News

The runaway success of Pokémon GO highlights safety issues of augmented-reality gaming

The runaway success of Pokémon GO is undeniable. In a few short days since its debut last week, the freemium title has become the top free app on the US App Store and the most downloaded and highest-grossing app in the countries where it is available. It sent Nintendo shares up 25 percent, adding $7.5 billion to the company's market capitalization. Furthermore, the game is about to surpass Twitter among Android users in the United States in terms of daily active users.

But there's a darker side to its success as widespread media coverage combined with pent-up interest and the power of the Nintendo and Pokémon brands in some cases seem to be resulting in a string of thefts, burglaries and even car accidents and other injuries.

TSMC’s Q3 revenue expected to climb to a record high on strong iPhone 7 A10 chip orders

Citing market forecasts quoted by the Commercial Times newspaper, Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes reported Monday that shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) could hit record levels thanks to orders for the Apple-designed 'A10' system-on-a-chip, the engine that will drive the next iPhone and iPad. TSMC just posted strong numbers for the second financial quarter.

The top stories of the week on iDB

Like every Sunday, we get to take a look at some of the most popular posts that were published on iDB during the week that just ended. Whether it is a news item, a new jailbreak tweak, a tutorial, or an app review, we sum it all up in one convenient place for you.

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Apple releases Education Starter Guides for iPad

Integrating the iPad into curriculum just got easier as Apple yesterday released a collection of guidebooks on the iBooks Store that its educational teams designed to help educators learn how to use iPads and first-party apps in the classroom. The new Education Starter Guides for iPad series consist of six interactive guidebooks with photos and videos.

Created and published published by Apple's in-house Education team, the new e-books are promoted in an email blast to iTunes U users and on the Education section of the iBooks Store.

Apple Maps expands Flyover coverage, adds Traffic/Transit data for multiple locales

Flyover, a three-dimensional birds-eye view in Apple Maps, is now available in an additional thirty cities and popular tourist destinations in the United States and around the world. In addition, Transit and Traffic data in Maps is now available in several new cities.

Flyover takes advantage of a fleet of airplanes that photograph points of interest from multiple angles. These photos are then used to derive depth information from them to recreate buildings, landmarks and other objects in 3D space.

Facebook Messenger starts testing end-to-end encryption with Secret Conversations

The Guardian reported more than a month ago that Facebook would be rolling out end-to-end encryption for chats in Messenger. Friday, the social networking firm announced that it's begun testing the new feature, dubbed Secret Conversations.

An opt-in feature, the new option within the mobile Messenger app for iOS and Android was designed to better support conversations about sensitive topics with end-to-end encryption.

Check out system requirements for Auto Unlock to see if your Mac is supported

Some features of Apple's operating systems are hardware-dependent, for one reason or another. iOS 10 and macOS Sierra are no exceptions. For example, Raise to Wake on iOS 10 requires devices with Apple's embedded M9 motion coprocessor, currently found in the iPhone 6s/Plus and iPhone SE.

Following our preview of Auto Unlock, we noticed that commenters are wondering if this feature requires any special hardware so here are Apple's official system requirements for Auto Unlock.

Amazon’s Audible launches Channels, $4.95 per month podcast subscription

Who wants to pay for podcasts? Thought so... Well, Amazon thinks people will have no issues whatsoever paying for short-form audio shows so it's introducing a new Channels thing through its Audible service, which hosts the largest selection of digital audiobooks on the web.

According to Bloomberg, Channels will host premium shows like Scientific American, The Onion and the WSJ, plus a bunch of own originals like Mortal City, Presidents Are People Too and Breasts Unbound.