'The Matrix Resurrections' Now Available to Rent or Buy on Apple TV

The newest movie in the franchise, The Matrix Resurrections is now available to buy or rent on Apple TV. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Lambert Wilson reprise their roles from the previous films, and they are joined by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The film is set sixty years after Revolutions and follows Neo, who lives a seemingly ordinary life as a video game developer troubled with distinguishing dreams from reality. A group of rebels, with the help of a programmed version of Morpheus, free Neo from a new version of the Matrix and fight a new enemy that holds Trinity captive.

Plex Apple TV App Offers Customizable UI

One of the coolest thigs about Plex is that it works on so many different platforms and devices. You can run the Plex app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Raspberry Pi, or almost anything else. The app is very helpful in managing your media library and watching your favorite content. With the latest version of the Plex Apple TV app, you’ve got new options for how your library looks and feels. You can customize the app and home background, what artwork should be displayed, and how much of a title’s metadata shows up.

[O]ur challenge is that since Plex is used by so many different types of users (a great problem to have!), each one of you has different habits and desires and styles as well as a vast variety of TVs with different resolutions and brightness and contrast ratios.

The Apple TV Box is Pointless

The Apple TV, even the recently updated model, is pointless in its current form and price. That’s the view of Bloomberg News‘s Mark Gurman in his latest newsletter. I find it hard to disagree.

Apple, known for its closed ecosystem, is even embracing the shift by offering many services on smart TVs and boxes made by competitors. Those services include iTunes movie and TV rentals, the Apple TV app, Apple TV+, Apple Music and AirPlay. Of course, that was intentional on the part of Apple, which sought new revenue sources when iPhone sales slowed around 2018. That made the Apple TV a mostly pointless accessory, and consumers seem to agree: 2020 data from Strategy Analytics found that the Apple TV holds 2% of the streaming device market. The product isn’t without its benefits, though, for the Apple ecosystem’s most loyal users. Integration with HomeKit, Fitness+, AirPods and the iOS remote app is useful. The new remote control and faster chip in this year’s version are definite improvements, and the box is getting SharePlay and Spatial Audio support later this year. Still, I don’t see these enhancements moving the needle for most people. For further reading, check out how to set up your Apple TV 4K.

Paramount+ and Showtime Apple TV Bundle Seems to be Ending

Users are reporting that they are seeing billing issues when trying to pay for their Paramount+ and Showtime Apple TV+ bundle, according to AppleInsider. The suggests that the deal is coming to an end. U.S. users can though get Paramount+ free for a month on Apple TV.

Users on Reddit have reported billing errors, where the usual $9.99 fee for the bundle failed to renew. A check of the subscription in their account shows the bundle as “expired,” and non-accessible. In one case, a customer contacted Apple support and was informed their card was declined. However, on checking with their bank, it seems the payment was sent through, then Apple refunded it. Another Reddit user was informed by a senior supervisor of Apple’s support that it was a “special offer for 1 year” rather than a permanent bundle.