Charlotte Henry

Apple slashed the cost of products in China by as much as 6%, CNBC reported Monday. The price drop affected iPhones, iPads, Macs and AirPods. It followed a VAT price cut for manufacturers like Apple in the country. Apple’s revenue shortfall in the final quarter of 2018 was attributed to lower than expected sales in China.

The price cuts can be seen on Apple’s website. For example, the entry-level iPhone XR now costs 6199RMB, 4.6 percent lower than on March 29, when Apple listed 6499RMB as its price. Apple’s high-end iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models each got a 500RMB price cut. According to Apple’s customer service, anybody who has bought an affected product from Apple in China within the past 14 days can receive a refund for the difference in price.

The relationship may have ended, but you’re still tied to your ex…by a Netflix account. Splitting couples may divide books and furniture, but passwords to streaming services can continue to tie former partners together. The Wall Street Journal took a look at the phenomenon.

Streaming music and video services that permit multiple users, plus the proliferation of family cellphone plans in recent years that are cheaper than individual accounts, have created ties that bind long after a breakup or even divorce. Unlike car insurance and health insurance policies that are typically tied to a shared address or legal union, cellphone plans, Netflix, Spotify and Amazon Prime accounts aren’t, says Amanda Singer, a relationship mediator at the San Diego Family Mediation Center.

Apple’s AirPods captured 60% of the true wireless in-ear headphone market in the last quarter of 2018. That’s according to a new report by CounterPoint. North America was the largest market for such devices, followed by China. Apple’s strong position came despite increased competition and people awaiting a new model of the headphones. 9to5Mac noted that Apple had previously been found to be the preferred brand for wireless headphones, despite some reservations from users about sound quality.

The company says this is particularly impressive in the light of two factors…there was increased competition from other players in the same price band…[and]many were waiting for the release of the second-generation model launched earlier this month. This offers wireless charging, faster pairing and hands-free Hey Siri. The company tracked 15 true wireless in-ear headphones brands in total, with Jabra taking second place and Samsung in third.

A leaked image of a supposedly new iPhone has emerged. MacRumors picked up on a tweet by well-known iPhone leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer. He said that at least one version of the upcoming device will have three lenses arranged in a triangle. This backups up a number of other rumours and leaks we’ve heard, starting back in May 2018.

The shared picture depicts handset chassis schematics newly posted to Slashleaks alongside Hemmerstoffer’s earlier CAD rendering of an iPhone, all with a large patch on the rear of the device that appears to house three lenses. Hemmerstoffer says the chassis leak supports his claim that at least one version of the next iPhone will feature a rear triple-lens camera system in a triangular configuration, based on information he has sourced previously.

Apple may be in violation of its own rules for developers with its new News+ service. It demands that developers make it extremely clear if users are signing up for a recurring payment and how they can cancel. However, with Apple News+  cancelling is not as clear as its regulations indicate it should be. As The Verge noted, it’s not the first time such an issue has arisen.

Just tap that “Try it Free” button, confirm your payment, and you’re off to the races. Thing is, Apple forbids developers from making things seem quite this simple, as spotted by iOS developer Dave DeLong…Fr whatever reason, Apple decided that a cleaner, more attractive layout, one that hides some of the information it asks of developers, was the right choice for Apple News Plus.

It is fair to say M.G. Siegler was not particular won over by the ‘It’s Show Time’ event. Having started to put together his thoughts, the longtime Apple watcher (he’s seen every event for the last decade, ) concluded that it was “weird.” He also thought it was way too long. His comments on the new services offered are insightful though.

As expected, there was very little technology in today’s marquee portion (beyond some existing technology and UI polish). It was just about content and star-power. Perhaps my time spent in Hollywood left me more cynical than most, but I found the whole thing silly. Apple unveiled the iFawn — Tim Cook was literally crying on stage with Oprah at one point? Come on.

One thing we were expecting but didn’t get at the event Monday was a bundled packed of all Apple’s services. Macworld‘s Leif Johnson noted that if both TV+ and Arcade cost $9.99, like Music and News+  do, then that is 4 different payments totalling $40. Not only is that expensive, but it is also more complicated for customers than it needs to be. The obvious model to be emulated is that of Amazon Prime – a monthly payment with everything included. It is not too hard to implement, so it might yet happen.

It’s a problem that a good subscription bundle from Apple would help solve, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to predict that we’ll see such a bundle when Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade both drop sometime in the fall (possibly alongside the release of the next version of iOS). Indeed, if we look at its competitors, Apple appears to be dragging its feet…”

University of Montreal Professor Yoshua Bengio, Google researcher Geoff Hinton, and Facebook’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun have won the Turing Award for their work in AI. Wired noted that receiving the award, known as the Nobel Prize of computer science, demonstrates how far into the mainstream AI has become.

The trio’s journey is a parable of scientific grit and case study in the economic value of new forms of computing. Through decades of careful research out of the limelight, they transformed an old-fashioned, marginalized idea into the hottest in computer science….Asked what winning the Turing Award means, Hinton expresses mock surprise. “I guess neural networks are now respectable computer science,” he says. The joke is that in computer science, there isn’t anything more respectable than a Turing Award.

Apple TV+ is unlike any other product the company has released before. However, as Jason Snell pointed out on MacWorld, it knows about branding better than almost anyone, and that could give it a fighting chance of succeeding. There can be an ethos that underscores the new content. My colleague John Martellaro made a similar point when he wrote about the underlying values that came through at the ‘It’s Show Time’ event Monday.

Apple does bring its brand along with it, and that can help inform the feel of the content Apple produces. Apple’s self-image, as seen through its commercials and promotional videos, is optimistic and bright and creative. The lengthy scripted portion of the Apple TV+ roll-out hit a lot of the same points, and while it’s safe to say that I never need to hear the word “storytelling” again, I think Apple was trying to establish an ethos and style for what an Apple TV+ show represents.