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Benjamin Mayo

bzamayo

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.

on Twitter and follow @bzamayo on Threads.

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Jon Stewart mocks Bezos and Branson’s recent space adventures in first teaser for his upcoming TV+ show

As the first teaser for his upcoming current affairs show on Apple TV+, entitled The Problem With Jon Stewart, Stewart posted a hilarious mockery of the recent billionaire ‘space’ race on Twitter. At the end of the 3-minute sketch, the trailer confirms that the show will premiere on Apple TV+ in September.

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Apple hunting large TV+ production site in Los Angeles, could exceed half a million square feet

The Wall Street Journal today reported that Apple is on the hunt for a production campus in Los Angeles, as it continues investment in original content production.

The site could exceed half a million square feet in area and would primarily contain soundstages for Apple TV+ productions to shoot on. The production hub would be in addition to the existing soundstage spaces it rents around the world.

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Report: active zero-click iMessage exploit in the wild targeting iPhones running the latest software, used against activists and journalists

iMessage

An explosive report from Amnesty International interpreted device logs to reveal the scope of targeted malware attacks in active use targeting Android and iPhone devices, since July 2014 and as recently as July 2021. Exploited devices can secretly transmit messages and photos stored on the phone, as well as record phone calls and secretly record from the microphone. The attack is sold by Israeli firm NSO Group as ‘Pegasus’.

Whilst the company claims to only sell the spyware software for legit counterterrorism purposes, the report indicates it has actually been used to target human rights activists, lawyers and journalists around the world (as many have long suspected).

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Apple handing out Ted Lasso stickers at retail stores ahead of new season

Ahead of the new season premiering on Apple TV+ this Friday, some Apple retail stores are giving out promotional sticker packs featuring Memoji of Ted Lasso.

Apple has made a few iMessage sticker packs for other TV+ shows like Snoopy in Space or Dickinson but this is the first time we can recall Apple distributing show-specific promotional materials at Apple retail stores.

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Apple developing new ‘Apple Pay Later’ service to let customers buy any Apple Pay purchases in monthly installments

Apple Pay

Apple is readying a new service that will allow Apple Pay users to buy products and pay them off in monthly installments, rivalling existing monthly payment plan options from the likes of Affirm and PayPal. Bloomberg says this feature is in development and internally named ‘Apple Pay Later’.

However, Apple’s service would be directly integrated with Apple Pay. Apple is said to be partnering with Goldman Sachs on the new scheme. Goldman Sachs already serves as the backing bank behind the Apple Card.

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Apple releases MagSafe Battery Pack for iPhone 12, available now for $99

Apple today released the MagSafe Battery Pack accessory for iPhone 12 models. Many months after the iPhone 12 series was unveiled, Apple has quietly released a new first-party MagSafe accessory in the form of a wireless battery pack. (Unofficial magnetic battery packs for iPhone 12 have been around for several months from third-party makers.)

The MagSafe battery pack attaches magnetically to the back of the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max offering additional hours of battery life. The pack itself charges with a Lightning cable, and it can passthrough charge to the attached iPhone at the same time. Apple recommends using a 20-watt USB-C charger for the fastest charge times.

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Apple TV+ scores at the Emmys with 34 nominations, led by hit Ted Lasso

The awards nominations for the 2021 Primetime Emmys have been announced today and Apple TV+ is leading the Comedy categories thanks to heartwarming hit Ted Lasso. The series was placed in the Best Comedy category, and Jason Sudeikis was nominated for best lead actor in a comedy series. The Ted Lasso cast earned three nominations for best supporting actor with recognition for Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein and Nick Mohammed. Hannah Waddingham and Juno Temple were also nominated for best supporting actress in a comedy series.

Ted Lasso’s performance at the Emmys mirrors the success the comedy has seen at other high-profile awards shows including winning a Peabody Award and a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series.

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Apple reportedly wants batteries for the Apple Car to be produced in the US

Project Titan has gone through many phases since its introduction into the rumor mill in 2015. For a while, Apple had focused on autonomous driving technology rather than hardware. Although the actual car is still several years away, most publications now believe that Apple is once again aiming to ship an actual electric vehicle. Digitimes today has a report on the battery supply chain.

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Apple TV+ expands into Russian-language content with new first look deal

Apple is continuing to grow its international content ambitions. Today, Variety announced a first-look deal between Apple and AR Content, the production company led by Academy Award nominated producer and directory Alexander Rodynansky.

AR Content will produce Russian-language and multilingual shows for Apple TV+. Rodnyansky says Apple is the first global streaming platform to form a strategic partnership with a Russian production company.

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Apple TV+ announces new 9/11 documentary special: ‘Inside the President’s War Room’

Apple TV+

Apple TV+ today announced a new documentary special airing later this year. The show is entitled ‘9/11: Inside the President’s War Room’ and will explore the 2001 terrorist attack from the perspective of the immediate response of the people in charge.

The special will be narrated by Jeff Daniels and include testimony from ex-President George Bush, Dick Cheney, and more. In a notable move for the streaming service, the special will premiere simultaneously on Apple TV+ and on the publicly-funded broadcast channel BBC One.

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Another access point name has been discovered that can disable your iPhone’s ability to use Wi-Fi

Only a couple of weeks after the initial iPhone Wi-Fi bug was found, the same security researcher Carl Schou has found another similar issue.

Schou tweeted today that if an iPhone comes in range of a Wi-Fi network named ‘%secretclub%power’, then that iPhone will no longer be able to use Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi related features. Schuo even says that this bug persists when resetting network settings.

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Nikkei: Next year’s iPad Pro to adopt cutting-edge 3nm TSMC process for chip, iPhone 14 to use 4nm chip

Chip plants in Arizona

Apple is said to be adopting the latest-generation fabrication process from TSMC as soon as the second half of 2022. Nikkei reports that both Apple and Intel are currently testing chip designs using a 3-nanometer fabrication process.

The publication indicates that the first 3-nm Apple chip will likely arrive in an iPad (presumably a Pro model). The iPhone 14 will use a larger 4-nm SoC due to yield rates / scheduling lead times. This would still be an improvement over the 5-nm chip design seen in the iPhone 12 and expected to feature in the iPhone 13 later this year.

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Digitimes: mini-LED 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro set to launch late in the third quarter

Digitimes today reported that Apple is bringing on suppliers ready for the production ramp of the highly-anticipated 2021 MacBook Pro lineup. The report says new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are currently scheduled to launch late in the third quarter of 2021, which presumably means September.

The laptops will feature mini-LED panels, similar to the screen technology seen in the 2021 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Whereas traditional LCD panels use a single large backlight, mini-LED screens features thousands of independent dimming zones allowing for super high peak brightness whilst delivering contrast levels similar to OLED displays.

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Report: Apple to release 10.86-inch OLED iPad Air next year, OLED iPad Pro in 2023

iPad Air

Update: The original version of this story said the iPad Air had a mini-LED display. This is not correct and the story has been updated.

The Elec is the latest publication to claim that Apple is readying iPad models with organic LED displays (OLED) for as soon as next year. Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first raised the idea in March.

The Elec claims that Apple will launch an OLED iPad with a 10.86-inch screen in 2022, most likely branded as an iPad Air as the current iPad Air already features that exact same screen size. The company is also said to be preparing 11-inch and 12.9-inch OLED iPads for 2023, which would most naturally be iPad Pro models.

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Kuo: Beats Studio Buds to mitigate AirPods market share decline, ahead of health-tracking AirPods Pro 2 next year

Today, Ming-Chi Kuo reiterated that he expects the next-generation of AirPods Pro to arrive next year and feature ‘innovative’ health tracking functionality. This lines up with an earlier report from Bloomberg.

However, in the near term, Kuo is cutting his estimates for Apple’s headphones shipments, mainly because of increasing competition and lack of new AirPods models. However, the recent release of the Beats-branded Studio Buds will offset some of that decline.

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Apple reportedly increases spending on Google cloud services by 50% year over year, exceeds 8 exabytes of storage

As Apple moves more of its services into the cloud, and more Apple users adopt iCloud for photo library and file storage, the company’s infrastructure requirements keep on rising. Although Apple manages many of its own data centers, it also relies heavily on third-party cloud companies as well.

The Information reports that Apple’s spending on Google Cloud services has increased by 50% year over year, and is set to spend about $300 million this year managing more than 8 exabytes of total data.

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Pixelmator Pro adds machine-learning powered cropping tool, redesigned Paint and Type tools

The Pixelmator team today released the latest free update to its image editor for Mac, Pixelmator Pro. The new update includes an ML Crop feature which automatically suggests a refined framing based on the subject in the canvas. There are also a bunch of other changes, including major updates to the Paint brush and Type text tools.

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