News - page 639

At a time when critically acclaimed TV shows serve up a steady stream of sex and violence, the upcoming Apple TV+ service proffers an unusual prescription for success: optimism, inclusion, creativity and inspiration.

Touting its upcoming streaming video service as “the new home for the world’s most creative storytellers,” Apple is carefully framing its upcoming Apple TV+ day as a healthy antidote to Hollywood’s toxic hellstew of nudity and mindless gore. The company even suggested its original shows could act as a tonic to heal a nation divided by the bitter partisan politics of the Trump era.

Scotty Allen’s iPhone 7 battery was dying and, as you’d expect, Allen didn’t do the easy thing.

Rather than pay Apple to replace the battery or just get a new iPhone, the host of the YouTube show Strange Parts went on a vendor-to-vendor hunt in the electronics district in Shenzhen, China in search of a replacement battery.

This week’s Fortnite update will bring a brand new item and game mode to Battle Royale.

Both the Floor is Lava limited-time game mode and a poison trap will be available in version 8.20 of the game. You’ll be able to enjoy them from tomorrow, March 27, after the update goes live.

You’d think that most of the subscribers to Apple Music would be firmly locked into the Apple ecosystem. That may be true, but new figures suggest that there are quite a few listeners on Android as well.

Figures shared by Sensor Tower‘s Store Intelligence platform suggest that 40 million Android users have installed the Apple Music app from Google Play. Not only that, but the analytics firm believes that the “current quarter will be the service’s best yet for new users on the platform.”

Apple showed off a smattering of games for its upcoming Apple Arcade subscription service at yesterday’s event. But, presumably because reeling off a list of 100 titles would’ve slowed the event to a crawl, it didn’t reveal exactly which games would be available.

One day on, we’ve got a far more comprehensive look at some of the titles which will be available for the service. Here they are:

Apple Card may be exclusive to the U.S. for now, but Goldman Sachs hints that won’t always be the case.

Apple’s partner says it will be looking at plans to bring Apple Card to other markets in the future. Goldman CEO Richard Gnodde expects the card to take off quickly over the summer.

Apple Watch Series 4’s groundbreaking ECG functionality could soon be arriving in Europe.

Evidence suggests that the watchOS 5.2 update will finally make the ECG app available in a number of new regions. It remains exclusive to the U.S. for now.

Tim Cook is seriously underrated. Seven years after taking over as CEO from Steve Jobs, the narrative that he’s riding his predecessor’s coattails needs to change. It’s just not true.

Cook is his own man, transforming Apple in his own way. See Monday’s Apple credit card and subscription News+ app as examples, which are centered on customer privacy, a big Tim Cook mandate.

The company today is a better corporate citizen than it was in the past. And as a business, it’s firing on all cylinders. Cook is doing almost everything right. Some pundits are beginning to argue he’s Apple’s best CEO yet.

With Apple Pay, Apple has done as much as anyone to popularize contactless payments in the U.S. Despite this, it seems that the new physical titanium Apple Card won’t offer contactless payments when used in stores that don’t accept Apple Pay (or anywhere else for that matter).

At least, that’s according to a spokesperson from MasterCard.

Apple Music’s latest update on Android finally brings native Chromebook support for the first time.

The release also includes the same user interface changes that were rolled out on iOS last week. Subscribers can access a new Browse tab that designed to make music discovery even easier.

Against all odds, Apple’s introduction of its “Apple Card” credit card managed to outshine Hollywood’s finest stars at yesterday’s keynote event. Among the card’s nifty features, Apple promised an interest rate among the lowest in the industry.

But is it? Details on the new Apple Card website include the “lower interest rates” in their footnotes. And while they’re certainly not excessive, they’re also not quite as low as you might think.

The Wall Street Journal has shared some additional details of its deal with Apple, breaking down exactly what Apple News+ readers will receive.

The inclusion of the WSJ gives readers the ability to access all categories of news. The app will actively surface stories on national news, politics, sport, and more. However, the “entire slate of business and financial news” is also available, although this is less likely to be highlighted. There is a compromise, though.

Watching Monday morning’s “It’s show time” keynote, I was struck by how much Tim Cook is stamping his values on what Apple is doing.

While writing a book about Cook last year, I accidentally stumbled on six values he has been championing at Apple:

• Accessibility
• Education
• Environment
• Inclusion and diversity
• Privacy
• Supplier responsibility

These are the things Cook has been pushing internally since taking over from Steve Jobs in 2011. These are the priorities of his leadership, reflecting the things he wants to get done and the internal values that guide what Apple employees do and how they do it.

Monday’s keynote was a chance to witness these values in action, to see the kinds of products and services his priorities are helping to create.

The recently-launched wireless charging case for Apple’s AirPods is starting to reach customers’ hands, and it comes with a surprise: there’s a picture of the AirPower charging mat on the box, even though this isn’t available yet.

Beats’ most popular earbuds are about to get the AirPod treatment from Apple.

Leaked images of the unreleased PowerBeats Pro wireless earbuds surfaced online today after they were discovered hiding in iOS 12.2. Rumors just surfaced last week that the PowerBeats Pro are in development, but now we already know what they look like and I gotta say, the design is better than I expected.

There’s no longer a digital media player called simply “Apple TV” in this company’s product line up. But it wasn’t discontinued, just renamed, pobably to prevent confusion with the upcoming Apple TV+ streaming service.

Aquaman star Jason Momoa is finally getting his own TV show as part of Apple TV+’s lineup of original content. The up-and-coming star first made waves as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones before getting killed off in the first season. Now it looks like he’s ready to play another fearsome warrior in the series See created by Peaky Blinders showrunner Steven Knight.

Based on the few brief glimpses we got, See has the potential to be Apple’s most intriguing show. It has epic world building while also asking deep question about humanity which could make the company’s first hit. It also has the potential to be Apple’s worst show too if it fails to strike the right balance.

America is bitterly divided on immigration. But the creator of an original Apple TV series, announced at the Steve Jobs Theatre today, wants his anthology to help heal that divide.

Rather than tales of exceptional talent and achievement, Little America tells the everyday stories of immigrants navigating the American dream.

The creator is writer and stand-up comedian Kumail Nanjiani whose very own American dream hit a sweet spot in 2017 with the movie The Big Sick.

Steven Spielberg, who brought us Indiana Jones and E.T., is lending his gravitas to the newly announced Apple TV+ service. He’s bringing back Amazing Stories, which told single-episode sci-fi tales back in the 1980s.

Its tone is expected to stand in stark contrast to Netflix’s Black Mirror, though the shows have similarities.

Apple’s big batch of videos from today’s “It’s show time” keynote are already available online and they pack more star power than anything we’ve ever seen come out of Cupertino.

Today’s event featured a bevy of new services like Apple Card, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and other offerings that will surely translate into big bucks for the iPhone-maker. If you didn’t get a chance to watch today’s keynote, we’ve rounded up all the feature videos so you can catch up on what’s new in one place.

Get ready to be overwhelmed with all the new offerings:

Today we see updates for all your Apple devices — Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and even Apple Watch.

Almost all of Apple’s big announcements today were software-based — the titanium Apple Card and the new TV shows were the exceptions — but very few of those announcements will be available today, or even soon. In the U.S. and Canada, you’ll be able to sign up for the new Apple News+ subscription today, but that’s about it.

Let’s see what else is new.

Leave it to Apple to make the rollout of a new credit card as exciting as a new iPhone.

The Apple Card, on iPhone or in a physical titanium form you stash in a wallet, aspires to change the way people pay with credit.

Apple’s services business is about to kick things into overdrive in 2019. During the company’s “It’s show time” event at Apple Park this morning the company unveil a slew of new services that cover everything from news to credit cards.

There was something for everyone to get excited about at today’s event that packed more celebrity power than any Apple event ever. Tim Cook finally gave us a look at the original TV shows Apple has been brewing up for years, but there are still a lot of questions surrounding Apple’s new services.

Everyone from Netflix to big banks were put on notice today with Apple’s new services lineup. Only one of the new services are launching today, but there’s still a lot to look forward too.

Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell appeared on stage at today’s “Show Time” event to talk about The Morning Show, the comedy series starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell.

Sounding like a mixture of Anchorman and Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night, the series follows behind-the-scenes shenanigans at a morning news show. It will particularly focus on “[pulling] back the curtain on the power dynamics” between men and women in the workplace. Coming in the #MeToo era, it certainly looks pretty good timing.

Hundreds of TV shows are available through dozens of streaming services, and Apple has just added itself to the mix with a stable of original programs. But rather than increasing the complexity, Apple is hoping to simplify everything by becoming a one-stop-shop for multiple offerings, including HBO, Showtime and more.

This service is called, logically enough, Apple TV+