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Charlotte Henry

Charlotte is a media junkie, covering how Apple is not just a revolutionary tech firm, but a revolutionary media firm for TMO. She is based in London, and writes and broadcasts for various outlets.

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How Apple is Going Back to The Future With Its Designs

Some of the designs of recent Apple products, particularly, but not exclusively, the iPhone, leave longtime users with a sense of deja vu. Cult of Mac took a good like at how Apple is going Mac back to the future.

Specifically, Apple ditched the curved edges that graced every iPhone since 2014’s iPhone 6, reverting to the squared-off edges of previous devices. That was perfectly OK with me: The iPhone 5 remains probably my favorite iPhone design in history. By borrowing (you can’t exactly steal your own designs) some of that classic phone’s design elements, and then offering some truly up-to-date tech in the form of all-display OLED screens, 5G, and A14 chips, Apple merged old and new in a compelling package. But that’s not the end of Apple’s newfound willingness to reference what worked in the past. Apple’s next MacBook Pro apparently will take a backward leap to move forward. Rumors indicate the laptop will revive the beloved MagSafe charger. And it reportedly will restore ports like HDMI and an SD card reader that disappeared half a decade ago.

Why Apple TV+ Movie 'Cherry' is Personal for Directors Anthony and Joe Russo

Ahead of the launch of Cherry on Apple TV+ on February 26, there was a premiere on February 23. AppleInsider reported on how the story had a personal element for directors Anthony and Joe Russo.

“Like many of us, we’ve had personal experiences with loved ones who have had either addiction problems, overdose problems, even involving death,” Anthony Russo said. “So the issue of the opioid crisis was very present in our personal lives.” “But even beyond that, it felt like it was a very timely issue, something that we really wanted to address now, in the hopes of being able to play some small part in how this issue unfolds for people and evolves.”

 

Apple Files Update to 'Final Cut Pro' Trademark Allowing For Cloud Subscription Option

Apple updated the Final Cut Pro trademark earlier this week. Spotted by Patently Apple, it indicated that Apple could introduce a subscription model for the video editing software.

On Monday Apple filed an update to their trademark ‘Final Cut Pro’ in Europe adding Nice Classification #42 that hints that Apple could decide to go the way of Microsoft’s subscription model for Final Cut Pro by adding in that class verbiage covering “rental of software.” When you go directly to the WIPO IP Portal under Class 42 one of the first things that you’ll see listed is a header titled “This Class includes, in particular.” Under its third point it states: Class 42 covers Software as a service (known as SaaS). So it’s not just a boiler plate entry from Apple, it’s a core value.

Disney+ Now Has More Content With Addition of Star

Disney+ subscribers users in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe now have more content after the Star brand launched Tuesday. (The service has  launched in Singapore on the same day with the added content.) Shows like Grey’s Anatomy are now part of a subscription, and there will be originals too. The cost of a subscription is going up though (it’s £7.99 per month not £5.99 in the UK.)

Spotify CEO Discusses 'Play[ing] Nice' With Apple and Other Rivals

Spotify is expanding its slate of original podcasts. However, CEO Daniel Ek explained to The Verge that his firm wants its content across all platforms, including Apple’s operating systems, and is unlikely to make its own hardware.

I would have been a lot more concerned if consumers were locked into just one ecosystem. If it was just an Apple, or just a Google, or just an Amazon that kind of owned the consumer across their entire ecosystem. That is a very concerning development, if it were to be true. But I think the good news is what we’re finding is that while Apple, for instance, is very strong on mobiles in many markets, we’re finding Amazon is very strong in their homes, and most of the cars today are being built on Android Auto, which is Google’s ecosystem. And the one thing that is true about Spotify is we play nice on all of them, and I believe we’re the only player that has that relationship where we’re now on 2,000 devices, and we play nice on all of them.

M1 Mac Users Report Hard Drive Health Readings That Could Limit Device Life Span

Some M1 Mac users have started to highlight hard drive health reports that might possibly indicate severe life span problems for the device. iMore rounded up some of the issues.

The issue of ‘TBW’, or total bytes written, refers to the lifespan of an SSD… If the readings being given out from these machines is correct, developer Hector Martin says it could indicate that some machines “aren’t going to last half a year”… Martin does however state this is “definitely” a bug, however its unclear if that relates to the readings being given, or macOS behavior which is causing the readings to be abnormally high (but accurate). As PC Gamer notes in its report, smart monitoring tools “are notorious for misreporting” and this could be an M1 teething problem.