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In 2023 Apple Wants to Have Zero Net Cash

Andrew Orr ·

Apple has US$245 of gross cash and other things like long-term securities. It has US$115 billion in long-term debt. This makes its net cash position US$130 billion, and Apple CFO Luca Maestri has said eventually the company wants to have a net cash neutral position. Tiernan Ray writes about issues that may arise because of this.

Come 2023, will investors balk at an Apple suddenly less generous with its capital returns? And if Apple puts off that day as much as possible, plodding along with no significant increase in capital returns, will it lose the support of those fickle buyers hungry for shares with meaningful dividend buyback increases every year?

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There is Only One Blockbuster Left in the World

Charlotte Henry ·

And then there was one. The Blockbuster video rental store in Bend, Oregon is to be the last one remaining. A store in Morely, Australia announced Thursday that it will be closing its doors to rentals. It will permanently close at the end of March, the Verge reported. It is hardly surprising that the Blockbusters are going given the growth of online streaming, but it is nostalgia-inducing all the same.

For anyone who’s been paralyzed by choice at the sheer volume of films available on Netflix, having your choice limited by a physical selection of discs can feel particularly freeing. After today’s final day of rentals, Australia’s last Blockbuster store will remain open until the end of the month to sell off its stock, including DVDs, Blu-rays, and even “shop fittings and fixtures.”

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Musicians Are Happy With Apple Right Now

Andrew Orr ·

Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon are joining forces to appeal a ruling by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board that would increase payouts to songwriters by 44%. Can’t have the people producing music for your service making more money. But Apple isn’t joining the appeal, which makes musicians happy.

We thank Apple Music for accepting the CRB decision and continuing to be a friend to songwriters,” he said. “While Spotify and Amazon surely hope this will play out in a quiet appellate courtroom, every songwriter and every fan of music should stand up and take notice. We will fight with every available resource to protect the CRB’s decision.

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Update Your Chrome Browser Right Now

John Martellaro ·

PC Magazine writes:

Google is urging Chrome users [Mac, Windows, Linux] to update the web browser right away to patch a zero-day vulnerability that is being actively exploited.

In a Tuesday tweet, Google Chrome Security and Desktop Engineering Lead Justin Schuh said users should install the latest version of the browser—72.0.3626.121—right away.

Like…right now.

TMO Deals

The iPhone XS Max 256GB + AirPods Giveaway

Bryan Chaffin ·

Check out the The iPhone XS Max 256GB + AirPods Giveaway we’re running with Stack Commerce. All you have to do is sign up—or log in to our Deals site if you’re already signed up—and click the green Enter to Win button. One winner will be drawn in about a month.

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T-Mobile to Launch LTE Home Internet With 5G Coming

Andrew Orr ·

T-Mobile will start testing an LTE Home Internet service soon, and will also offer 5G Home Internet once it’s rolled out.

Home broadband is one of the most un-competitive industries in existence. The New T-Mobile & 5G can and will change all that. And we’ve already got this in the works. T-Mobile will soon begin a pilot of Home Internet service using a 4G router operating over T-Mobile’s LTE network. Customers will get the router for free, and after the merger, it will be upgraded to include 2.5 GHz spectrum and 5G compatible hardware.

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Apple VR Headset Could have Motorized Headband

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple’s much speculated upon VR headset looks evermore likely thanks to a couple of recent patents. Whatismore, it could come with a motorized headband. Cult of Mac noticed that Apple has applied for a patent for a motorized adjustment system. It also filed a patent for a “Thermal Regulation for Head-Mounted Display.”

The description is written in the stilted language of such things. It says, in part, “the adjustment mechanism includes a variable volume structure that changes fit of the headband relative to the head of the user by volumetric expansion or volumetric contraction.” It gets a bit more eyebrow-raising when the filing mentions “an electric motor that changes fit of the headband relative to a head of the user by constricting or expanding a length of the headband.”

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Iranian Hackers Target Hundreds of Firms Including Microsoft

Charlotte Henry ·

Iranian hackers attacked hundreds of global firms over the last two years. Those targeted included Microsoft. The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft traced the attack against it to a group called Holmium. It had been tracking the group for 4 years. At the time of this writing, it had not been reported that Apple was a target.

The campaign, the scope of which hadn’t previously been reported, stole corporate secrets and wiped data from computers. It caused damages estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity and affected oil-and-gas companies, heavy-machinery manufacturers and international conglomerates in more than a half-dozen countries including Saudi Arabia, Germany, the U.K., India and the U.S., according to researchers at Microsoft, which deployed incident-response teams to some of the affected companies.

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Ira Flatow Says Apple Watch 'Saved' his Brother

Charlotte Henry ·

Science Friday host Ira Flatow revealed Thursday that the Apple Watch had «saved» his brother. The device alerted Mr. Flatow’s sibling that he had a very high resting heartbeat. It told him to go to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed tachycardia, AppleInsider reported.

Posting to Twitter, host of radio show Science Friday Ira Flatow revealed his brother was «saved by his Apple Watch,» alerting him to a higher than normal heartbeat. According to the personality, the heart beat was in excess of 200 beats per minute, prompting the sibling to take a trip to the hospital. Doctors issued a diagnosis of tachycardia, a condition when the heart rate exceeds the normal resting rate, which for most adults would be a resting heart rate of over 100 beats per minute.

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U.S. Government Tracks Journalists in Database

Andrew Orr ·

A startling investigation by NBC 7 journalists reveals how the U.S. government tracks journalists through use of a database.

Documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates show the U.S. government created a secret database of activists, journalists, and social media influencers tied to the migrant caravan and in some cases, placed alerts on their passports.

In fact, their own government had listed their names in a secret database of targets, where agents collected information on them. Some had alerts placed on their passports, keeping at least two photojournalists and an attorney from entering Mexico to work.

This is why private services like end-to-end encrypted messaging apps are so important. It’s bad enough if a foreign government is surveilling you. We don’t need our own government to do the same.