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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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Facebook to Continue WFH Until July 2021

Facebook has joined Google in extending its work from home plans. Staff will not return to the office until July 2021, Techcrunch reported. Apple is hoping to have employees return in early 2021.

“Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021,” a spokeswoman told the Reuters news agency. Facebook also said it will provide employees with an additional $1,000 to spend on “home office needs”… Earlier this month, Facebook secured the main office lease on an iconic building in New York, for example — adding 730,000 square feet to its existing 2.2 million square feet of office space.

Twitter Pushed iPhone Update Notes on Limiting Who Can Reply by Mistake

Twitter pushed an iPhone release suggesting that the ability to limit who replies was being rolled out more widely than it currently has been. However, The Verge found out that the release notes came out by mistake.

Twitter has been experimenting with this feature since May, and yesterday pushed an update to the iPhone version of its mobile app suggesting the feature would be more widely rolling out. A Twitter spokesperson now tells The Verge it accidentally pushed incorrect release notes; the feature is not in fact more widely rolling out, for now. “In May, we tested a new way to have a chat with exactly who you want, so you can create and consume more meaningful changes,” read the update text on the App Store. “Now, everyone can try this new feature and choose who can reply to their tweets.” A Twitter spokesperson says the misconception was due “to some accidentally pushed release notes,” and that “the ability to limit replies on tweets is not currently available to everyone.”

Harry Potter Movies Heading to Peacock

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.”

Former Arm President Warns Against Sale

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.

Arrest Made Following $629K Apple Watch Theft

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.

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

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.

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

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.

T-Mobile Launches Standalone 5G Network

In an announcement on Tuesday, T-Mobile said it had launched the world’s first standalone 5G network. It even celebrated the landmark with drone-powered light display.

To celebrate the milestone and the arrival of 5G for the first time in hundreds of small towns across America, T-Mobile used drones to light up the sky over Lisbon, ND, letting people in the small town know “5G is here”. The Un-carrier plans similar celebrations in the future… “Since Sprint became part of T-Mobile, we’ve been rapidly combining networks for a supercharged Un-carrier while expanding our nationwide 5G footprint, and today we take a massive step into the future with standalone 5G architecture,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “This is where it gets interesting, opening the door for massive innovation in this country — and while the other guys continue to play catch up, we’ll keep growing the world’s most advanced 5G network.”

StarFinder Now Available Via Alexa

Amazon’s sci-fi game StarFinder is now available over Alexa devices, reported CNet. All you have to do is set up the skill and say “Alexa, play Starfinder.”

Starfinder is an exciting example of more experimental game and story formats made possible by voice assistants like Alexa. We’ve seen examples like The Wayne Investigation — a Batman-themed choose-your-own-adventure Alexa skill from 2016 — but Starfinder brings higher production values and a bigger budget to the structure, although Amazon won’t share the exact numbers. Actors like Laura Bailey (The Last of Us, Part II) and Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) voice characters in a cast of 13, selected and recorded by Audible Studios. The acting, sound and music are excellent across the board. Unlike a simple choose-your-own-adventure, Starfinder allows you to select from five characters to play, gives you an inventory of items and checks your stats for performing different actions (say, schmoozing an alien or disarming a bomb).

Is This The Last Intel-Based iMac?

Today, Apple unveiled an updated 27-inch iMac. Over on Six Colors, Jason Snell asks the question many of us are undoubtedly pondering – is this the last Intel-based iMac. (I agree with Jason that the answer is probably yes.)

As for the future, is this the last Intel Mac we’ll see? There’s no way to tell, though reading between the lines, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were some more Intel-based Mac releases as Apple progresses through its two-year-long processor transition. But I’d wager good money that the next time we see an iMac update, there won’t be an Intel processor at its heart. And perhaps it will look appreciably different, too.

Troubleshooting Space X iPad Difficulties

We’ve all needed to do some iPad troubleshooting from time to time. However, we don’t normally need to do it whilst also helping a spacecraft land. However, that’s what happened on the latest SpaceX trip, reported Space Explored.

The communication started with Astronaut Behnken explaining that he had an issue with something before communication dropped out momentarily. A few seconds later, the astronaut read out an error message presumably from the custom SpaceX application created for the iPad. “A timeline application on my tablet, uh, gives me a error message that says Safari cannot open the page, and then it’s got a HTML address because your iPad is not connected to the internet,” Behnken reported. “Can you confirm that Wi-Fi is off and AirPlane Mode is on,” asked Menon. Then the NASA astronaut improvised with a go-to troubleshooting step. “Yes, uh, Wi-Fi is off and AirPlane Mode is on. If you have the display cameras up, I’ll try to show it to you,” Behnken suggested. “We will take that,” Menon replied. “We’re coming up on a ground station pass and we have the display camera up.”