Apple News
iPhone 17 Plus said to sport display smaller than 6.7-inches
Supply-chain analyst Ross Young posted on X this week that he’d heard that the iPhone 17 Plus will come with a smaller screen than the 6.7-inch display on the current-generation iPhone 15 Plus.
It’s unclear why Apple would opt for a smaller-size screen for its iPhone 17 Plus, but MacRumors suggests the change could help further differentiate the Plus model from its more expensive Pro Max cousin. Though Apple is expected to increase the screen size of its upcoming iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max this fall, changing the screen size on the iPhone 17 Plus would likely help each iPhone stand apart even more.
It’s also possible Apple has learned through customer feedback that customers who look at the Plus-size iPhones want a device that’s bigger than the entry-level iPhone but not as big as the Pro Max.
As mentioned, Apple is expected this year to adjust screen sizes of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, which will reportedly have slimmer bezel borders and larger displays.
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MacDailyNews Note: Current iPhone 15 screen sizes:
• iPhone 15: 6.1 inches
• iPhone 15 Plus: 6.7 inches
• iPhone 15 Pro: 6.1 inches
• iPhone 15 Pro Max: 6.7 inches
Rumored iPhone 16 screen sizes:
• iPhone 16: 6.1 inches
• iPhone 16 Plus: 6.7 inches
• iPhone 16 Pro: 6.3 inches
• iPhone 16 Pro Max: 6.9 inches
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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Taffy Brodesser-Akner adapting ‘Long Island Compromise’ for Apple TV+
The author behind “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” Taffy Brodesser-Akner, will re-team with Susannah Grant and Sarah Timberman to develop “Long Island Compromise” for Apple TV+ with Richard Plepler also exec producing.
Lesley Goldberg for The Hollywood Reporter:
Following a multiple-platform bidding war, Apple has landed the rights to develop the dark family drama for television. As she did with Hulu’s Fleishman, Brodesser-Akner will adapt her novel (due July 9 from Random House) for Apple and exec produce alongside Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), Sarah Timberman, and former HBO chief Richard Plepler and his Eden Productions.
Long Island Compromise follows a suburban American family and the lasting impact the patriarch’s weeklong kidnapping has on his wife and three children 40 years later.
Brodesser-Akner, an award-winning journalist for The New York Times, adapted her first novel, Fleishman, for Disney-backed Hulu in 2022. The limited series starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan, and Adam Brody is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 87 percent score among critics and an 80 percent rating with viewers. The drama earned five Primetime Emmy nominations, including one for Brodesser-Akner’s writing.
Plepler set up shop at Apple in 2020 after spending nearly three decades at HBO and has exec-produced a number of series for Apple…
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Apple in the running for NBA rights package
The NBA’s exclusive negotiating window with incumbent media partners Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery will likely pass without a deal announcement, CNBC reports Friday citing “people familiar with the matter.” Apple, Amazon, NBCUniversal, Netflix, and YouTube TV have all expressed preliminary interest in talks with the NBA about potentially buying a package of games as a new partner, CNBC reported last year.
Beginning next week, the NBA will be able to work on agreements for new partners to show packages of games. Amazon, Apple, YouTube TV, Comcast’s NBCUniversal/Peacock and Netflix have all had preliminary conversations with the league expressing potential interest, CNBC reported last year. The exclusive negotiating window with the league’s incumbent partners officially ends Monday.
While no agreement is expected to be announced by the deadline, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery both continue to work on terms with the league, an NBA spokesperson confirmed. The NBA would like to bring in at least one new partner to serve as a flagship streamer, CNBC reported last year. The league wants a “robust” streaming partner that will use marketing and reach to make the games a priority on their platform, CNBC reported.
The NBA is looking to double the $24 billion it generated from its previous media rights deal with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery by adding new partners and charging more for rights, CNBC reported last year… Both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery aren’t eager to lose the rights they already have. Still, the league is looking for a large increase in fees, and neither company wants to carry the full burden of paying significantly more for what they already have, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple should continue to maximize usage of the Apple TV app and give Apple TV+ subscribers even more value (by offering lower subscription fees than non-subscribers à la MLS Season Pass) wherever it makes sense financially; live sports is a major way to do it.
Perhaps Cook should consider bidding for and winning NFL Sunday Ticket away from Direct TV, buying rights to Premiere League and La Liga games, etc. and making them Apple TV exclusives. Go directly to the sports leagues with boatloads of cash. – MacDailyNews, May 6, 2014
Hit series and blockbuster movies come and go, but live sports is the eternal differentiator. – MacDaiyNews, Octobr 2, 2023
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Apple plans to spend more in Socialist Republic of Vietnam as it looks beyond China
As Apple and other global tech firms to look beyond China to secure their supply chains, cut costs, and open up new markets, Apple is planning to set up assembly factories with partners and buy more components from Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
CEO Tim Cook made the pledge in a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi Tuesday, according to a statement by Vietnam’s government.
Apple (AAPL) has already spent almost $16 billion through its supply chain in the country since 2019, the government quoted Cook as saying. And the company has created more than 200,000 jobs in Vietnam, it added.
According to the statement, Cook said Apple “stands ready … to enhance cooperation and investment activities” in the Southeast Asian country.
His visit highlights Vietnam’s growing importance to global companies looking for alternatives to China as trade tensions between Beijing and the West have escalated in recent years.
Vietnam is “the perfect landing spot for tech companies to diversify outside China,” according to Dan Ives, a senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, who pointed to the high number of trained engineers in the country as one factor.
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MacDailyNews Take: Diversify, diversify, diversify away from China!
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Major Apple supplier TSMC cuts chip market outlook as consumer weakness persists
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) scaled back its outlook for a chip market expansion, cautioning that the smartphone and personal-computing markets remain weak.
Jane Lanhee Lee for Bloomberg News :
The world’s largest maker of advanced chips cut its expectations for 2024 semiconductor market growth — excluding memory chips — to about 10%, from above that figure. Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei also trimmed his growth forecast for the foundry sector, which TSMC leads. Meanwhile, the company maintained its estimates for spending at anywhere between $28 billion and $32 billion amid capacity expansion and upgrades this year.
“Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty persists, potentially weighing on consumer sentiment and end-market demand,” Wei told analysts on a conference call. TSMC’s stock slid more than 6% in Taipei, the biggest intraday decline in about 18 months.
TSMC’s forecast follows the company’s first quarterly profit rise in a year. The main chipmaker to Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. expects revenue of $19.6 billion to $20.4 billion in the June quarter, beating estimates for about $19.1 billion.
That outlook may help assuage some investors worried that AI demand won’t hold up, or that a smartphone recovery may be longer in coming.
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MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, the A18 and M4 chips – and their AI capabilities – will wow consumers, spurring a super cycle of upgrades for iPhone and Macintosh.
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Apple ramps up investment in clean energy and water around the world
Apple this week announced new progress to expand clean energy around the world and advance momentum toward Apple 2030, the company’s goal to be “carbon neutral” across its entire value chain by the end of this decade. More than 18 gigawatts of clean electricity now power Apple’s global operations and manufacturing supply chain, more than triple the amount in 2020. Apple is making new investments in solar power in the U.S. and Europe to help address the electricity customers use to charge and power their Apple devices.
As part of its broader environmental efforts, Apple also advanced progress toward another ambitious 2030 goal: to replenish 100 percent of the fresh water used in corporate operations in high-stress locations. This includes launching new partnerships to deliver nearly 7 billion gallons in water benefits — from restoring aquifers and rivers, to funding access to drinking water — over the next 20 years. As with clean energy, Apple has extended its commitment to clean water across the entire supply chain: Together, Apple suppliers saved over 12 billion gallons of fresh water last year, for a total of 76 billion gallons in water savings since the company launched its Supplier Clean Water Program in 2013.
“Clean energy and water are foundational to healthy communities and essential building blocks for a responsible business,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, in a statement. “We’re racing toward our ambitious Apple 2030 climate goal while taking on the long-term work to transform electrical grids and restore watersheds to build a cleaner future for all.”
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MacDailyNews Take: Read more in Apple’s full press release here.
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Taylor Swift’s 31-song double album hits Apple Music
Taylor Swift’s “Tortured Poets Department” meeting has officially been called into session and, surprise, it’s a 31-song mega double album. The Grammy-winner first released her highly anticipated 11th studio album on Friday, with the album appearing on Apple Music some time prior to its scheduled midnight release time. At 2 a.m EDT, Swift then surprise-released an additional 15-song album titled “TTPD: The Anthology.”
The initial 16-track “Tortured Poets Department” album serves overall as a relaxed and mellow listen on the surface, but if you’re paying attention to the lyrics – as most very thorough Swifties do – you’ll discover a chaotic and complicated stream of consciousness where Swift works through waves of heartbreak, longing, anger and self-reflection.
The songs on which Swift chose to feature collaborators are some of the album’s highlights. The album’s eighth track “Florida!!!” with Florence + the Machine is a gorgeous match of two unique voices blending together, with Florence Welch’s signature plaintive singing style complementing Swift’s vocal range on the melodic track.
“Fortnight,” the album’s lead single featuring Post Malone, is a dynamic first track, perhaps the album’s catchiest. “I love you it’s ruining my life,” Swift sings reflectively, with Post Malone’s soft vocals echoing hers.
The “Anthology” album released later on Friday includes the previously announced exclusive vinyl variant bonus tracks “The Black Dog,” “The Albatross,” “The Bolter” and “The Manuscript” along with numerous other new songs.
“This is probably the most anticipated album ever that I’ve seen in my career,” Tom Poleman, the chief programming officer & president for iHeartRadio, told CNN in a recent interview. “It’s not just a music event, it’s a pop culture event that I think that everybody in America will be talking about and celebrating together.”
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple Music offers amazing tonal definition with lossless audio for no extra charge. Only Apple Music lets users hear sound all around in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos.
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Apple pulls Threads, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal from App Store in China after CCP order
Apple said on Friday it had removed Meta Platforms’ Threads and WhatsApp apps from its App Store in China after being ordered to do so by the Chinese government, which claimed national security concerns.
Josh Ye and Mrinmay Dey for Reuters:
The removal of the four apps suggests growing intolerance on the part of China’s central government towards at least some foreign online messaging services that fall outside of its control. It also signals less leeway for Apple in China.
[O]ther Meta apps including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger remained available to download, according to Reuters checks on Friday. Many other popular apps developed by Western companies including YouTube and X were also available.
It was not immediately clear how WhatsApp or Threads might have caused security concerns for Chinese authorities.
“The Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal of these apps from the China storefront based on their national security concerns,” Apple said in an emailed statement.
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MacDailyNews Take: In China, what the CCP wants, the CCP gets.
Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. — Potter Stewart
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Apple pitches its Vision Pro spatial computer to businesses
Apple is touting its Vision Pro spatial computing headset, which was made available in the U.S. earlier this year, to businesses.
Belle Lin for The Wall Street Journal:
But it faces the same challenges as its predecessors—pitching a “face computer” experience that hasn’t yet clicked with a wide business audience.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company last week announced a crop of enterprise customers that have built “spatial” apps designed to take advantage of the platform’s ability to combine the physical and virtual worlds within a user’s field of view. The bet is that early adopters can showcase the headset’s usefulness to corporate information-technology buyers, and justify its $3,500 price.
Susan Prescott, the company’s vice president of worldwide developer relations and enterprise product marketing, said the Vision Pro helps businesses boost productivity and has “endless potential in the enterprise.”
The company said it works directly with customers to integrate and manage Apple devices, and partners with firms like IBM, Deloitte and SAP to help enterprises get started. It declined to say how many businesses have purchased Vision Pro headsets, and how many devices have been sold to companies.
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple offers a simple online form for businesses that are interested in Vision Pro so that their Enterprise team can reach out to help interested businesses get started with Apple Vision Pro here.
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Apple accused of scrapping usable devices
Even if the iPhones looked good enough for resale, Apple’s contract with its recycler GEEP explicitly required that every product it sent be shredded and destroyed.
Austin Carr for Bloomberg Businessweek:
In Apple’s view, these devices, the kind usually disposed of at its stores or collected from trade-ins when customers upgraded to a new model, were better off scrapped for their precious metals than refurbished. And Apple was scrapping tons: In its first couple years working with GEEP, the company shipped it more than 530,000 iPhones, 25,000 iPads and 19,000 Watches.
But not all of them ended up in the shredders. Products were disappearing from the facility, though nobody at GEEP seemed to notice or talk about it… Then came the surprise Apple audit. When corporate investigators arrived to search the space, an oversight right Apple included in its agreement, they discovered a series of alarming issues. Tons of gadgets had gone missing. There were data discrepancies in GEEP’s paperwork. And, tellingly, auditors found two bins of intact Watches in an off-camera section of the facility, something that’s contractually forbidden. Workers on the floor sensed their bosses were nervous but didn’t know why.
Apple soon accused GEEP of failing to recycle at least 99,975 items. Cellular and other device identifiers revealed iPhones that should have been crunched into croutons were instead reactivated by new users in China. In 2020, Apple sued GEEP in Ontario court for C$31 million ($22.6 million) for breach of contract, alleging a “carefully orchestrated scheme” wherein employees stole and diverted its products to third parties who fixed up and “resold them in the grey-market to unsuspecting consumers.”
When the lawsuits came to light, first reported in late 2020 by the Logic, a Canadian news outlet, industry observers were stunned. It wasn’t just the shocking scale of the purported heist; the incident implied that Apple was forcing a recycling partner to shred tens of thousands of iPhones that were apparently in prime condition for refurbishment.
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple in October 2020 alleged in a lawsuit that Canadian recycler GEEP Canada sold approximately 100,000 iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, which the recycler had received to be taken apart and recycled, but Apple now appears to have abandoned the lawsuit. Read more in the full article here.
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Free ‘Delta’ Nintendo emulator launches in Apple’s App Store
The “Delta” Nintendo game emulator launched Wednesday as one of the first officially approved iOS apps to emulate Nintendo consoles from the NES through the N64 and the Game Boy through the Nintendo DS.
Kyle Orland for Ars technica:
Delta is an outgrowth of developer Riley Testut’s earlier sideloadable GBA4iOS project, which recently had its own unauthorized clone removed from the App Store. Before Wednesday, iOS users could load Delta onto their devices only through AltStore, an iOS marketplace that used a Developer Mode workaround to sideload apps from a self-hosted server. European users can now get that AltStore directly on their iOS devices (for a small 1.50 euro/year fee), while North American users can simply download Delta for free from the iOS App Store, with no ads or user tracking to boot.
All that history means Delta is far from a slapdash app quickly thrown together to take advantage of Apple’s new openness to emulation. The app is obviously built with iOS in mind and already integrates some useful features designed for the mobile ecosystem. While there are some updates we’d like to see in the future, this represents a good starting point for where Apple-approved game emulation can go on iOS.
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MacDailyNews Take: The Delta game emulator is free via Apple’s App Store here.
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Apple TV+ sets July 10th premiere for ‘Sunny’ series starring Rashida Jones
Apple TV+ announced Thursday that “Sunny,” its 10-episode mystery thriller with a darkly comic bent starring Rashida Jones, is set to premiere globally with the first two episodes on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through September 4. Created by Katie Robbins (“The Affair,” “The Last Tycoon”), who also serves as showrunner, and executive producer and director Lucy Tcherniak (“Station Eleven,” “The End of the F***ing World”), “Sunny” stars Emmy Award nominee Jones, who also serves as executive producer, along with stars Hidetoshi Nishijima, Joanna Sotomura, Judy Ongg, You, annie the clumsy, and Jun Kunimura.
“Sunny” stars Jones as Suzie, an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan, whose life is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash. As “consolation” she’s given Sunny, one of a new class of domestic robots made by her husband’s electronics company. Though at first, Suzie resents Sunny’s attempts to fill the void in her life, gradually they develop an unexpected friendship. Together they uncover the dark truth of what really happened to Suzie’s family and become dangerously enmeshed in a world Suzie never knew existed.
Produced for Apple TV+ by A24, “Sunny” is written and executive produced by Robbins, through her shingle Babka Pictures. A24 and Jones also serve as executive producers. The series is based on the book “The Dark Manual” by Japan-based award-winning Irish writer Colin O’Sullivan.
Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have earned 482 wins and 2,142 award nominations and counting, including multi Emmy Award-winning comedy “Ted Lasso” and historic Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Major Apple supplier TSMC expects Q2 sales to jump on ‘insatiable’ AI demand
Major Apple supplier TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker and a major Apple and Nvidia supplier, forecast second-quarter sales may rise as much as 30% as it rides a wave of “insatiable” demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
“Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the insatiable AI-related demand for energy efficient computing power,” CEO C.C. Wei said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “AI-related data centre demand is very, very strong,” he said, adding that the shift from traditional servers to AI servers is “favourable” to TSMC.
AI servers are expected to account for a low-teens percentage of its 2024 revenue, more than double from last year, with that figure rising to more than 20% of revenue by 2028, it said.
Demand for auto chips would fall this year, compared with a previous estimate of growth, it added.
Looking ahead, TSMC said it expects business in the second quarter to be supported by strong demand for its industry-leading 3 nanometre (nm) and 5nm technologies, although that strength would be partially offset by sluggish demand for smartphones.
For 2024, the company said it expects revenue to rise in the low- to mid-20% range in U.S. dollar terms.
“Looking at 2024, macro economy and geopolitical uncertainties persist, which could further affect consumer confidence and end-market demand,” TSMC said in a statement.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s forthcoming M4 chips for Macs are widely expected to be built on TSMC’s 3-nanometer process.
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Apple to invest over $250 million to grow its Singapore campus
Apple on Wednesday announced new expansion in Singapore, with plans to invest over $250 million to grow its campus in Ang Mo Kio. The new expansion is the latest milestone in Apple’s over four decades of work fostering job creation and deep connections with the local community, and will provide space for growth and new roles in AI and other key functions.
Apple opened its first facility in Singapore in 1981 with 72 employees focused on Apple II, and has since grown to include a team of more than 3,600 that contributes to every part of the company. Today, Singapore serves as a central operations centre for Apple in the region, and is a hub for critical roles in software, hardware, services, and support. The country is also home to three vibrant Apple Store locations.
“Singapore is truly a one-of-a-kind place, and we are proud of the connection we’ve built with this dynamic community of creators, learners, and dreamers,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement. “With our growing campus, Apple is writing a new chapter in our history here. Our Singapore teams have played an important role in enriching the lives of our customers — and we can’t wait for many more decades of innovation to come.”
Like all Apple facilities, the expanded Singapore campus will run on 100 percent renewable energy. (Rendering by Hassell Studio)
Across Singapore, Apple supports more than 60,000 jobs through direct employment, its supply chain, and the iOS app economy. The company also works with educational institutions, businesses, and organizations using technology and innovation to build a brighter world.
Like all Apple facilities, the expanded campus will run on 100 percent renewable energy. Once complete, the office aims to attain LEED Gold certification. Apple has been carbon neutral for its corporate operations since 2020 and has run all of its facilities using 100 percent renewable energy since 2018.
With a commitment to securing a greener future for all, Apple first contracted for clean energy solutions in Singapore in 2015 with solar panels on 800 rooftops, which helped Apple become the first company in the country to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
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MacDailyNews Note: According to Apple, construction is slated to begin later this year to expand Apple’s campus in the Ang Mo Kio district. Two buildings acquired in 2022, located adjacent to the company’s existing offices, will undergo a major upgrade, bringing three unique spaces together to improve collaboration for Apple’s growing teams in Singapore. The addition follows Apple’s investment in upgrading facilities and state-of-the-art labs over the last 10 years, including growing space in its hardware technologies center by 50% since 2019.
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Apple AirPlay now available in select IHG Hotels & Resorts properties
Starting today, guests staying at select properties from IHG Hotels & Resorts, including Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, Candlewood Suites, and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, can use AirPlay to privately and securely stream their favorite shows and movies on Apple TV+ and other popular streaming services, listen to personal playlists on Apple Music or other platforms, view vacation photos, practice a presentation, play fun games on Apple Arcade, or get a workout or meditation in with Apple Fitness+ on the big screen in their guest rooms. More than 60 IHG properties in North America are introducing AirPlay today, with others to be added in the coming months.
Users can automatically connect to the compatible LG hotel TV in their guest room and the hotel’s Wi-Fi network by scanning a unique QR code on the screen. Once connected, guests can share almost anything on the big screen in their hotel room directly from their iPhone or iPad. Guests can also pair multiple devices to the TV, so friends and loved ones traveling together can also enjoy.
Each QR code is unique to the hotel room and ensures that content is available only to the user — meaning anything guests share to the hotel TV stays personal and private. When they check out, their connection to the TV is erased, so future guests and hotel staff can’t access the user’s activity.
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MacDailyNews Note: Learn more about the properties that support AirPlay at ihg.com/appleairplay.
AirPlay in hotels requires iPhone Xs or later running iOS 17.3 or later; or iPad (6th generation or later), iPad mini (5th generation or later), iPad Air (3rd generation or later), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation or later), 10.5-inch iPad Pro, or 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation or later) running iPadOS 17.3 or later.
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Apple say it’s reduced overall greenhouse gas emissions by more than 55 percent since 2015
Apple has reduced its overall greenhouse gas emissions by more than 55 percent since 2015, the company shared today in its 2024 Environmental Progress Report. “Apple 2030” is the company’s goal to become “carbon neutral” across its entire value chain by the end of this decade. The goal is to cut emissions by 75 percent from 2015 levels.
“The proof of Apple’s commitment to climate action is in our progress: We’ve slashed emissions by more than half, all while serving more users than ever before,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, in a statement. “More hard work is ahead of us, and we’re focused on harnessing the power of innovation and collaboration to maximize our impact.”
A Challenge for Change session titled “Create a Better World Through Environmental Justice” offers discussion guides for learners of all ages.
This year, Apple will again collaborate with Dolores Huerta, “social justice advocate” and founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, as part of the Challenge for Change learning series. Learners of all ages can participate in the challenge Create a Better World Through Environmental Justice, which offers discussion guides and a new resource, “30 Creative Activities to Help the Environment,” which is designed to inspire new ways for people to take action in their communities.
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MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s 2024 Environmental Progress Report is here.
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Apple TV+ debuts trailer for hit comedy series ‘Acapulco’ season three
Apple TV+ on Wednesday unveiled the trailer for the third season of “Acapulco,” the global hit bilingual comedy series starring and executive produced by Emmy and SAG Award winner Eugenio Derbez. “Acapulco” returns for season three with the first two episodes debuting globally on Wednesday, May 1st, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through June 26th.
In season three of “Acapulco,” it’s time to reconcile past mistakes and exciting new beginnings. In the present story, older Máximo (Derbez) finds himself returning to a Las Colinas he no longer recognizes. While in 1985, younger Máximo (Enrique Arrizon) continues his climb up the ladder of success while potentially jeopardizing all the relationships he’s worked so hard to build.
In addition to Derbez and Arrizon, the returning “Acapulco” ensemble cast includes Fernando Carsa, Damián Alcázar, Camila Perez, Vanessa Bauche, Regina Reynoso, Raphael Alejandro, Jessica Collins, Rafael Cebrián, Regina Orozco and Carlos Corona, with recurring guest stars Jaime Camil (“Schmigadoon”) and Cristo Fernández (“Ted Lasso”) joining for season three.
Hailing from Lionsgate Television, “Acapulco” is inspired by 3Pas Studios and Pantelion Films’ box office hit “How to Be a Latin Lover,” and is produced for Apple by Lionsgate Television, 3Pas Studios, Zihuatanejo Productions and the Tannenbaum Company. In addition to starring in the series, Derbez serves as executive producer alongside Ben Odell. The series is created by Austin Winsberg, Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman. Winsberg also executive produces with Sam Laybourne who serves as showrunner and executive producer. Kim and Eric Tannenbaum as well as Jaime Eliezer Karas executive produce, along with Jason Wang on behalf of the Tannenbaum Company and Paul Presburger.
Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have earned 482 wins and 2,142 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning comedy “Ted Lasso” and historic Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”
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MacDailyNews Take: We like and recommend “Acapulco.”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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Apple may leapfrog to massive AI advantage
According to Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman, Apple’s iOS 18 AI capabilities will be on-device – no need for privacy-infringing cloud processing that rivals rely upon – and from which they potentially profit as Google, Microsoft, and other competitors’ users – specifically, their users’ personal data – is the product.
The iOS 18 AI move is a huge win if you care about iPhone privacy, but it isn’t surprising, given that Apple is known for its strong focus in the area. It also sends a strong message to Apple’s biggest rival Google’s Android that the iPhone maker will do everything it can to win in the AI battlefield as competition ramps up.
“As the world awaits Apple’s big AI unveiling on June 10, it looks like the initial wave of features will work entirely on-device,” Gurman wrote. “That means there’s no cloud processing component to the company’s large language model (LLM), the software that powers the new capabilities.”
Apple’s AI capabilities in iOS 18 and beyond will require a huge amount of data processing power. The iPhone maker has been investing in more hardware able to host AI, and the iPhone 16 will apparently come with an enhanced neural engine… Yet running LLMs similar to ChatGPT without additional cloud support will be a challenge, says Android Authority, pointing out that “some of Samsung’s and Google’s most sophisticated AI features still require the power of cloud servers.”
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MacDailyNews Take: We’ll see just how much AI Apple can do on-device this June at WWDC – and how well they can market it. It’s quite possible that chatbot features will require users to opt-in to submit data to whichever cloud-based GenAI firms (Google, Baidu, etc.) with which Apple decides to ink deals.
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Apple seeks Steam developer’s documents to fight consumer lawsuit
Apple has asked a judge to force video game distributor Valve to disclose business records that the Cupertino Colossus says it needs to battle an antitrust class-action lawsuit claiming it drives up app prices.
Apple’s federal court filing in Seattle on Tuesday said Valve, developer of the digital distribution service Steam, has refused to provide sales and commission data that are “core” to its defense in the consumer lawsuit.
The records, according to Cupertino, California-based Apple, will show how its App Store competes with competing gaming services and other platforms.
A federal judge in February said tens of millions of Apple customers could band together as a class to press claims that the company’s App Store practices have caused consumers to pay artificially higher prices.
Apple has denied the allegations and has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to undo the lower court’s class certification order. The plaintiffs’ lawyers have estimated that class-wide damages reach billions of dollars.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s App Store practices have not caused consumers to pay artificially higher prices.
How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022
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Apple to allow EU users to download apps through web sites soon
Briefing the media on the latest development to its EU app ecosystem this week, an Apple representative said developers wanting to distribute iOS apps directly will be able to tap into the entitlement through iOS 17.5 beta 2.
Natasha Lomas for TechCrunch:
Apple is opening up web distribution for iOS apps targeting users in the European Union starting Tuesday. Developers who opt in — and who meet Apple’s criteria, including app notarization requirements — will be able to offer iPhone apps for direct download to EU users from their own websites.
It’s a massive change for a mobile ecosystem that otherwise bars so-called “sideloading.” Apple’s walled garden stance has enabled it to funnel essentially all iOS developer revenue through its own App Store in the past. But, in the EU, that moat is being dismantled as a result of new regulations that apply to the App Store and which the iPhone maker has been expected to comply with since early last month.
In March, Apple announced that a web distribution entitlement would soon be coming to its mobile platform as part of changes aimed at complying with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA)…
[D]evelopers will have to opt into Apple’s new EU business terms, which include a new “core technology fee” charged at €0.50 for each first annual install over 1 million in the past 12 months regardless of where apps are distributed. App makers wishing to avoid the fee currently have no choice but to remain on Apple’s old business terms, meaning they are unable to access any of the DMA entitlements.
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MacDailyNews Take: as we wrote in December 2022:
Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).
iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.
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