Follow Benjamin on Threads to keep up with his latest projects. Benjamin blogs about Apple news and rumors and posts insightful product and app reviews. Read his work on 9to5Mac and his personal blog.
Benjamin Mayo also creates apps for iOS as a professional indie developer and contractor; more details here. Email to discuss making your iOS project.
Follow @bzamayo on Twitter and follow @bzamayo on Threads.
The Financial Times is reporting that Apple is set to come under fire on fresh anticompetitive charges from the European Union, which will likely be formally announced next week.
Apple will face the complaint that it unfairly monopolizes the mobile payments system on the iPhone, by promoting Apple Pay and restricting other services from having the same access to the iPhone’s NFC hardware.
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Apple today launched the Self Service Repair Store, allowing iPhone customers in the United States access to parts and manual that they can use to repair their own devices.
The new store enables repairs of iPhone SE, iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 components, including display, battery and camera replacements. Apple also said it will launch Mac self-service repairs later this year.
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Today, Apple debuts two docuseries about basketball. One is called The Long Game, about upcoming NBA hopeful Makur Maker. The most prominent is a four-part documentary on the life of the basketball legend Earvin Johnson, called They Call Me Magic. Both series are streaming now with an Apple TV+ subscription.
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Apple TV+ announced today its first project featuring Idris Elba, following the signing of a first look deal in 2020.
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Apple Music today launched a new set of DJ mixes recorded in Dolby Atmos, enabling Apple Music subscribers to listen to the mixes in Spatial Audio. You can listen to the first one here. New Spatial Audio mixes will be rolling out every month.
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Apple Card users will now get an additional cash back bonus when buying through Ace Hardware. Boosted from the standard 2% rate, Apple Pay purchases at Ace Hardware stores and online are now eligible for 3% Daily Cash with Apple Card.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that he will serve as the 2022 commencement speaker for Gallaudet University.
Gallaudet and Apple already had a close relationship, with each incoming student equipped with a MacBook Pro or iPad Pro on arrival. The company also hosts hiring and recruiting events for graduates. The bond with the institution has only strengthened further in light of Apple’s promotion campaign and Oscar win for original film CODA.
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Via Deadline, Apple TV+ has struck an overall deal with Playtone, the production company headed by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman.
Under the exclusive deal, Playtone will make new scripted and unscripted television series for Apple’s streaming service. Deadline also mentions that a sequel to the popular Apple TV+ film Greyhound is in development.
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Apple is apparently aiming to expand the amount of functionality Apple Watch users can perform, whilst keeping the device in a low power state. Right now, Power Reserve mode on Apple Watch only allows users to see the time with a simple digital clock. All other features of the watch are disabled.
But according to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple wants to dramatically upgrade the experience. The new low power mode focus would allow customers to run a suite of apps and features without using as much battery life. This could help make the Apple Watch more useful for customers who are taking long trips, or want to use sleep tracking without charging as much.
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Pixelmator Pro is out today with another significant update, this time focused on layers. This includes a redesign of the Layers sidebar to make it easier to manage all your layers in a document. Plus, there’s brand new capabilities with the addition of Colur Adjustments and Effects layers.
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Starting April 8, two regular season Major League Baseball games are streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ every Friday. These games are available nationally through Apple TV+ to all subscribers, at no extra charge. If you haven’t used Apple TV+ before, here’s what you need to know to tune in.
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Overnight, the Apple TV app has began rolling out the new MLB sections for Friday Night Baseball, which starts streaming on Apple TV+ tomorrow.
In the US, and seven other countries, Apple TV+ will stream two baseball games every Friday night. The first matchup is the Mets vs Nationals at 7 PM ET.
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Apple TV+ has renewed its mysterious workplace thriller ‘Severance’ for a second season, ahead of the season one finale premiering this Friday.
Although Apple does not release exact viewing figures, Severance does appear to be one of Apple TV+’s relative breakout hits, with word of mouth increasing every week since the season debuted in February.
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Across almost all of its projects to date, Apple TV+ has shown that it looks to bring big name Hollywood stars under its wing. And it doesn’t get much bigger than Harrison Ford. Taking on his first major recurring role in a television series, Ford has been cast in the upcoming Apple TV+ comedy ‘Shrinking’.
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Apple TV+ continues its prolific rollout of premium series this year with the announcement of Prehistoric Planet. The series has been in the works for approximately three years, hailing from BBC Studios Natural History Unit and executive produced by Jon Favreau.
Prehistoric Planet will stream beginning May 23rd, with one episode released each night of the week. It relies on big-budget CGI to tell a story of the last days of the dinosaurs, narrated by David Attenborough. Watch the trailer after the break …
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Apple TV+ today premieres its newest original series, Slow Horses. The show is an adaptation of the Mick Herron novels, about a division of MI5 that takes in reject spies, who have been taken off the standard job path due to career-ending screwups. The first two episodes are streaming now.
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Apple today announced a new docuseries on basketball’s up-and-coming star Makur Maker will debut on Friday, April 22nd exclusively on Apple TV+.
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Business Insider featured an interesting article today with some soundbits and tidbits from Hollywood agents working with Apple, and sources inside the content arm of Apple TV+.
Despite easily being the most resourced company financially, the Insider article suggests that Apple TV+ content division is understaffed, or perhaps more generously experiencing growing pains, leading to rollout issues of new content.
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The Best Picture Oscar winning film CODA is streaming now on Apple TV+. In the movie, Ruby is the only hearing member of her family, and struggles with a choice of furthering her passion for music or staying to help her family’s fishing business. Here’s how to watch.
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The Apple TV+ movie CODA today picked up three awards at the Oscars, including the prestigious Best Picture top honors. Apple acquired the movie out of Sundance back in January 2021.
In just its second year of eligibility, Apple has beat out the competition to become the first streaming service to win the Best Picture prize. CODA also won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Troy Kotsur).
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The international epic drama series Pachinko debuts today on Apple TV+. Pachinko tells the story of a Korean family who immigrate to Japan in the 20th century, at a time when Japanese attitudes towards Koreans was far from amicable. The first three episodes are streaming now.
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The Apple TV app is not particularly outstanding on any platform, but the tv.apple.com website is by far the most primitive. Since Apple TV+ launched in 2019, the website has lacked key features like access to your Up Next queue, category or tabbed navigation, and a search bar. At least one of those things has now been resolved.
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Today, the limited series WeCrashed premieres on Apple TV+. WeCrashed stars Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway as Adam Neumann, the CEO of office space startup WeWork, and his wife Rebekah Neumann. WeCrashed charts the crazy ventures that led to its meteoric fall from grace.
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Reviews for the Apple Studio Display dropped today to a mixed reception, with an apparent webcam quality software issue plaguing reviews. However, one big takeaway is that the display quality is almost identical to the LG UltraFine 5K display, as they feature almost the exact same panel. So if you don’t care about build quality or nice speakers, you can get that instead …
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