Italy just slapped Apple with a €10.7 million fine (about US$12.27 million) for anti-trust violations stemming from the software fix for iPhones crashing because of worn out batteries, also known as «throttlegate.» Reuters summed up Italy’s reasoning for the fine saying,

Italian consumer groups had complained that software updates for mobile phones reduced the functionality of the devices and were designed to push clients into buying new handsets.

The idea that making a product perform poorly will make customers want to buy more from a company seems a little illogical to me. Still, Apple’s failure to tell customers what they were doing sits at the root of the problem. In this case, it’s a $12 million lesson in why transparency with customers is so important.

Apple’s original TV shows are launching in more than 100 countries, including the U.S., in 2019. That’s according to sources speaking with The Information. They say three «people familiar with the company’s plans» shared those details. From the report:

Apple is working to launch its new TV service in the U.S. in the first half of next year and will make the app available globally in the following months, the people said. It will include Apple’s original programs free to Apple device owners and also will enable users to sign up for TV network subscriptions owned by other companies, just as Amazon Prime Video subscribers can do through the Amazon Channels feature in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan.

I still find it weird that Apple would give away all that content, especially since people are already willing to pay for Apple Music. Still, more reports are coming out saying all those TV shows will be a free perk for owning an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV.

TF International Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo says Apple is working on an update to iPad Mini, and that loooooooooooooooong-awaited AirPower and updated AirPods could be released sometime in the next 6 months. Those devices may or may not be mentioned at Apple’s October 30th media event in Brooklyn, but new iPad Pro models with USB-C ports will definitely be there. According to Ming Chi Kuo, that is. Juli Clover has details at MacRumors. I’ll believe it all when I see it. Here’s a snippet:

Kuo says that Apple will launch a new version of the iPad mini, which has not seen an update in several years. Kuo says the device will feature an upgraded processor and a lower-cost panel.

Kuo does not know, however, if Apple will announce it during the media event or launch it sometime later in the year/early next year, but if an updated model is in the works, it makes sense for it to launch alongside the iPad Pro .

Apple put out a press release Tuesday promoting 13 different pre-release reviews of iPhone XR. As expected, they’re all positive reviews full of gushing commentary about Apple’s new entry-level XS-era device.

This tidbit is from February, but it has some interesting facts. First, H.266 is in the works and will offer 30% better compression than the H.265 standard used for 4K TV. It’ll be needed for 8K TV.

Plus, «Jason Power, Sr Director of marketing/broadcast at Dolby Labs, said that the progress made by Dolby Vision was further boosted when the codec was accepted at CES by Apple for its portfolio of video products, and where Apple was aggressively promoting High Dynamic Range (HDR) as ‘the new normal’ for broadcasters. There were now more than 200 titles available in HDR from Apple.» No wonder the iPhone XS/Max and XR both fully support HDR10 and Dolby Vision.