Charlotte Henry

No corner has been left untouched by the coronavirus pandemic. Even the rollout of emojis has been delayed, from March 2021 until September 2021, The Guardian reported.

That will have a knock-on effect for OS at Apple and Google, who will struggle to implement the new designs on their normal timescale. All of which means that 2021 might see no brand new emojis. That’s more of a hit than it might seem. On an emotional level, the rollout of new emojis is important people who want to represent themselves in the lingua franca of the 21st century. And on a technical level, the pictograms are an important carrot dangled by the smartphone manufacturers to get people to go through the effort of installing software updates, which are crucial to protect users from security vulnerabilities and hacking attacks.

Hulu unveiled a new interface for its tv applications, including Apple TV. It includes updated navigation and improved recommendation features. 9to5 Mac took a look.

With this new design, Hulu users can navigate vertically through collections and within a specific collection by scrolling horizontally: “Viewers can now navigate through collections vertically and explore within a collection by moving horizontally. This navigation pattern is something our viewers are accustomed to and matches the navigation pattern across Disney+ and ESPN+, making it easier for viewers who subscribe to the Disney bundle to switch between services and navigate with ease. When testing, viewers found it easy and intuitive to adjust to this updated navigation pattern.” There are also changes to the organizational system within the Hulu app. The company says that broad categories of content like TV, Movies, and Sports will be moved to the “master navigation” while narrower categories will move down the hierarchy.

Joe Rogan has signed a $100 million deal for his podcast to air exclusively on Spotify, BBC News reported. It is the latest move as the music streaming service aims to cement its place in the podcasting market.

The multi-year deal is believed to be worth $100m (£82 million), according to the Wall Street Journal. Rogan’s podcast, which is one of the most popular in the world, will arrive on the streaming giant on 1 September. It will then be housed there exclusively by the end of the year, and removed from all other platforms. “It will remain free, and it will be the exact same show,” said Rogan. “It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify won’t have any creative control over the show.

The Apple Watch is hugely successful, but where will the product go next? Wired thinks the evidence is mounting that a child-focussed variation of the wearable could be on the way.

Evidence that Apple is trying to make its Watch a more child-friendly piece of hardware has surfaced in recent months in the same way that many future features seem to be uncovered ahead of Apple unveiling them; from people digging into software code. Some delving into an iOS software update has revealed that multiple Apple Watches will soon be able to be paired and controlled from a single iPhone, letting a parent be in charge of setting up additional smartwatches from their phone. In the process they could manage access to certain contacts or even restrict access to what music the watch can play.

Kevin Mayer, the Disney veteran who led the launch of the Disney+ streaming service, has left the company, Variety reported. He will become CEO of short-form mobile video network TikTok and COO of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. He will be succeeded as Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, by Rebecca Campbell.

Mayer, prior to his most recent role leading Disney’s DTCI organization, served as the company’s chief strategy officer and was instrumental in wrangling a number of strategic acquisitions, including the deals for 21st Century Fox and BAMTech. “Kevin has had an extraordinary impact on our company over the years, most recently as head of our direct-to-consumer business,” Chapek said in a statement. “He has done a masterful job of overseeing and growing our portfolio of streaming services while bringing together the creative and technological assets required to launch the hugely successful Disney Plus globally.”

iPhone SE delivery times in various countries seem to have caught up with demand. That’s according to data in a note from J.P. Morgan, seen by AppleInsider.

Delivery times in that country appear to have stabilized at an 8-day estimate after an order is placed. JP Morgan also says that customers in China are still able to pick up their iPhone SE orders in-store on the same day they’re ordered. All Apple Stores in China are currently open, though the company is taking steps to reopen more locations elsewhere. Estimates in Germany and the U.K. have risen to 10 days, up a single day from the 9-day estimate the week before. Like China, the Western European regions account for roughly 15% of total iPhone shipments. Overall, JP Morgan’s data suggests an aggregate shipment time of 11 days across all the regions it tracks. That has dropped sharply since early 17-day delivery estimates in the second week of iPhone SE availability.

Google Chrome will now take action to limit adverts draining battery and network resources. The changes were outlined on the Chromium blog on Friday.

We have recently discovered that a fraction of a percent of ads consume a disproportionate share of device resources, such as battery and network data, without the user knowing about it. These ads (such as those that mine cryptocurrency, are poorly programmed, or are unoptimized for network usage) can drain battery life, saturate already strained networks, and cost money.  In order to save our users’ batteries and data plans, and provide them with a good experience on the web, Chrome will limit the resources a display ad can use before the user interacts with the ad. When an ad reaches its limit, the ad’s frame will navigate to an error page, informing the user that the ad has used too many resources.

On May 15, 2001, Steve Jobs announced that 25 Apple Stores would open. Cult of Mac looked at how the company forever changed how we perceive computer stores.

When it came to retail, Jobs preferred high-end outlets that focused on “big ticket” items rather than bulk sales. This is exactly what the stand-alone Apple stores turned out to be when they debuted in 2001. With a newfound focus on sleek design — especially visible in the likes of the iMac G3 and iBook — Apple products looked especially exotic compared to the putty-colored plastic cases seen in typical computer stores… The Apple stores gave Cupertino an opportunity to apply its design-focused, “it just works” ethos to the retail experience…