Quick Takes: PGA TOUR Gets Augmented, Interview With HQ Trivia's $25,000 Winner, and More

In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.

Monday, March 12

- PGA TOUR introduces augmented reality app: PGA TOUR AR uses Apple's ARKit platform on iOS 11 to project 3D models of featured holes on any flat surface. Fans will be able to select their favorite player on the golf course, compare shot trails from each round, and compare the shots of different players.

pga tour ar
The first featured hole will be No. 6 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting March 15, while shot trails can be reviewed from the seventh hole of last month's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament. The end goal is for at least one hole to be featured at every tournament on the PGA TOUR schedule.

Commentary: PGA TOUR AR is free on the App Store for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, and iPad Pro models. The app is somewhat rudimentary at launch, but an update later this year will enable fans to view 3D shot trails for selected players at live golf tournaments.

- Apple Bluewater re-opens Saturday, March 24, according to a photo shared yesterday by Joe White on Twitter: The store has been closed for nearly eight months to allow for renovations to be completed. Apple Bluewater is located in Greenhithe, Kent, on the edge of Greater London in England.


- Canada to initiate mobile emergency alerts on April 6: iPhones and other LTE-enabled smartphones in Canada will receive emergency alerts from the government about life-threatening situations, such as tornadoes, flash floods, and child abductions, when necessary. On an iPhone, these will appear in the form of a push notification at no cost to the user. There is currently no way to opt out.

iphone emergency alert
Commentary: This long-overdue feature, already in place in the United States, should greatly extend the visibility of emergency alerts beyond TV and radio in Canada. Test alerts, to be identified as such, are scheduled to begin in May.

Other Reading:

For more Apple news and rumors coverage, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

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Top Rated Comments

Tech198 Avatar
95 months ago
"On an iPhone, these will appear in the form of a push notification at no cost to the user. There is currently no way to opt out."

Why would anyone wanna opt-out of emergency warnings ?

Always helpful in these situations to stay-up-to-date, but if your mobile runs out of battery... (Well, didn't think of that one did they).

That's an awful lot of text messages.... but other counties should get involved too.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Brandhouse Avatar
95 months ago
This thing of merging 3 stories into 1 is dumb.

As I user so that I can read comments about the story I'm interested in I have to read through all the comments, this is annoying.
[doublepost=1520895164][/doublepost]

That's an awful lot of text messages.... but other counties should get involved too.
Australia have had this for a couple of years now. And yes, I agree, why would you want to opt out from receiving notifications relevant to your area? It could easily be something that is life threatening to you.
[doublepost=1520895229][/doublepost]So, I make 2 comments to two totally different stories and my comments are merged?! How stupid!!!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IJ Reilly Avatar
95 months ago
"On an iPhone, these will appear in the form of a push notification at no cost to the user. There is currently no way to opt out."

Why would anyone wanna opt-out of emergency warnings ?

Always helpful in these situations to stay-up-to-date, but if your mobile runs out of battery... (Well, didn't think of that one did they).

That's an awful lot of text messages.... but other counties should get involved too.
I hope Canada implements this system better than in the U.S. Here in California we learned the very hard way that it does not work very well at all.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nt5672 Avatar
95 months ago
8 months to renovate? Seems like they are using the same project management team they use to update Mac's?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Darmok N Jalad Avatar
95 months ago
Am I missing something with the PGA app? Does it just put the course map onto the table, or wherever it is you're sitting? Why is that better than just showing it on the screen?
Just gave it a try, and it's actually kinda fun. It basically allows you to move your phone around to look at a hole from whatever angle you want. You can also zoom. I just tried it on my iPhone, but I could see it being even better on an iPad. Below is #7 at Pebble.


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Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)