We have a deal on a 3-year subscription for CuriosityStream, the streaming and on-demand service with more than 2,000 documentaries and shows. It works in a browser, iOS, Apple TV 4 and above, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox One, and more. It’s $45 through our deal.
Disney+ Reveals All the Shows Coming to The Service
Disney+ tweeted almost all of the shows and movies coming to the streaming service in a flurry of tweets on Monday. Techcrunch has a good of rundown of what is on the way.
For anyone who grew up on Disney, the list is a nostalgic look back at not just the studio’s hits, but also the titles that had quickly faded from your memory, or those that even make you cringe. While most streaming services today round out their catalog lineup with less popular content in order to claim a larger number of total titles available, they don’t tend to promote their B movies and crappy TV shows in any of their marketing or advertising, for obvious reasons. Disney’s approach, by comparison, is refreshingly transparent.
iPhone SE2 Will be 'Key Growth Driver' in 2020
Analyst Ming-Ching Kuo believes that the iPhone SE2 will be Apple’s key growth driver next year. He made the prediction in a new note, sent to investors Sunday, CNBC reported.
In a note to investors Sunday, Kuo reiterated that the iPhone SE2 will have a similar design to the iPhone 8. That suggests Apple will be able to reuse parts from that phone while upgrading some of the internal components, like the processor and camera. It will be offered in silver, space gray and red, Kuo said. Kuo also predicted that the budget iPhone will likely attract people who are still using the iPhone 6 and 6s, which he estimates are still being used by as many as 200 million people, even though those phones launched five years ago. He said the new phone will be a “key growth driver” for Apple next year.
A Confusing Tale of Apple Card Fraud
There is a lot of focus on security with the Apple Card, but that has not stopped some instances of fraud emerging.
Apple Using Chinese Firm Tencent For Fraudulent Website Warnings for Safari in iOS
Apple’s Fraudulent Website Feature in Safari for iOS uses Chinese firm Tencent as one of its Safe Browsing Providers.
Things Are Not Gong Well for Facebook's Cryptocurrency
Facebook cryptocurrency has lost a number of big-name backers in recent times. Reuters reported on the problems facing Libra, and looked at where the project might go next.
PayPal (PYPL.O) started the Libra Association exodus this month, leaving Facebook without the backing of any major payments firms for the project, due for launch by June 2020. Libra said this month it would give details after the meeting of the 1,500 “entities” that have indicated “enthusiastic interest” to take part in the project. Members will review a charter and appoint a board at the Libra meeting, which will be held in Geneva, the Wall Street Journal reported this month. A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to enquiries on the meeting of the Libra Association, whose remaining members include Vodafone (VOD.L) and ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft.
iPhone 11 Off to 'Very Strong Start' Says Tim Cook
Tim Cook told the German newspaper Bild that Apple “could not be happier” with how the launch of the iPhone 11 has gone.
Custom 5G Apple Modem has Goal of 2022 Release
Reports say that Apple has moved its timeline for a custom 5G Apple modem to 2022.
It won’t be easy. In fact, bringing a new modem to the finish line in two years is really pushing it, my source said. After all the design work is done, and the fabrication of the chips themselves is underway, an arduous testing and certification process still awaits.
Right now I think 5G is overhyped and even the previous rumor of a 5G iPhone in 2020 didn’t make sense.
iOS 13.2 Will Let You Delete Your Siri Audio History
The latest Apple betas like iOS 13.2 have a feature that lets you delete your Siri audio history in settings.
In addition to offering an explicit opt-in, Apple has promised that only employees, and not contractors, will be involved in reviewing the audio clips. However, this doesn’t stop the automated text transcriptions of your Siri requests from being transmitted to Apple, irrespective of whether you opt-in or -out, although they will pseudonymized and dissociated from your Apple ID. What’s more, these transcripts could be reviewed by employees and contractors.
I’m glad that Apple is adding this feature, and given its privacy stance I’m surprised it’s a feature we don’t already have.
This Super Durable Lightning Cable Doubles as a Portable Charger: $19.99
We have a deal on a Nomad Lightning cable that has its own built-in 2,800mAh portable battery. It’s a 1.5 meter nylon-wrapped MFi -certified Lightning charging cable, and the housings at either end are made of aluminum. And then embedded in the cable is that 2,800mAh battery. This device is just $19.99 through our deal.
Apple vs China Over Hong Kong – TMO Daily Observations 2019-10-11
Charlotte Henry and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Apple’s recent decision to pull an app used by Hong Kong protestors.
Looking Ahead to the 2020 iPhone
I know. You’re only just getting used to your new iPhone 11. But Lisa Eadicicco at Business Insider is already looking at what comes next for Apple.
Among the biggest changes that’s expected to come with Apple’s 2020 iPhones is the introduction of a more sophisticated three-dimensional camera, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Debby Wu. Such a camera system would include a laser scanner to create 3D replicas of the real world, boosting the iPhone’s augmented reality capabilities. With the new 3D camera, the iPhone would be better at placing virtual objects in augmented reality and would offer enhanced depth perception, according to Bloomberg. Apple’s iPhones have supported augmented reality applications for years, and the company made its first big push into AR when it launched ARKit in 2016 — a set of tools to help mobile developers build high-quality AR apps.
Apple Launches New In-House Studio and Steven Spielberg Produced Series
Apple is to launch its own in-house studio. Its first production, exec produced by Steven Spielberg, will be a follow-up to Band of Brothers.
Harry Potter Takes Over Times Square With Immersive Experience
The producers behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child put together an immersive experience that took over Times Square. Fifty-one screens celebrated the play’s expansion into international markets, AdWeek reported.
The producers of Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in partnership with entertainment advertising agency AKA NYC, recently put that to the test with a Times Square takeover that used 51 towering screens to promote the play’s expansion to new international markets and reveal its new tagline: “Sometimes, Darkness Comes From Unexpected Places.” The project required the cooperation of eight digital display companies, creating a nearly 360-degree panorama of moving visuals. As attendees watched, a timer counted down to reveal Harry Potter, but the bright and golden imagery was soon clouded into darkness as dementors arrive and herald the ominous return of the Death Eaters via the play’s time-traveling plotlines.
Twitter for Mac is Back With a Native Catalyst App
Twitter is once again available for macOS users via the Mac App Store, and it was built using Catalyst. The company explained the shift.
Apple's Market Value Just Passed One Trillion
Not only was Apple the first company to reach a market value of one trillion dollars, the company recently passed that milestone.
Your Kids' Photos Power Surveillance Technology
The New York Times has a nice feature out today about how a mother found photos of her kids in a machine learning database.
None of them could have foreseen that 14 years later, those images would reside in an unprecedentedly huge facial-recognition database called MegaFace. Containing the likenesses of nearly 700,000 individuals, it has been downloaded by dozens of companies to train a new generation of face-identification algorithms, used to track protesters, surveil terrorists, spot problem gamblers and spy on the public at large. The average age of the people in the database, its creators have said, is 16.
I can’t imagine the gross feeling you get when you see your kids in a database like this.
NASA Aiming For Manned SpaceX Mission in Q1 2020
NASA is aiming for a manned SpaceX mission in the first quarter of 2020. NASA chief Jim Bridenstine made the announcement Thursday, Reuters reported.
The pronouncement of a revised time frame signaled NASA believes SpaceX is getting the Crew Dragon project back on track following an explosion during a ground test in April and technical challenges with its re-entry parachute system. Bridenstine said successful development of the capsule was key to achieving NASA’s top priority – the resumed “launching of American astronauts on American rockets from American soil” for the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011. The NASA administrator spoke to reporters at the end of a visit to the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, just outside Los Angeles, where chief executive Elon Musk led him on a tour of the sprawling manufacturing plant.
Apple Arcade Just Got Five New Games
Five games were just added to Apple Arcade, tempting people to keep their subscription as the service’s one month free trial nears its end.
Tim Cook Defends Removal of Hong Kong Protest App in Email to Apple Employees
Tim Cook has written to Apple employees, defending the decision to remove an app used by protestors in Hong Kong from the iOS App Store.
Alleged Apple Employee Says 'Things are so Broken Here at Apple'
A conversation on Hacker News from an alleged Apple employee says that things are broken at Apple and no one communicates.
Broken management structure. I have had many managers (a red flag in itself) but even worse none of the managers take suggestions from engineers. Everything is purely top down. If an engineer realizes there is a problem on a macro scale they cannot fix it. It is literally impossible to unite more than 1.5 teams to get anything done.
Obviously there is no way to tell if they are real or not (At least, my surface research for these linked teasers can’t tell). Another commenter mentions “overt sexism that I’ve been witness to in iCloud management…”
Amazon Music Now Featured on Apple TV
Amazon Music now joins Spotify as third-party features available on Apple TV. Download the Amazon Music app to get started.
For now, the tvOS Amazon Music app is available for Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD users in thirteen countries: the U.S., UK, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico, Japan, and India.
Amazon Music is a free download from the App Store.
Alfonso Cuarón Makes Multi-Year Deal With Apple
Alfonso Cuarón has set a multi-year deal with Apple for its Apple TV+ while still managing his deal with Anonymous Content.
Doing it Wrong With iOS Screen Time Limits
According to USA Today,
Some screen time is worse than others when it comes to kids and academic performance, according to a new analysis published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.
Television viewing, followed by video games, were the two activities most tied to poor school performance, researchers showed in a review of 58 studies published over the decades.”
Other activities: not so much. This is a helpful article for parents.