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Harry Potter Movies Heading to Peacock

Charlotte Henry ·

The entire set of Harry Potter movies is heading to Peacock and will be available in windows from later this year and into 2021, Variety reported. The films will even be accessible to those users with the free tier.

The octet of movies based on J.K. Rowling’s famed fantasy book series is set to roll off HBO Max as of Aug. 25, after WarnerMedia had carved out a three-month window for the popular franchise following its launch. In 2016, NBCU inked a deal with Warner Bros. locking up TV and digital rights to the Potter movies (including “Fantastic Beasts”) from 2018-2025 that also incorporated content for Universal theme parks. “The Harry Potter franchise is beloved by people of all ages and represents the caliber of quality entertainment customers can expect to find on Peacock,” said Frances Manfredi, Peacock’s president of content acquisition and strategy, in a statement. “We’ve built a world-class collection of iconic movies and shows, and we will continue to expand the film library with treasured titles from NBCUniversal and beyond that will surprise and delight Peacock customers time and time again.”

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Former Arm President Warns Against Sale

Charlotte Henry ·

Tudor Brown, the former president of UK chip-designer Arm, has warned against the sale of the company. There has been speculation current owner Softbank will sell it to Nvidia. Mr. Brown voiced his opposition to such a move in an interview with BBC News.

“I have always believed the Softbank investment and focus on growth was ill-advised, and I think Softbank is coming to accept that now,” Mr Brown told the BBC. “[But] it would be very bad news for ARM to be sold to any semiconductor company. “The company should be slimmed down and kept independent to serve the industry from a profitable position of neutrality.” ARM creates computer-chip designs that others then customise to their own ends. It also develops instruction sets, which define how software controls processors.

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Apple’s Senior VP of Machine Learning Talks Strategy

Andrew Orr ·

John Giannandrea, Apple’s Senior Vice President for Machine Learning and AI Strategy, and Bob Borchers, VP of Product Marketing, spoke with Ars Technica about Apple’s AI strategy and beliefs.

When I joined Apple, I was already an iPad user, and I loved the Pencil,” Giannandrea (who goes by “J.G.” to colleagues) told me. “So, I would track down the software teams and I would say, ‘Okay, where’s the machine learning team that’s working on handwriting?’ And I couldn’t find it.” It turned out the team he was looking for didn’t exist—a surprise, he said, given that machine learning is one of the best tools available for the feature today.

TMO Deals

Tivoo-Max Pixel Art Alarm Clock and Speaker: $149.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the Tivoo-Max pixel art speaker from Divoom. It features a 2.1 speaker setup with an active sub-woofer, and the front of the device is a pixel art display you can control with the Divoom Smart app on your iPhone (or Android device). It also has alarm clock features built in, making it an all around device that is fun, too. The Tivoo-Max is $149.99 through our deal.

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Arrest Made Following $629K Apple Watch Theft

Charlotte Henry ·

The Dutch authorities have arrested a second man in connection with a major Apple Watch theft, AppleInsider reported. The haul was estimated to be worth close to $629,000.

The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, a branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces, arrested a 37-year-old man from Bulgaria on suspicion of theft of 4,400 Apple Watches. The theft occurred on May 16, when six pallets of Apple’s popular wearable were purloined from the warehouse of a transport company at Schiphol East and driven off-site. The six pallets are said to be worth roughly 530,000 euros — almost $629,000. The authorities identified the suspect based on tips after the case was discussed on “Opsporing Verzocht,” a Dutch television program that details unsolved crimes and asks its viewers for help.

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Disney+ Subscribers Need to Pay $30 For New Mulan Movie

Charlotte Henry ·

It was originally scheduled for March 27 but, with cinemas still mostly closed, the live-action remake of Mulan is going to launch on Disney+. However, subscribers will have to pay an additional $30 to get the film, The Verge reported. So far, Apple TV+ subscribers have not had to pay extra for blockbuster movies like Greyhound.

Disney executives walked through the new plan for Mulan’s release during an earnings call with analysts today. The $30 fee will be on top of the $6.99 subscriber fee for Disney Plus customers. The company told Insider that the $30 acts as a purchase — as long as people subscribe to Disney Plus, they’ll be able to access the film. Chapek also made it seem like non-subscribers can pay $30 for the film as well, but The Verge has emailed Disney to confirm.

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What is an Apple Fellow? Who Has Held The Role Before?

Charlotte Henry ·

On Tuesday, Apple announced that Phil Schiller will leave his role as senior vice president of worldwide marketing and become an Apple Fellow. Many people, myself included, have been wondering exactly what such a role might entail. Cult of Mac has a good rundown of what it means and profiles those who have held it before.

This honorary position is one that Apple recognizes for a person’s outstanding contribution to the company in some capacity. But while many newer Apple fans may not be familiar with the role, it’s one that’s been part of Apple dating back to the 1980s — even if this is the first time in more than 20 years that Apple has inducted someone into the club.

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This Photographer Shot a Wedding With an iPhone 11 Pro

Andrew Orr ·

Jennifer Van Elk wrote a review of the iPhone 11 Pro as a professional camera, using it to shoot a wedding, and the results are stunning.

The best part by far though was that during downtime at the wedding and after the wedding during the ride home we were able to cull and edit the wedding. It was a 45 minute ride home from the wedding. In that time I was able to cull the wedding and edit all the photos in Lightroom on the iPhone 11 Pro. By the time we were home, I was already uploading the gallery.

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LastPass Dark Web Monitoring, Security Dashboard Here

Andrew Orr ·

LogMeIn announced on Wednesday the arrival of LastPass dark web monitoring, as well as a security dashboard for the password manager.

The new LastPass dark web monitoring feature proactively checks email addresses against a 3rd party database of breached credentials. If that email address has been found in the database, the user will be immediately notified by email and with a message directly in their LastPass Security Dashboard. From there, users will be prompted to update the password for that compromised account.