entrances and listing departure times.
At launch, the feature was limited to Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and over 300 cities in China. Since then, Apple has been working to expand support for public transportation to other cities around the world.
Newer additions include Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Miami, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Montréal, New Orleans, Paris, Portland, Pittsburgh, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, and Singapore.
For a complete list of cities with Apple Maps transit directions, visit the iOS Feature Availability page on Apple's website.
Apple today hit back at disgruntled chipmaker Imagination Technologies for questioning whether it can develop new graphics technology without using the supplier's intellectual property, calling the British firm's response to Apple's decision to part ways with it "disappointing, inaccurate, and misleading."
Back in April, Imagination Technologies announced that Apple had told the U.K. firm it planned to stop using its graphics processors in consumer devices over the next two years. The news came as a shock to investors and the company's shares fell by 60 percent on the day.
At the same time, the company criticized Apple, claiming that it doubted the tech giant could go it alone without violating Imagination's patents, intellectual property, and confidential information. One month later, the company opened a "dispute resolution procedure" with Apple after failing to resolve the disagreement.
On Friday, Apple responded to the graphics chip supplier by claiming that the firm had known for nearly two years that it was winding down the relationship. In an email statement received by Bloomberg, Apple said it first informed Imagination in late 2015 that it would no longer be buying the U.K. company's latest technology, but that it would still use its older systems.
Apple claimed that it told Imagination in 2016 that it was further reducing the relationship by initiating a clause in its contract that allows Apple to pay a lower royalty rate for using a smaller amount of intellectual property. By February 2017, Apple said it had told Imagination it was ending the relationship altogether and would no longer be making any royalty payments in up to two years' time.
Apple's statement contradicts those made by Imagination, notes Bloomberg. Last week, Imagination CEO Andrew Heath said the company was informed by Apple at the end of March "that they were certain" that products to be released in 2018 or early 2019 will no longer use Imagination's intellectual property. But Apple claimed the firm had known for longer.
"We began working with Imagination in 2007 and stopped accepting new IP from them in 2015," Apple said. "After lengthy discussions we advised them on February 9 that we expected to wind down our licensing agreement since we need unique and differentiating IP for our products. We valued our past relationship and wanted to give them as much notice as possible to adapt their future plans."
Imagination has yet to comment on Apple's statement, but the supplier's shares fell by up to 8 percent on Friday U.K. trading.
News that Apple would no longer be relying on its processors delivered a major blow to Imagination Technologies, which traditionally provides the PowerVR graphics architecture found in Apple's full range of iOS devices and receives a small royalty on every sale, which amounts to up to half of the British firm's revenue.
The company put itself up for sale in June. The formal sale process is still ongoing, despite a successful restructuring and a return to profitability for the company. Apple is unlikely to make an offer, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg.
Amazon is offering Prime members who have yet to try its Music Unlimited streaming service a steep discount in the run-up to the company's Prime Day on July 11.
Prime subscribers can currently sign up for four months for a total cost of $0.99 (or 99p in the U.K.), with the service reverting to its usual price of $7.99 (£7.99) per month thereafter. The non-Prime price for the service is $9.99 (£9.99) per month.
Amazon Music Unlimited launched last year to compete with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music. Its music catalog of "tens of millions of songs" makes the service distinct from the company's Prime-only music library, which offers access to "over a million songs". A standard Prime subscription costs $99 (£79) annually.
The four-month discount is only valid for Prime members and is only redeemable toward an Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Monthly Plan. The offer ends on July 11.
Data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) estimates that Amazon Prime membership has grown 35 percent in the past year. Figures suggest there were 85 million Prime members as of June 30, 2017, while CIRP's June 2016 estimate put the number at 63 million.
Amazon is an affiliate of MacRumors and the site may benefit if you click product links in this article.
Mapping app Waze was today updated with a new Voice Recorder feature, allowing users to record their own voice prompts to enable custom directions in a user's own voice. The Voice Recorder option debuted on Android devices in May, but has now expanded to iOS devices.
