The Cupertino giant has several interesting solutions in its portfolio of services, including iCloud cloud, Apple Music, Apple TV + and the Apple Arcade game platform. Paying for each of the services separately is unfortunately not a cheap matter. The company, realizing how important this segment of its activity is for it, decided to combine selected products into one common package with a fixed subscription fee. I am talking about Apple One, which was to appear in the first users in the fall and which can be activated from yesterday evening. We check how profitable the service proposition of the American company is and whether it is really worth using.
Enough waiting. The Apple One package, which is a combination of Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, Apple Music and Apple iCloud, has officially debuted. Check how much you can actually save on it.
Apple’s quarterly financial results show the brand’s strength
Looking at Apple’s financial results yesterday, it is easy to conclude that services are one of the most important segments of the Cupertino giant’s activity . In order to increase the number of subscribers who regularly pay for access to Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, Apple Music and Apple iCloud, the company decided to combine these solutions into one. Of course, while lowering its price, I am sure that this strategy will bring tangible results. After the trial period ends, Apple Arcade and Apple TV + will definitely opt for the Apple One plan.
Apple iPhone 12 officially – 4 5G smartphone models for each
In Poland, we can use two plans. The first “For You” is an individual package containing 50 GB of iCloud space and access to the aforementioned services. We will pay for it 24, 99 PLN per month. A “Family” plan has also been prepared, in which we share 200 GB of iCloud space and access to Apple TV +, Apple Arcade and Apple Music. The subscription cost is 39, 99 PLN per month. It is worth remembering that in both cases we can use a free 30 – day trial period. However, if 50 or 200 GB of iCloud space is insufficient, you can easily enlarge “cloud” package.
The service that packages Apple subscriptions is available: here’s how to register and how much you can save
by Andrea Bai published 31 October 2020 , at 10: 01 in the Apple channel Apple
Apple One, the subscription package for Apple services, is available from yesterday onwards 100 countries, including Italy. With Apple One you can subscribe to various Apple services (Music, Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, iCloud, etc.) with a single plan.
Apple One: how to do it and how much it costs
The convenience is not just that of receiving a single billing , but also to be able to achieve a small savings especially if you have already subscribed to all the services individually. It is possible to subscribe to Apple One from all Apple devices that support at least one of the single services. For simplicity we indicate the procedure to follow using iPhone and iOS.
It is therefore sufficient to go to the Settings, tap on our profile and then access the Subscriptions section. The Apple One service will appear: by accessing it you can choose the plan to subscribe.
On the Italian market Apple One has two plans:
Individual: ?? 14, 95 per month , with Apple Music, Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, iCloud from 50 GB
Family: ?? 19, 95 per month , with Apple Music, Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, iCloud from 200 GB and sharing up to 5 accounts
Apple One : how much you save
With the Apple One subscription it is possible r save 6 euros per month for the Individual plan and 8 euros per month for the Family plan . The subscription can be interrupted and resumed at will.
The Apple One service also includes another plan, the Premier , available in the US, Australia, Canada and UK markets which also includes the Apple News + service, available only in these markets, and the Fitness + service which will be launched in the coming months. The Premierm plan, which always includes family sharing and a 2TB iCloud space, costs 30 dollars per month, saving well 25 dollars per month.
Apple One finally includes a free trial of 30 days for all Apple services to which customers are not subscribers yet. Once subscribed, users can create the services included in their package on any platform on which they are available including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac.
Everyone focuses on what’s blowing up on TikTok, but here’s something that’s been getting a bit of attention over on Byte: some playful little skeletons.
Over the past month, designer Andre Zimmermann has been posting short looping clips of meddlesome skeletons getting into low-stakes hijinks, like running off with food from a table or knocking a plant off a ledge. “They sort of became these jerks,” Zimmermann said. “Like a cat.”
They’re the furthest thing from spooky, but their mischievous antics feel a bit more comforting during what’s already a high-stress Halloween.
My favorite of Zimmermann’s not-quite-spooky animations shows a humanoid collection of skulls dancing to a looping disco track. To make it, Zimmermann said he imported a motion-capture file of someone dancing, then set the skulls to follow their movements. “It’s just a man basically with skulls stuck to him,” Zimmermann said.
Zimmermann has only been working with 3D art for three years. He started making icons and customizations for Android home screens, then moved on to illustrations and animations. His projects all come together in his free time after work and take a day or two each.
The quick turnarounds are intentional, Zimmermann said, because it’s too easy for any given post to go unnoticed on social platforms. “Putting a lot of time into these long hard complex works doesn’t really pay off,” he said. He’d like to build up an audience — recently, he had some success on Instagram, where one of his skeleton posts got 1.6 million views. On Byte, the view count is far lower, but the animations have been surfacing as part of the app’s “Spooky Season” section.
One element of Zimmermann’s animations that really pulls them together is the music. That selection actually comes last in the process, he said. Once the video is exported, he looks around to see what fits and what will loop properly, since he wants the clips to seem endless.
“The length has to fit,” he said. “And getting that right away is not really something you can plan.”
(Pocket-lint) – Facebook now has several different smart displays aimed at video calling and helping you connect with your loved ones. These range from a small screened device that looks like a digital photo frame to a camera that plugs into your television.
Each of these devices is intended to make video calling more convenient, interesting and accessible. But which of the Facebook Portal devices is right for you?
We’re here to help you work out the differences and decided which version to purchase.
Best free video calling apps: Keep in touch with friends or colleagues
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Which is the best Facebook Portal device for you?
There are currently four different Facebook Portal devices. These devices offer mostly the same experience with slight differences in specifications and features. There’s the small but snazzy 8-inch Portal Mini, the larger 10-inch Portal, the premium 15-inch Portal+ and the Portal TV.
Each is designed to slot comfortably into your home and give you the ability to easily make and receive video calls with friends and family members with a minimum of fuss.
The devices mostly offer a similar experience and functionality meaning the one you choose will likely depend on your budget and how much screen real estate you want.
What can Facebook Portal do?
For the most part, the main focus of all the Facebook Portal devices is video calling. Using these smart displays, you can place or receive video calls via either Facebook Messenger video calling or WhatsApp calling. Video calls can be made to and from phones, tablets and other Portal devices so the process is as easy as pie.
These Portal devices all have AI-powered smart camera technology that automatically tracks people on the call. With wide-angle lenses and built-in intelligence, the cameras will follow people around the room and allow them to move around more naturally. All the while users don’t need to worry about holding a phone or tablet and trying to frame themselves in the shot.
Facebook
Augmented reality experiences
Facebook has also attempted to make video calling more interesting with the addition of other smarts into these displays. This includes things like AR effects to add silly faces, masks and visuals on the call, AR games that you can play with friends while on the call and Story Time. The latter of these is the most interesting as it lets Portal users tell read children’s stories via the video interface. This includes 15 different stories which add AR effects to the call as they’re being told, the likes of Llama Llama, Pete the Cat and Otto are available with more coming in future.
We like this addition to the system as it gives family members the chance to get involved with things like bedtime routines even when they’re miles away.
More than just video calling
Facebook Portal is designed to not just be great for video calling, but also to keep things interesting in other ways. For example, there are familiar apps built into the devices to keep you entertained. These include things like Spotify, Deezer, Words with Friends and Draw Something.
With Portal TV, things can get really crazy with Mic drop. This is like karaoke but for video calls. Allowing you to lip-sync along to songs on an augmented reality stage, just for your captive audience.
“Hey Portal” Voice Control and Amazon Alexa
As you’d expect from a smart display, all the Portal devices are also controllable with your voice. Each has Amazon Alexa intelligence built-in and can do anything Alexa can do. With a smart display, that also means you get a similar experience to the Amazon Echo Show with access to all the same skills that Alexa has.
You can use Facebook Portal displays to listen to your favourite tunes via Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited and more, check the news, control your smart home and more besides. You can also use the screen to watch your favourite shows via Amazon Prime Video.
Facebook also has its own voice control system that the company says it is constantly striving to improve as well. “Hey Portal” commands will wake the device and let you do more in future.
Each device sports some fairly powerful and surprisingly capable built-in speakers for your audio enjoyment too.
Work as a photo frame
As you might expect from a device that’s designed to look like a digital photo frame, Portal devices do also have that functionality as well. They’re able to display your favourite photos and serve as a reminder when it’s a friend’s birthday too.
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Private by design
Each Facebook Portal device is built to be “private by design” – Facebook knows having a camera in your home can be unnerving. So it’s designed these devices with hardware-level buttons to slide a shutter over the camera and mute the microphone in a way that even if the device was hacked no one could access the audio or video recording capabilities.
For extra security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. If you use the “Hey Portal” command then your voice interaction with the device may be recorded and reviewed by a trained member of the Facebook Portal team, but this is to help improve the system. If you don’t like the idea of that you can turn off storage in the settings and delete anything it has recorded too.
Facebook
Facebook Portal Mini
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The Facebook Portal Mini is the smallest of the range. Like the others, it’s a capable video calling device and with a cleverly thought out speaker design it also packs a surprising amount of audio punch.
As the smallest smart display, it probably most closely resembles the digital photo frames it was inspired by, though with far more features.
The Portal Mini also has a 13MP camera with a 114-degree field of view that’s capable of picking up most of the room. There’s the built-in privacy shutter in the top left that you can easily slide to block off the lens and turn off the microphones too. You get visual alerts to show when this has happened via lights on the device and notifications on the screen.
Portal Mini can be used in portrait or landscape orientation and sports an intelligent adaptive display that adjust brightness and colour to account for your surroundings. This makes your favourite photos look great, but ensures calls look good too.
Thanks to its small frame, the Portal Mini can be placed anywhere in the home and will perform its duties from whatever spot you choose. Whether you decide to set it up in the living room for comfortable calls with the family or in the kitchen where it can also be used for recipe hunting with Alexa, the Portal Mini is flexible and useful.
Portal Mini is also the most affordable of these devices with regular discounts available.
Facebook
Facebook Portal
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The Facebook Portal is the larger brother of the Mini with a similar photo frame-like design, but with a larger 10-inch screen. It too can be used in either landscape or portrait modes and looks great for displaying photos or placing calls.
Like the Mini, the larger Portal has all the smarts we’ve already covered including AR effects, Alexa integration, the ability to display your photos and watch videos too. It packs some capable speakers and delivers an interesting experience at a reasonable price.
The 10-inch screen and subtle frame means Facebook Portal can sit nicely almost anywhere around your home without much fuss.
Facebook Portal review: Video call using Messenger or WhatsApp
Pocket-lint
Facebook Portal+
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Facebook Portal+ is the largest and the most premium device in the line-up. It has a large stylish looking design that stands out in the home and is far less subtle than the smaller photo frame styled devices. We can’t help but think this one looks more like a Mac than a standard smart display.
It boasts a large 15.6-inch screen with a 1080p resolution that’s the best of the bunch in terms of visuals. Oddly, it has a slightly lower count camera at 12MP compared to 13MP on the smaller devices, but it does have a wider field of view. It also has better speakers and a more impressive presence in the room.
Of course, if you invest in Portal+ you’re more than likely going all-in with Portal and will have to explain to guests what the large screen is sitting in the corner of the room.
Portal+ works in both landscape and portrait mode too though, so you can turn it to fit your space or personal preference.
We’re of the opinion that Portal+ offers the most premium video-calling experience of any device or service out there, but that does come at a price.
Facebook Portal+ review: Do the plusses outweigh the minuses?
Facebook
Portal TV
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Facebook Portal TV is the standout in the Portal range. This device doesn’t have a screen, but instead uses your TV to display video calls. It is essentially an intelligent webcam that plugs into your TV via an HDMI cable, then uses that as a large screen for video calls.
Portal TV is useful because it is designed to sit near to your TV or on top of it and allow for a hassle-free, hands-free video call with ease.
It comes with a built-in speaker to let you know when a call is coming in and a remote control or voice controls that allow you to answer the calls with ease. Thanks to a 120-degree wide field of view camera and the smart camera tech, it can essentially see your entire living room and track people in the room as they move about too.
Portal TV also packs more microphones than the other devices, with eight far-field mics built-in to allow it to capture the voices of people in the room while eliminating unnecessary background noise. This is likely the least invasive device in the line-up as the subtle camera could easily be overlooked by guests and yet you have an easy way to make video calls when you need to.
Like the other Portal devices, Portal TV has a privacy shutter and mic mute button when you don’t want to use it and want to double down on privacy, but otherwise, it’s ready for action at a moments notice. Facebook says Portal TV is designed to not interrupt your TV viewing either. It won’t automatically switch to video calls when you’re in the middle of a film or binge-watching your favourite Netflix show, you have to accept the call first.
With Portal TV you get the added bonus of access to Facebook’s “Watch Together” functionality. If you’re placing calls with other Facebook TV users you can watch videos together while also on the call.
Portal TV also has the same functionality as the other Portal devices, except it uses your TV as the display. It works with Alexa, functions as a “superframe” display for your photos and works with AR effects and Story Time too.
Facebook Portal TV review: Trust Facebook to take over your TV?
Writing by Adrian Willings. Editing by Max Freeman-Mills.
TimescaleDB, a scalable database specializing in time series, is now available after two years – with several beta versions and a first release candidate – the second release candidate (RC). The time series database supports SQL, is based on PostgreSQL as an extension and, in contrast to relational databases, is freely scalable.
It offers a distributed multi -Node architecture which, according to the editors, can store data from time series in the size range of petabytes and process it particularly quickly. For self-managed installations of the software, the RC is ready for production, the final release and roll-out in the services managed by Timescale is planned for the end of the year. The database is available as open source free of charge.
Continuous aggregation via updated APIs According to the announcement in the Timescale blog, the release candidate also provides all enterprise features free of charge and grants users more rights than before. Continuous aggregation of data should be possible via updated APIs and give users more control over the aggregation process. Recently, tasks can apparently be customized and within the database it should be possible to control the individual tasks and behavior during execution more precisely with a schedule. In terms of speed of data processing, the publishers refer to rankings of the relational databases available on the market, in which PostgreSQL is currently in the top 4 and is apparently on a par with MongoDB or is slightly overtaken.
Why a separate database for time series? The database is not about peanuts, but about particularly large data sets, which are often distributed over several servers and nodes the collection of telemetric data are received on an ongoing basis and, for example in the case of financial service providers or scientific projects, can include over a billion data series daily. Production lines in factories, smart home devices, vehicles, the stock market, software stacks, but also private devices, for example in the health sector, continuously produce telemetric data via apps, the classification criterion of which is the time series.
Since the volume of such data series is growing and relational databases are apparently reaching their limits in terms of collection and processing, the Timescale creators launched the project of a specialized database three and a half years ago. Companies as diverse as Bosch, Siemens, Credit Suisse, IBM, Samsung, Walmart, Uber, Microsoft and Warner Music use and support the development, according to the provider. According to the Timescale blog, in addition to the PostgreSQL community and its ecosystem, there is also a developer community that is specifically interested in time series behind the project.
Further information A review of the first release candidate shows that at that time a number of services were still chargeable and that the range has apparently increased: According to the provider, the number of users has increased from back then (2018) one million downloads increased to ten million today. Further information on the second release candidate can be found in the Timescale blog. The blog lists a number of demo videos and offers several download options; the software is available as a Docker image and in other variants. For users who are familiar with TimescaleDB, the changelog should be relevant, the Timescale team has put together an update guide for updating.
(Pocket-lint) – Beats has been one of the most fashionable audio brands for a number of years now, a profile that’s only grown since its acquisition by Apple.
With that said, Beats hasn’t really had a product that you could call budget. The wired Powerbeats from early in 2020 was more affordable, but those in-ears weren’t at the low-end of the market.
With Beats Flex, the company is changing that. Offering a product that’s convenient, fashionable, and that sounds good for a lot less money than you’d think.
Design
Flexible neckband design
Nickel-titanium alloy band
Magnets for auto play/pause and answering calls
Unlike a lot of the most modern earphones, the Beats Flex isn’t a true wire-free pair of buds. Instead, it takes influence from the Beats X, offering earphones connected by a flexible neckband. Hence the name: Flex.
These in-ears are pliable, lightweight, and barely noticeable when you sit with them around the back of your neck. And that’s always been the joy and convenience of any neckband earbuds worth their salt. You should be able to wear them around your neck all day, without noticing them, then pop one or both in when you want to listen to music or make a call. Beats Flex definitely gets that right.
These ‘buds are durable too. The flexible cord is design to withstand pretty much anything you could put it through in a normal day. So if you bunch up the Flex to slip into your pocket then that’s no problem. The band itself is made from a nickel-titanium alloy, and that not only means the cord is hard to break, it also bounces back into shape after living as a coiled up ball in your pocket.
Now what these earbuds aren’t is workout earphones. Unlike Powerbeats, the Flex don’t have any additional way to grip onto your ears. There’s no over-ear hook, and no in-ear fin either. Beats told us a reason for this – and a reason for the lack of a pouch too – was that most of their customers simply don’t use them. And, to reduce extra unnecessary waste, the company opted to get rid.
Because of that lack of extra security you’d get, we found when moving around – i.e. walking with the earbuds in – we sometimes had to adjust the fit in the ear again once every so often. There wasn’t much tugging, but just the nature of the two buds being attached means there’s a little shift in fit.
For a budget pair of earphones, a lot of thought has gone into the design. There’s no dangling remote control unit because Beats moved the microphone and control buttons to the neckband. That serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it stops the earbuds feeling like they’re being pulled from your ears.
Second, it ensures that when you’re reaching for the buttons they’re easy to find, and you’re not rubbing any external microphones accidentally. That reduces the tearing-like sound that someone might hear on the phone if you’re speaking to them over your Beats headset.
Third, the microphone itself has been moved to the neckband and is set, recessed, in its own little chamber near your neck, to keep it sheltered from any wind. It’s joined on that left collar by the volume rocker on the top, which is super easy and convenient to use, plus the rounded multi-purpose button which you use to play, pause and skip tracks.
Sound and performance
Similar drivers to Powerbeats Pro
12-hour battery life
Quick charge
When Beats announced the Powerbeats Pro in 2019, the company also produced a brand new custom-designed driver with a more durable and a piston-like design that makes tuning far more accurate than using a conventional diaphragm-type speaker.
While it’s not exactly the same in the Beats Flex, it is far more similar to Powerbeats Pro than Beats X and – so despite being cheaper than the X was at launch – the Flex actually sounds better than the X. There’s a clarity to the vocals and details, while the lower bass notes don’t fall away or get crunched when the volume drops off. It’s well-controlled and remarkably well balanced for what is essentially a pair of budget earbuds.
Pocket-lint
To help that sound along there’s a dual-chamber design that helps give the sound room to move within the buds, while there’s also a small vent on the outside of the casing that helps ensure there’s no build-up of pressure.
The end result is a pair of ‘buds that’s really good to listen to day-in and day-out. All of your favourite playlists and tracks will be as enjoyable as they should be. It’s not bass-heavy, and it doesn’t distort or over accentuate the harder-hitting treble sounds.
Of course, you might not get the dynamic and detailed sound or find the same prominence in the quieter backing instruments and vocals as you’d find on a pair of earphones that are four times the price, but in its price range the Flex stands out for its audio quality. Flex is great for music listening on the go and won’t leave you wishing you’d spent more on something else.
Similarly, all the other elements of its performance make it dependable and convenient. There’s the first-generation W1 chip that makes the Flex really convenient and easy to pair with your iPhone. It also means instant sharing with any other iOS or Apple device you have. You even get audio sharing so you can share your music with someone else using Apple-powered earbuds.
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There are magnets built into each ‘bud which work alongside sensors to automatically play and pause your music when every you snap them together or pull them apart. Similarly, if you’re wearing the Flex around your neck and you get a call on your phone, you can simply unsnap the ‘buds and answer the call.
For Android users, pairing is simple enough and you get an app for managing any firmware updates and viewing battery life, to help bring feature parity between Android and iPhone users.
ReduxBuds are AI-Powered Noise Cancelling True Wireless Earbuds (promo)
You can even listen all day if you want, because with 12-hour battery life there’s more than enough in the tank to keep you going. If you commute to work, that’s good to get you through a full week of one-hour commutes comfortably.
Verdict
If there’s one word to describe the Beats Flex, it’s ‘convenience’. The design is lightweight and easy to wear; the sound is well balanced and easy on the ears; the magnetic buds make playing, pausing and answering calls really easy; and the battery means you don’t need to worry too often about charging.
Would it be nice to get a more secure fit using in-ear fins for running? Yes. But that’s the only real complaint we have with the Beats Flex. And it’s a minor one considering you could spend a little more elsewhere in the range for such a fit.
Overall, the Beats Flex is a truly solid pair of earphones that won’t leave you wishing you’d spent more. It’s hard to imagine a more complete neckband product at this price point.
After youtuber Hugh Jeffries already figured it out, iFixit has now confirmed it with tests and documentation: the cameras of the iPhone 12 cannot be replaced by yourself. It is the latest in a long list of changes from Apple to make it more difficult to replace parts yourself.
Hugh Jeffries, a YouTube user who buys and refurbishes old devices on his channel, tested it through buy two iPhone 12 ‘s and try to swap the pcb’s. Then it turned out that the camera turned out to be a difficult point. With the right pcb in it, the camera change also turned out to cause problems. His conclusion was simple: Apple connected the camera to a specific pcb.
Now iFixit has repeated the test and come to the same conclusion. The cameras work, but not reliably and some functions no longer work at all. Most importantly, iFixit has uncovered documentation showing that Apple did this on purpose. An internal guide for certified repairers indicates that replacing the camera requires the use of the System Configuration app. That app cryptographically links components together to ensure that iOS disables functions or displays notifications if users replace parts themselves or have non-certified repairers do so.
Some functions of the camera no longer work. Source: iFixit What happens when you replace iPhone parts The link between certain components and the pcb has now existed for seven years; the feature came with the iPhone 5s. The link between the fingerprint scanner and the pcb was more logical; the scanner relies on the Secure Enclave for its features and security. It is not in the scanner, but on the pcb.
Gradually, parts have been added that cannot be replaced without consequences. Face ID obviously does not work if users replace the module with the front cameras themselves. When replacing the battery, users can no longer see the battery status in the settings. Users can see how full the battery is, but it is no longer possible to look up the extent to which the battery is worn out. IOS also gives a permanent notification that users have to go to a repairer for maintenance with the battery. The first time, it also shows that it may not be an Apple battery.
When replacing the screen of newer models, the message that it may not be an Apple component is also displayed, but in addition, the TrueTone function for automatic color adjustment also disappears; it can no longer be found in the interface and no longer functions.
And now there is the camera. It does not give a notification, but in the camera app it is clearly visible that the software is behaving unstable. That is gone again when the original camera is restored.
For the sake of clarity: the non-functioning or malfunctioning parts and the messages do not only come with unbranded cheap alternatives to components, but also with original Apple parts. from another iPhone. In theory it is possible to get rid of these reports, but that requires specialized equipment, Rewa writes.
What happens after switching component Notification Operation Screen ‘May not be original part ‘ Part works, TrueTone does not work Battery ‘May not be a genuine part’ Part works, battery status does not work Camera – Barely Works Touch ID, Face ID – Does not work Why Apple makes repairs more difficult The crazy thing is that iFixit isn’t negative at all shows about the repairability of the iPhone 12, despite the different types of sometimes proprietary screws you loosen must get. Battery and screen are relatively easy to replace, as the housing opens from the front. With many Android phones this is from the back, which makes screen replacement a longer job.
But repairing iPhones in many cases requires access to Apple systems on Apple servers and the iPhone maker doesn’t sell original components for its phones either. The US House of Representatives also wondered why that was the case and received this response from Apple last year. “Repairs made by untrained repairers who may not follow all safety procedures may result in product malfunction, quality issues, or safety issues.”
Apple shows it does not have much faith in companies it does not have tested. “Repairs that do not properly replace screws or covers may leave loose parts that can damage components, such as the battery. This could lead to overheating and result in injuries.”
Protect consumers is so the goal and Apple also makes it appear as if that is a virtue that costs money. Because, according to the iPhone maker, every year since 2009 Apple has lost money on the expensive repairs it executes. Whether that is really the case or whether it is an accounting trick, cannot be read from the information.
Replacement fingerprint scanner Google Pixel 3 iFixit does not think this is a good argument, not even when replacing fingerprint scanners or 3D facial recognition cameras. According to iFixit, that can’t be a problem for Apple. “That’s a slim chance. Apple’s security team is top-notch, and Google and Samsung allow the fingerprint scanner to be swapped out without any problem.” . “An authentication check on a simple camera replacement is poisoning the market for repaired, pre-owned iPhones. Without any benefit to iPhone buyers, it smells like greed. Or worse: planned obsolence . ” Planned obsolence is the idea that manufacturers deliberately make products less useful over time to encourage new product purchases.
What Apple should do is clear, according to iFixit: Tools and Replacement make parts available that people can use to repair their iPhones themselves at home. Other brands do better in that area, but by no means perfectly. Many brands do not sell original parts themselves, so you have to trust that you order original parts. The best here is the Dutch Fairphone. The Fairphone 3 is easy to open and repair and parts can be bought in their own webshop.
Legislators are also not on Apple’s side in this case. The European Commission wants consumers to be able to repair appliances themselves. With that, the ‘Right to Repair’, the name for the campaign to fight for the right to carry out repairs, must end up in European regulations. The same is true on the other side of the Atlantic. Many states are in the process of legislating to enact the right to repair electronics yourself. The idea is that accessible repairs will prevent e-waste and be more sustainable in the long run.
That must be music to Apple’s ears, because the company always shows a lot of attention for reducing e-waste and sustainability. For example, in 2030, the company wants to be CO₂ neutral and no longer supplies chargers and earphones with iPhones to -waste.
This makes the right to repair something that causes a clash of values within Apple. Having people repair devices at home without negative consequences is good for sustainability and the environment, while Apple will lose its iron grip on the repair market and thus have less control over which component is in which iPhone. Time will tell whether Apple makes a different choice or is forced to do so by law.
A good set of headphones is key for boosting immersion in a VR game. I didn’t realize that a nice pair of shoes could amplify it even further.
Not just any shoes, mind you. I’ve been testing out DropLabs’ $300 EP-01, a pair of Yeezy-inspired shoes with bass-rattling speakers embedded in their soles. When they’re really bumping, it feels like what I imagine it’d be like to stand on a concert PA while it pushes out sound. You can tune the intensity of the bass via an iOS or Android app, which you’ll need to use anyway to initialize the shoes. Have you ever initialized shoes?
DropLabs intends for the EP-01 to be worn in everyday life, wirelessly providing the beat to whatever music you’re listening to in your headphones. They’re certainly stylish enough to not give away that they hide speakers within them, and their tech-packed sole gives me a confidence-boosting lift off the ground. But truthfully, I think the EP-01’s true calling is for stationary gaming at home with a virtual reality headset fastened to your head.
Applied in VR, they provide an ingredient I didn’t realize had been missing. Ambient world sounds, music thumps, gun shots, and practically everything else that emits a sound in the lows and mids frequency zones will let the EP-01 push blasts of bass up your shins. They can do this for standard non-VR games that you might be playing on PC or on a console, but there’s something special about using them in virtual reality.
Setting up the EP-01 for VR or other kinds of gaming is simple enough, but far more clumsy and restrictive than if you’re just on a walkabout listening to music via Bluetooth. In addition to buying the shoes, you’ll need DropLabs’ proprietary $25 low-latency gaming cable, which lets you connect a set of wired headphones and the EP-01 to an audio source, like a computer, console controller, or really any device that has a 3.5mm jack. These shoes have magnetic charging ports on their rears, which is what the low-latency cable snaps onto (DropLabs includes a wall charger with each shoe purchase that connects to them in the same manner).
The cable does its job without issue and no drivers are necessary to install before you can jump in, but unfortunately, this cable is too short to be useful for non-stationary VR. If you want to get up and walk around for a room-scale experience, people who are taller than around five feet, five inches will likely accidentally yank off one, or both, of the magnetically attached cables connecting the shoes to your headset at some point. In my case, I’m around five feet, nine inches, so not super tall, and I had to awkwardly hunch while using the Oculus Quest 2 to make sure everything remained attached.
My experience wearing the EP-01 with room-scale VR was far more immersive than when I was sitting down with them on my feet. I could dance to the beat in Tetris Effect as I organized descending tetrominoes, or while I blasted all of the targets in Rez: Infinite. I think I screamed when I was surprised by the intense sensory experience caused when a big, shield-carrying Combine soldier flanked me in Half-Life: Alyx. Feeling sounds like footsteps coming from the game worlds made me feel that much more in the game. That said, if it works out better for you to remain seated, I think you’ll still have a great, multisensory experience.
Just remember to occasionally charge the shoes and turn them off when you’re done to save battery. DropLabs claims these have six-hour battery life, and I’ve only had to recharge them once, what with me using them mostly in fits and starts at home. But if you forget to power them down, your speaker shoes will eventually die and become regular — yet very heavy — shoes.
When I first wrote about the DropLabs speaker shoes a few months ago, I knew I needed to try them out. I needed to know what it would be like to have $300 Bluetooth-connected shoes that vibrate in tandem with music that I’m listening to from my phone. And since I’m usually playing PC games, I also needed to try out the optional accessory that lets you connect these shoes to your computer with a wire to sync up game audio coming through my headset to the shoes, cumbersome as it seemed to have my head and my feet wired into a computer simultaneously.
I can report now that the zany-sounding experience is exactly what I thought it’d be, for better or worse. They’re the best-sounding shoes I’ve ever worn, as well as the most comfortable speaker shoes to grace my feet.
Jokes aside, these are most worth your money if you are really into VR. Yet, you’ll still be subject to their clumsy, wired setup that requires you to spend an additional $25 on top of $300. I can’t otherwise recommend them for casual wear, unless you really want to simulate wearing two Bluetooth-connected ankle weights strapped to your feet while you walk around.
Apple launches its first bundle of content on Friday. The group announced this after the announcement of its quarterly figures on Thursday evening. The new service called Apple One combines services and content offers from the group at a monthly price. With this, the iPhone manufacturer wants to boost the business with services, which is already growing strongly anyway – with revenues from the lucrative App Store flowing into the division.
What’s inside in a bundle In Germany, Apple One includes four services. These are Apple Music (music streaming), Apple TV + (video streaming with original content), Apple Arcade (game service for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV) and iCloud storage space of 50 GByte. The price for this is 14, 95 Euro, which brings the customer 6 euros savings compared to individual sales. A family package is also available. It costs 19, 95 euros and applies to up to to six people. This includes Apple Music, Apple TV +, Apple Arcade and a 200 GB iCloud package. The saving compared to the single price is 8 euros.
What is missing in this country is the so-called Apple One Premier, the most expensive package. It costs US dollars in the United States 30 and expands the family package to 2 TB iCloud storage and access to Apple News +, Apple’s Magazine- and news service, plus Apple Fitness +, a fitness video service. Neither News + nor Fitness + are available in Germany.
Fitness + and test phase Fitness + is also available in the a few markets (USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) that are initially supported cannot be used today at the start; it comes by the end of the year. The services would cost together 55 US dollars, so you pay a little more than half for them if you buy in a package.
There will be a test phase of 19 days for all Apple One packages, which is free of charge – but you will receive it only those services for free that you had not previously subscribed to. You can also book more iCloud storage if you want. The prices are still missing here. (bsc)
Apple posted a sales record in the third quarter 2020 for the period from July to September, but at the same time had to accept a profit reduction. 12, 673 Billion US dollars or 0, 73 US cents per diluted stock was washed into the till with total proceeds of 64 $ 7 billion. In the comparative quarter 2019 it was still 13, 686 billion dollar profit on a turnover of 64 Billions.
Corona and the iPhone shift The reason for the drop in profits by one billion is probably the fact that the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Had to postpone it for one month due to Corona. The devices were not announced in September, as usual, but only in October. Also the start of trading of the first two models – iPhone 12 and 12 Pro – postponed by a month, the two still missing Devices, iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max, will even follow in November. For the iPhone, sales fell by 20, 7 percent to 26, 44 Billion dollars back – a worse result than most analysts suspected.
After all, the sale of Macs in the home office ensured -Time for more sales – and the service business was booming. Both areas have never generated such high revenues. For the Mac this was 9 billion, an increase of 28 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The iPad went up to 6.8 billion, even 46 percent more. The services division with iCloud, Apple Music, App Store and Co. now came up 14, 55 billion dollars, an increase of 16, 3 percent.
No forecast for that next quarter With the “other products”, which also include wearables like the Apple Watch and accessories like the AirPods, Apple achieved sales of 7, 73 Billions, a growth of 20, 9 percent. The margin was 28, 2 percent. Traditionally, Apple no longer mentions sales figures for its products. Apple refused to provide a forecast for the coming quarter – the important Christmas and thus iPhone season. The reason is the COVID – 19 – situation. The stock exchange reacted negatively and sent the share in after-hours trading in the red, which was sometimes 4 percent.
Apple boss Tim Cook said after the quarterly figures were announced, in Western Europe and the number of infections rose in the USA. Therefore there is a greater factor of uncertainty. “This is not an environment where we want to make a prediction.” The first data points on the iPhone 12 are “really pretty good “. The devices come with 5G for the first time, which could trigger an alternating wave. Various markets are worrying Apple: Sales in China including Hong Kong and Taiwan, actually the Group’s second most important market, fell by 28 percent to 7, 95 billion dollars.
(Pocket-lint) – The Fitbit Sense is the company’s top-of-the-range smartwatch, competing with the likes of the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch devices, but with a stronger focus on health.
Offering a lovely premium design, coupled with some unique stress management tools – as well as features like the ability to take an electrocardiogram (ECG), and a skin temperature sensor – is the Fitbit Sense worth its price tag?
Design & Display
Carbon/Graphite, Lunar White/Soft Gold
Water resistant to 50m (5ATM)
Stainless steel design
The Fitbit Sense has a design that’s pretty much identical to the Versa 3, offering a more premium and softer visual approach compared to the older Versa smartwatches. The Sense’s main body is square but it has rounded corners, rounded edges, and a curved back, with smoother lines than the older Versa 2.
Pocket-lint
There’s a colourful AMOLED display – also with curved edges – that sits on top of a solid stainless steel body. A polished trim surrounds the display, while the rest of the body has a brushed finish.
We like the two-tone finish as it makes the Fitbit Sense a little different. With the Apple Watch, you either get the polished look in the stainless steel models, or you get the brushed look in the aluminium models.
The Fitbit’s touchscreen display is lovely, with rich colours and plenty of vibrancy, although it isn’t as responsive as the Apple Watch. During our review time, we experienced quite a lot of lag and sluggishness with the interface not always registering a swipe.
On the underside of the Fitbit Sense is the heart-rate sensor, skin temperature sensor, speaker, and the buttons for changing the straps. There’s also an inductive button to the left of the display – a little lower down than we would choose – which wakes the display up, turns the display off, or into Always On mode, while a long press takes you to a shortcut of your choice.
Pocket-lint
A silicone strap comes with the Fitbit Sense as standard, though there are others available to buy if you want to smarten it up. The silicone strap is comfortable, secure and easy to clean, even if the fastening is a little fussy and bulkier than we would like.
Features
Built-in GPS
Smartphone notifications
Amazon Alexa/Google Assistant
Electrodermal sensor (EDA)
Skin temperature sensor
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
The Fitbit Sense is packed full of features, though you might find you don’t need or use some of them. It does the obvious things including smartphone notifications, sleep- and activity-tracking, automatic exercise tracking (for some exercises), and heart-rate tracking, as well as offering built-in GPS, swimproofing, and Amazon Alexa voice assistant (Google Assistant is due before the end of 2020).
There are a few extra features though, some of which are unique to the Sense and position it as more of a health watch than a smartwatch.
Pocket-lint
Like the Apple Watch Series 4, 5 and 6, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 3, the Sense has the ability to take an ECG, as well as detect high and low heart rates above or below your threshold.
Unlike others, however, there’s also a skin temperature sensor for detecting small variations to your body temperature. And the Fitbit Sense has an electrodermal (EDA) activity app on board too, designed to help you monitor your body’s response to stress.
Fitness and smartwatch performance
As with all Fitbit devices, the sleep tracking and the data offered by the Sense – especially with Fitbit Premium – is excellent. The Sense is a little bulky to wear to bed in comparison to Fitbit’s trackers but, overall, the sleep tracking on this device is great.
Smartphone notifications are very average though. If you have an Android device, you get Quick Replies – which offer a little more interaction – but Apple users won’t get these. So while the notifications from calendar, messages and apps come through, there isn’t much you can do with them, making the Sense a lot less useful than the Apple Watch in terms of a smartwatch. We also found that the “Active Call” notification didn’t disappear after an incoming call had finished.
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General activity tracking is good, but specific workout tracking isn’t brilliant in our experience – though this does depend on the workout type you are doing. We do a lot of HIIT, which the Sense doesn’t cope with very well. It took several minutes longer for the Sense to register a spike or reduction in our heart rate when training compared to the Apple Watch we were wearing on our other arm (the things we do for smartwatch testing, eh?).
The Sense is also better if selecting the standard “Workout” option rather than the more specific options – but the response time for heart rate is still much slower than we would like.
Xbox Series X/S unboxing, electric Porsche review and more – Pocket-lint Podcast 77
Health features performance
The Fitbit Sense is a better performer when it comes to its health features though. This is the main reason to buy into this system.
The skin temperature sensor data sits within the Health Metrics section of the Fitbit app, where you’ll also find data on breathing rate, heart rate variability, and resting heart rate. It’s probably data overload for most people if we’re honest, but as it sits behind the Health Metrics section, you only really see it if you want to.
The various metrics can all contribute to helping you figure out if your body is experiencing stress or strain, or showing potential signs of illness, but Fitbit doesn’t alert you to this if this happens. It gives you the data but you have to analyse it all yourself, making it less useful – although at least it’s not guaranteed to turn you into a hypochondriac.
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The EDA sensor is perhaps a little more useful though – and unique to the Sense. It contributes to the watch’s ability to track stress. The Sense offers a daily stress score out of 100 – like the sleep score – made up of heart rate responsiveness, exertion balance, and sleep patterns. This means that while you may feel stressed mentally, the score is based on biological factors instead.
However, the breakdown can only be seen in Fitbit Premium – which is a pay-for service that we’ll detail more in the Software section below.
To get a stress score, you have to wear the Sense for the majority of the day and to bed too. The EDA Scan app also makes up part of the Sense’s ability to track and monitor stress. The EDA test is done on the Sense, while the data is found in the Mindfulness section of the Fitbit app. The two-minute test requires you to keep still, place your hand over the Sense’s display – making sure you touch the metal frame – and wait for the vibration. After it’s finished, you are encouraged to reflect on how you feel from a series of options: very stressed, stressed, neutral, calm, very calm.
The Fitbit app then allows you to see the results from the test in more detail, along with your heart data during the test. The more responses measured, the more stressed you’re deemed to be. It’s certainly interesting, though we aren’t sure how accurate or useful it is as on days we felt stressed, we got quite a high score, suggesting that we weren’t.
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In terms of the ECG app – it’s easy enough to perform an electrocardiogram using the Sense. You have to open the ECG app on the Sense and then place your thumb in the bottom left corner and your index finger in the top right corner – on the frame not the display – for 30 seconds. You’ll then get a result – Normal Sinus Rhythm, Atrial Fibrillation or Inconclusive – and you can download this from the Fitbit app. It works in a very similar way to the Apple Watch, with your heart rate appearing on the Sense’s display as the ECG is being performed.
Battery life
6 days without Always On display
2-3 days with Always On display
Fast-charging on board
The Fitbit Sense has a great battery life in our experience – if you don’t have the Always On display on. The battery life is reduced significantly when you have the Always On Display on – we got between two and three days – compared to between six and seven with it off. We like having the screen always on though, plus two to three days is still better innings than the Apple Watch.
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Charging takes place with a dedicated charger that snaps onto the underside of the device. It’s much better designed than the cradles that Fitbit uses on the likes of the Versa 2 and its fitness trackers. It will only fit one way – the lead comes out to the right of the display – but you get a very reassuring snap when it’s in place and charging.
Fast-charging is on board too, which is very useful, especially if you want to wear the Sense to bed for sleep tracking. Fitbit claims you can get a full day’s charge in 12 minutes, which we found to be pretty much accurate.
Software
Fitbit app
Fitbit Premium
Support for Spotify
The Fitbit Sense runs on the same software as the Fitbit Versa smartwatches – so those who have had a Versa in the past will find the interface of the Sense familiar. Those who haven’t will find it easy enough to use once you establish what gestures take you where. It’s a little slow to respond but it gets there eventually.
A swipe down from the top of the home screen shows your notifications. A swipe up from the bottom gives you weather and core stats. A swipe right-to-left takes you to the apps, settings and things like weather and alarms. A swipe left-to-right takes you to quick settings.
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Pressing-and-holding the inductive button on the left of the display will take you to your choice of feature, which you set by long-pressing the button and selecting the feature. Features include Amazon Alexa, Music Controls, Fitbit Pay, Exercise Shortcut, Find my Phone, Spotify, ECG, along with a number of others.
Third-party app support is still limited compared to the likes of the Apple Watch and Google Wear OS devices, but it’s certainly improving with apps including Spotify and Deezer on board, for example.
1/5Pocket-lint
In terms of the Fitbit app, it’s the same experience as always, which for those new to the platform is a great one. It’s a simple-to-use app with plenty of data broken down in a user-friendly format. You can read our Fitbit tips and tricks to find out more about the service.
There’s also the option of subscribing to the Fitbit Premium service, which is a paid subscription service designed to enhance your Fitbit experience with more data and advanced insights that are more tailored to you. The Sense comes with six months free, but you have to pay for it after. You can read more about Fitbit Premium in our separate feature.
Verdict
The Fitbit Sense has a premium and solid design, a great display, and it comes packed full of health features, while also delivering brilliant battery life.
Sleep tracking, general activity tracking, and the health data that the Sense offers are great, but its interface is slow to respond, and as a smartwatch it’s pretty useless – especially for Apple users. Some of its health features are also locked behind the Fitbit Premium subscription, making it a pricey device.
If you’re specifically in the market for a watch to help monitor your health – and you’re happy to pay the monthly subscription for the extra insights – then the Sense is a really great device with so much data on offer. But if you’re in the market for a smartwatch or fitness watch in general then the Sense is currently outshone by its competitors.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Apple Watch Series 6
squirrel_widget_2745198
The top-end 2020 launch in Apple’s smartwatch series offers a fluid performance, plenty of sensors, lots of finish options, and a lovely bright display. It’s also a great smartwatch, as well as fitness watch, for iOS users.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2
squirrel_widget_166890
If you’re looking for a round smartwatch that does fitness and core smartwatch features well in equal measures, the Galaxy Active 2 is a great option – especially for Android users.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
Garmin Venu Sq
squirrel_widget_2682025
The Sq – which is all about the ‘square’ shape of this design – looks and feels quite different to other Garmin devices. You get core fitness tracking features that are accurate, in a compact device with a battery life of almost a week. It also feeds into systems like Garmin’s Body Battery, for a holistic view of the body.
Google parent company Alphabet’s third quarter revenue increased 14 percent from the year before, led by a rebound in advertising revenue for both Google and YouTube. YouTube brought in $5 billion in advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2020 — a sign that advertisers who pulled back on their spending because of the coronavirus earlier in the year may be returning to something resembling normal.
YouTube now has more than 30 million music and premium paid subscribers — 35 million, including free trials — and YouTube TV has more than 3 million subscribers. That’s especially strong, since YouTube TV announced a monthly price increase from $50 to $64.99 in June. And in what may be a sign of the times, views for guided meditation videos on YouTube were up 40 percent since March, and DIY face mask tutorials have been viewed over 1 billion times, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on a call with investors to discuss the earnings results.
“We’re pleased at the degree to which advertisers really reactivated their budgets in the third quarter,” said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google, on a call with investors. She added that it was evidence that consumers are showing strong demand across nearly all verticals. “YouTube’s strong watch time growth enables advertisers to reach audiences they can’t reach on TV.” The company had made investments in content moderation to ensure both creators and users on YouTube have a positive experience, Porat said.
Google’s advertising division brought in revenue of $37.1 billion, an increase from $34 billion last year. YouTube ads revenue increased 30 percent from $3.8 billion in the third quarter of 2019.
“This year, including this quarter, showed how valuable Google’s founding product — search — has been to people,” Pichai said on the call.
This quarter was a sharp contrast to the disappointing second quarter of 2020, where Google’s revenue declined for the first time ever. This quarter, Google returned to growth, with revenue of $46.2 billion in the third quarter, up from $40 billion a year ago, and net income of $11.24 billion, up from $7.06 billion last year.
Google’s “other” department, which includes hardware, cloud services, and the Play Store, had revenue of $5.4 billion, up from $4 billion. Its “other bets” segment — which includes Waymo and Verily— had revenue of $178 million, but remained money-losers for the company, to the tune of $1.1 billion. That’s worse than this time last year.
Google’s Cloud division had revenue of $3.44 billion, up from $2.3 billion a year ago, and its Search segment had revenue of $26.3 billion, up from $24.7 billion. Pichai said customers are increasingly moving to the cloud, “to drive efficiency and lower IT costs,” adding that the future of work is creating “significant growth in demand” for Google’s cloud products. He added that next quarter, Google will break out its cloud division as a separate reporting segment.
The company’s videoconferencing platform Google Meet had 235 million daily meetings and more than 7.5 billion daily video calls, Pichai said.
Pichai also said the company was prepared for a lawsuit filed last week by the Department of Justice, which alleges the internet giant has an illegal monopoly on search and advertising markets. “We believe that our products are creating significant benefits and we’ll confidently make our case,” he said. “Our company’s focus remains on continuing our work to build a search product that people love and value.”
Update October 29th 6:09PM ET: Added details from Alphabet’s call with investors
Apple’s big services bundle that will bring together products like Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and Apple News Plus, will launch tomorrow, the company’s chief financial officer, Luca Maestri, told Bloomberg.
Apple first announced Apple One during a September event, breaking down the different tiers that customers will be able to access. There are three different bundle tiers people can choose: Individual, Family, and Premier.
The Individual plan gives subscribers Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and iCloud storage (50GB) for $14.95 a month. The Family plan ups the amount of iCloud storage to 200GB of iCloud storage for $19.95 a month and adds an Apple Music family plan (the Arcade and TV Plus benefits are the same as the Individual plan.) The Premier plan gives subscribers Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, 2TB of iCloud storage, Apple News Plus, and Apple Fitness Plus for $29.95 a month.
Although Fitness Plus doesn’t have a launch date, Maestri told Bloomberg the company is expecting to launch it this quarter. The app, which includes training for yoga, cycling, running, core, and strength exercises, among other types of workouts, costs $9.99 a month by itself.
The news comes just as Apple posted its fourth quarter earnings. CEO Tim Cook specifically noted that the company “capped off a fiscal year defined by innovation in the face of adversity with a September quarter record, led by all-time records for Mac and Services.” Apple One will also launch two days ahead of Apple TV Plus’ one-year anniversary. Cook may include more information on the company’s earnings call today.
Apple today announced its fiscal fourth quarter earnings, reporting $64.7 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $0.73 in a quarter that was “led by all-time records for Mac and services,” according to CEO Tim Cook.
Like last quarter, Apple’s Mac and iPad lines showed strong performance as people continue working and learning from home due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic. The Mac had its biggest quarter ever, tallying $9 billion in sales.
Apple introduced the latest iteration of its entry-level $329 iPad in September, increasing the device’s performance. The mid-tier iPad Air got a more significant makeover with a new design — now matching the iPad Pro — and a much faster processor. iPad sales were up 46 percent from the year-ago quarter.
Unlike in recent years, and because the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro didn’t go on sale until mid-October, these earnings don’t include a jolt of early sales for Apple’s latest smartphones. As a result, iPhone sales in the quarter were soft. But the Q4 numbers do include early sales of the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, which launched in September. The iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 mini will go up for preorder on November 6th and start shipping a week later.
Apple has ceased providing guidance or earnings forecasts over the last two quarters due to uncertainty around the pandemic. That has continued today, as Apple isn’t giving any guidance for the quarter that will end in December, either. So the company isn’t offering up any clues for how big it expects the iPhone 12 upgrade cycle to be.
The company will launch its “Apple One” bundle of subscription services tomorrow, combining Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and added iCloud storage for a single monthly price. A “premier” tier adds in Apple News Plus and the upcoming Apple Fitness Plus service. Apple One will start at $14.95 per month for an individual plan or $19.95 for a family plan. Apple One is expected to further propel the company’s already-booming services division, which earned $14.5 billion in revenue this quarter.
Apple is widely expected to announce its first Mac computers powered by the company’s own silicon in November, which will kick off a transition away from processors made by Intel. Apple announced the move during its Worldwide Developers Conference back in June and distributed a development kit to help app makers prepare for the big switch. Old apps designed to run on Intel hardware will continue to work by way of Apple’s Rosetta 2 software. Cook alluded to coming products on Thursday afternoon’s earnings call. ““This year has a few more exciting things in store,” he said.
In the background of all this, Apple continues to face scrutiny from lawmakers and investigations focusing on the company’s powerful grip over the App Store. It’s also in a high-profile legal battle with Fortnite developer Epic Games.
Spotify released its financial results for the July-September period and performance is better than expected. The music streaming platform now boasts a total of 320 million monthly active users (MAUs) which is up by 7% from the 299 million MAUs it reported at the end of Q2 and 29% more than Q3 2019.
Premium users now number 144 million, which is a 5% increase over the previous quarter and an impressive 27% yearly growth.
Spotify Q3 financial results
These numbers still put Spotify as the runaway leader in the music subscription services category, well ahead of Apple Music which was last reported at 60 million users back in July 2019. On a per region base, Europe accounted for 34% of all MAUs during Q3 followed by North America at 25% and Latin America at 22% while the rest of the world contributed 19%.
Looking forward Spotify predicts it will reachg 340-345 million MAUs with 150-154 million paid users by the end of 2020. Spotify is now available in over 92 markets around the globe and boasts an impressive 60 million tracks.
Source
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