Andrew Orr and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to talk about JC Penney’s removing Apple Pay and Elon Musk’s vision for Tesla taxicabs.
Sprint and AT&T Settle Lawsuit, 5G E Logo Set to Remain
Sprint and At&T have settled their legal dispute. Sprint sued its rival, accusing AT&T of being «deliberately misleading» in putting a 5G E logo on devices. The legal wrangling may be over, but 9to5Mac points out that not much will change for consumers. The 5G E logo will still appear on iPhones.
AT&T defended itself by saying that 5G Evolution is meant to “simply let customers know when their device is in an area where speeds up to twice as fast as standard LTE are available.” Of course, certain speed tests have cast doubt on the true speeds of 5G E.The lawsuit between Sprint and AT&T is certainly one where we’d like to learn the settlement details. Unfortunately, however, it seems that we’ll simply keep staring at the 5G E logo on our iPhones, with little recourse available.
Byte: Vine Founder Beta Tests New Short Video Platform
Remember Vine? The short-form video app was hugely popular until Twitter killed it and TikTok replaced it. Founder Don Hoffman is back though, with a new app called Byte. Techcrunch reported on the Vine reboot, which has begun closed-beta testing.
It will be a long uphill climb for Byte given TikTok’s massive popularity. But if it differentiates by focusing less on lip syncing and teen non-sense so it’s less alienating to an older audience, there might be room for a homegrown competitor in short-form video entertainment. Hoffman tells TechCrunch that he’s emboldened by the off-the-cuff nature of the beta community, which he believes proves the app is compelling even before lots of creative and funny video makers join. He says his top priority is doing right by creators so they’ll be lined up to give Byte a shot when it officially launches even if they could get more views elsewhere.
Luminary and the Backlash Against Paid Podcast Subscriptions
When podcast app Luminary announced its subscription model and tweeted an image of a bunny with a sign saying “Podcasts don’t need ads,” it faced something of a backlash. The platform will exclusively host some original shows, but it will not have some very popular shows available. Luminary CEO and co-founder Matt Sacks sat down with The Verge to explain what happened, and what’s next for his firm.
What the $100 million venture-backed podcasting company was trying to communicate, Sacks says, is that podcast listeners should have a choice: pay for subscription-based shows without ads or listen to podcasts for free but deal with ads as a price. “We really do feel like what we’re introducing is choice and optionality and trying to help elevate premium and paid podcasting, which would be good for creators and listeners, as well,” he says.
All of the Apple Product Placements in Television
The Product Placement Blog compiled a list of all of the Apple product placements in movies, TV shows, and music videos.
You will find here the most complete list on the web about brands seen in Hollywood movies, TV shows and official music videos, embedded marketing examples and information about them.
It’s 80 pages long, which is notable since Apple doesn’t pay for product placements in television.
A Thorny Problem: When an AI Composes Music
The Verge writes about legal issues when an AI composes music.
The word “human” does not appear at all in US copyright law, and there’s not much existing litigation around the word’s absence. This has created a giant gray area and left AI’s place in copyright unclear. It also means the law doesn’t account for AI’s unique abilities, like its potential to work endlessly and mimic the sound of a specific artist.
Not to mention the question of who owns the copyright of this new music. Fascinating discussion here.
TMO Background Mode Interview with Author and Artist Michael Benson
Michael Benson works at the intersection of art and science as both a writer and artist. His new book, Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece examines the four year long production of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Michael saw the movie 2001 at age six, and it had a profound influence on his career, especially in his art and science/photography books. We chatted about his book: how Arthur Clarke and Stanley Kubrick met, Kubrick’s view of the best scifi movies of the time, the development of the 2001 script, the depiction of artificial gravity in the legendary centrifuge apparatus, the depiction of aliens, the visual contributions of Douglas Trumbull, and the enduring influence this movie has had on our technology and psyche.
Microsoft Employee Says Whites, Asians Discriminated Against
Messages posted by an unknown female Microsoft programmer in internal Yammer boards say that white and Asian men are being discriminated against.
To be clear, I am referring to the fact that senior leadership is awarded more money if they discriminate against Asians and white men. I have an ever-increasing file of white male Microsoft employees who have faced outright and overt discrimination because they had the misfortune of being born both white and male.
Microsoft’s 2018 demographic report shows that 55.1% of employees are Caucasian, 31.9% are Asian, and 73.4% are male. Personally, I think it’s a bit telling if you feel oppressed by more equality and diversity.
JCPenney Explains Apple Pay Removal
This morning we heard that JCPenney quietly removed support for Apple Pay from its stores. Now we have a better idea why.
The retailer now claims the move was necessitated by the April 13, 2019 deadline in the U.S. for supporting EMV contactless chip functionality. As of this date, all terminals at U.S. merchants locations that accept contactless payments must actively support EMV contactless chip functionality, and the legacy MSD (magnetic stripe data) contactless technology must be retired. JCPenney was not ready to comply, it seems, so it switched off all contactless payment options as a result. However, it hasn’t ruled out re-enabling them later on, it seems.
Privacy Wish List, Earth Day – TMO Daily Observations 2019-04-22
Charlotte Henry and Andrew Orr join host Kelly Guimont to chat about a wish list for iOS privacy features and how Apple celebrates Earth Day.
