Apple CEO Tim Cook and senior VP Eddy Cue have once again made an appearance at the annual Sun Valley conference in Idaho, attended by the elite of the media and technology worlds. This year marks Cook's seventh consecutive appearance, and Cue 's fifth. Both were in attendance in 2017. The conference is hosted by investment firm Allen & Co., and plays host to top-level executives who sometimes use the event to broker deals behind the scenes. This year some of the people present are said to include media baron Rupert Murdoch, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. NBC notes that some high-profile deals have been begun at Sun Valley in the past, such as Disney's $19 billion ABC/Capital Cities buyout, and Bezos' takeover of the Washington Post . This year could be particularly interesting, since Disney and Comcast are currently fighting to buy out key assets of 21st Century Fox . The Murdoch family has voting … [Read more...] about Apple’s Tim Cook & Eddy Cue return to elite Sun Valley conference for 2018
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Just as it ends, ‘Defending Jacob’ looks like the most popular Apple TV+ show
Feature AppleInsider is supported by its audience and may earn commission as an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner on qualifying purchases. These affiliate partnerships do not influence our editorial content. Apple doesn't release ratings data, but third party data says the limited series "Defending Jacob" is the closest thing the service has to a breakout hit. Defending Jacob , the Apple TV+ limited series starring Chris Evans as a lawyer whose teenaged son is accused of murdering a classmate, wraps up its run with its finale episode May 29. The series, which combines elements of family drama, psychological thriller and courtroom procedural, was based on a novel of the same name by William Landay. Since Apple TV+ launched in November 2019, it hasn't had seen any of its shows emerge as a massive, culture-grabbing smash. But in recent months, there have been various indications that Defending Jacob has been something close to a breakout for Apple. … [Read more...] about Just as it ends, ‘Defending Jacob’ looks like the most popular Apple TV+ show
Apple raked in record $15.8B in services revenue during Q1
AppleInsider is supported by its audience and may earn commission as an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner on qualifying purchases. These affiliate partnerships do not influence our editorial content. The first fiscal of 2021 marks the first time in nine quarters that Apple's Services segment increased revenue by more than 20 percent. Apple Music In Apple's quarterly earnings announcement on Jan. 27, the company announced Services revenue of $15.8 billion for the final three months of 2020, representing a 24% increase over the same period in 2019. "The steep integration of hardware, software and Services have always defined our approach here, and it has delivered an all-time quarterly Services record," Apple CEO Tim Cook said on the earnings call. "This was the first quarter of the Apple One bundle, which brings together many of our great Services into an easy subscription, and with new content being added to these services every day, we feel very optimistic … [Read more...] about Apple raked in record $15.8B in services revenue during Q1
HomePod mini updated with new Handoff experience in OS version 14.4
AppleInsider is supported by its audience and may earn commission as an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner on qualifying purchases. These affiliate partnerships do not influence our editorial content. Apple has released a new HomePod and HomePod mini software update with a version number of 14.4 and a new Handoff experience for HomePod mini. The HomePod and HomePod mini run a specialized version of tvOS and receive updates sporadically when compared to Apple's other operating systems. Updates generally include bug fixes and improvements for features attached to the larger ecosystem. The last HomePod software update was for version 14.3 which was another bug fix update. HomePod Software Version 14.4 includes: Software version 14.4 includes bug fixes and the following new features with an Ultra Wideband (U1) equipped iPhone. Hand off music with visual, audible, and haptic effects from iPhone to HomePod mini Get personalized listening … [Read more...] about HomePod mini updated with new Handoff experience in OS version 14.4
A deep dive into HomePod’s adaptive audio, beamforming and why it needs an A8 processor
Feature AppleInsider is supported by its audience and may earn commission as an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner on qualifying purchases. These affiliate partnerships do not influence our editorial content. The HomePod stands to be an audiophile's ideal speaker when it ships on Feb. 9, in no small part due to the considerable effort Apple has put into audio processing for the device. Audio expert Matt Hines of iZotope explains some of the technical hurdles Apple and other smart speaker producers have to overcome to provide a high-quality audio experience in a wide variety of environments. The first problem Apple and similar firms face when creating an intelligent speaker, like the HomePod , is to ensure there is an optimal audio experience for the user, regardless of where they are in the room. Hines, product manager of Spire by iZotope and guest on this week's AppleInsider Podcast , says the exact position of the user can dramatically affect … [Read more...] about A deep dive into HomePod’s adaptive audio, beamforming and why it needs an A8 processor
Review: AirPods Max don’t make it easy to justify the price
Review The new AirPods Max are turning heads with a high price tag and excellent audio quality. But is what you get worth the $549? AirPods Max design AirPods Max come in five different colors, sky blue, green, pink, silver, and space gray. Each color is two-toned, featuring a lighter color on the anodized earcups and a darker one for the headband. AirPods Max have one of the most bespoke designs ever created for a set of headphones. The top portion of the headphones is made of stainless steel before being coated with a premium soft-touch material akin to silicone. The canopy is made from a proprietary mesh that is designed to wrest just atop your head. AirPods Max Each arm of the AirPods Max extend to accommodate user's heads of different sizes. Anodized aluminum makes up the cups themselves, which is lighter than the steel and allows for the svelte anodization Apple is known for. Each of the cushions on the earcups are a similar mesh … [Read more...] about Review: AirPods Max don’t make it easy to justify the price
How-To: Get yourself an affordable multi-room AirPlay setup
One of the downsides of being early adopters of new technology is that we tend to buy the best system available at the time, only for a better one to come along later. I’m sure we’ve all been there. That was the case for me with wireless audio. I wanted, many years ago, to be able to stream music to two other rooms in the house. I invested in a couple of Logitech Streambox Booms, which did the job. My Mac acted as a music server, and I could stream both my music library and Internet radio to the Logitech boxes. But it was a clunky setup, a scrollwheel used to select artist, album and track in much the same way as the original scrollwheel iPod – though viewing only one line at a time. AirPlay, when it came along in 2010, was a markedly better solution, but also came with a far higher price-tag. However, the upside of Apple neglecting AirPlay is that there are a lot of heavily-discounted discontinued products around. It was only when writing that opinion piece that I noticed … [Read more...] about How-To: Get yourself an affordable multi-room AirPlay setup