Niantic last week held the world’s first ever Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago, only to be plagued by network and server issues that essentially rendered the app useless. Despite promising last week that all future events would go on as planned, Niantic now says it will postpone select events in Europe…

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Earlier this week, Apple officially discontinued the iPod nano and shuffle by removing them from its online store and slowly phasing them out from retail locations. The move was somewhat out of the blue, but one that makes sense when you think of the current state of technology.

While we asked you earlier this week what you thought of Apple’s decision to discontinue the iPod nano and shuffle, but would you be interested in updated models of either device or an updated iPod classic with Apple Music support?

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This week Benjamin and Zac discuss the new Siri ad starring The Rock, how Siri has changed since its debut and where it could improve, how iOS 11 betas are improving through feedback including Notification Center fixes, the death of the iPod shuffle and nano, and much more. 9to5Mac’s Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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In this week’s top stories: Apple discontinues the iPod nano and iPod shuffle, new beta releases, and iPhone 8 leaks and speculation continue. Also this week, we received new details about Apple Park, Trump made a promise for U.S. Apple factories, and more. Read on for the full roundup… more…

Apple has begun removing all VPN apps from the App Store in China, as first noted by the developers of ExpressVPN. In a blog post, they reported that Apple informed them that their app had been pulled from the Chinese App Store. It seems all major VPN clients have received the same treatment.

China infamously has strict regulations on Internet access and VPNs were one way people could circumvent the Great Firewall. Apple told developers their apps were getting taken down ‘because it includes content that is illegal in China’.

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Apple’s retail stores are always said to be some of the most profitable ones there are, and new data from eMarketer and CoStar offers more insight on such data. The research companies say Apple is the top retailer in terms of sales per square foot, coming in at $5,546 per square foot…

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It’s been widely speculated that the next Apple TV hardware upgrade will include support for 4K HDR-enabled displays. Today a recent purchase receipt from a UK iTunes movie purchase strongly hints that 4K support may be soon bound for iTunes, which would go hand in hand with 4K Apple TV support in the future. more…

Earlier today Apple pushed out firmware for the HomePod smart speaker ahead of its launch in December, and naturally developer Steve Troughton-Smith has unpacked the code and discovered new details.

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This week’s 9to5Rewards partner is Nomad, makers of slick cases and accessories for iPhone, Apple Watch, and more. The company has its Sport Strap for Apple Watch to giveaway to 9to5 readers this week.

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A new image of the iPhone 8 has surfaced on Weibo today, via Slashleaks, showing off the rumored screen design in diagram form. It purports to be a page from the packaging paperwork, which instructs users how to swap SIM cards. Most notably, this leak includes the expected screen design: almost bezel-less apart from a notch at the top of the device to accommodate the earpiece and front camera sensors.

If real, this would be the earliest packaging leak for an iPhone in a long time. Leaks like this aren’t usually seen until much closer to release. Full size picture after the jump …

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