Apple News+ Now Available in Australia, UK

News+ is Apple’s new subscription service for news, and today it’s available for customers in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Apple News+ subscribers can access more than 150 publications in Apple News+, with a one month free trial available to test the service before having to pay the £9.99 (UK) or $14.99 (Australia) monthly fee.

Available magazines and publications in the UK include The Times and The Sunday Times, Cosmopolitan UK, more.

Magazines and publications in Australia include The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, more.

Podcast App Pocket Casts Moves to a Subscription

Popular podcast app Pocket Casts is now free with an optional US$0.99/month or US$10/year subscription. The previous price was a one-time fee of US$3.99. Pocket Casts CEO Owen Grover told TechCrunch: “We understood pretty clearly that we were limiting our reach and limiting the number of users that could enjoy the quality and power of the app and the platform. It felt penny wise and pound foolish to continue to collect a few dollars at the top … We have the benefit of these owners who are supporting us in a way that allows us to grow our audience, habituate new listeners and deliver a pretty terrific user experience.” App Store: Pocket Casts – Free

DoNotPay Can Manage Your Free Trials

A service called DoNotPay can manage your free trials. Sign up using its digital credit card number and you won’t be charged when the trial ends.

The Free Trial Card is a virtual credit card you can use to sign up for free trials of any service anonymously, instead of using your real credit card. When the free trial period ends, the card automatically declines to be charged, thus ending your free trial. You don’t have to remember to cancel anything. If you want, the app will also send an actual legal notice of cancellation to the service.

I’m interested to try this out. Currently I use a service called Privacy, which lets me generate virtual cards that I can lock to a certain merchant or money amount. The story by Wired is about free trials, but the app description sounds like it can do more, calling itself a “robot lawyer.”

How Apple News Affects Publishers

Great analysis as usual by Ben Thompson. He writes how the Apple News subscription might be good for certain publishers, and bad for others.

To that end, I am sure that a significant number of publications will sign up for Apple’s offering; clearly the company is confident enough to leak a date. And, frankly, many publications should: most publishers are already locked into the volume game when it comes to their editorial direction, and Apple News subscription payouts will be additive to the bottom line.

The main thing that concerns me is how revenue will be driven by clicks. I hope that Apple News doesn’t become a flood of yellow journalism.

Chronicle is a Beautiful App That Gives You Bill Reminders

I recently started using Chronicle for bill reminders and I’m glad I found it. The app gives you a calendar view, along with a list of bills that you enter. Name the bill, add a category, amount, and due date, and forget about it. Plus, Chronicle syncs with the available Mac version via iCloud, so you can view and pay your bills everywhere. In addition to reminding you to pay your bills, Chronicle keeps track of all your payment history, including confirmation numbers, so you always have proof of payments. New to Chronicle is the Pro version. Available as an in-app purchase, Chronicle Pro gives you access to all new features of Chronicle as they are updated. Chronicle Pro is US$3.99/year and gives you features like Amount to Save, Intelligent Estimated Amount Due, and Forecast View. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)

Apple Drops Texture Monthly Subscription Price to $9.99

Apple just dropped the subscription price for Texture Premium from US$14.99 to $9.99 per month. Texture the digital magazine subscription service Apple bought earlier this year. The price change is automatic so subscribers don’t need to do anything with their account to make it kick in. Apple told subscribers about the price drop via email, and Harry McCracken shared the news on Twitter.