Eddy Cue Discusses Why Apple Made a Pre-Installed News App

In a follow-up to an interview Apple executive Eddy Cue had with CNN senior correspondent Brian Stelter a month ago, the senior vice president of Internet software and services discussed Apple’s thoughts on the News app, which launched alongside iOS 9 in September. When asked why Apple decided to turn it into a pre-installed app, Cue offered a look into how Apple determines what constitutes a pre-installed app.

“We’ve only created the apps that we think everyone uses every day… We really wanted to create a single app that all customers could go to, to read all their news — no matter what they are interested in, no matter what topics, no matter what publications they want to follow — and get that experience that they’re used to with our products, where it looks beautiful, it’s really easy to read and yet it provides all the content available around the world.”

Cue goes on to say that Apple believes the app is a “really, really important application for the world,” noting that good journalism is important to Apple. News organizations, Cue says, have to worry about creating their own apps, interfaces and user experiences. Apple believes something like the News app can streamline this and help news organizations focus on journalism. Apple believes that the app benefits local news outlets that can’t afford to create their own apps. Furthermore, Cue says Apple even thought about how small outfits like upstart news organizations and church newsletters could use News to distribute information.

Apple is also working on a version of the app for China, Cue tells CNNMoney. When asked whether the company is running into censorship problems in the country, Cue says that it’s not. Instead, Cue notes that Apple has a “great working relationship” in China and that Apple Music, its App Store and retail stores in the country show that they know how to work in China.

Finally, Cue says that Apple has no plans to hire journalists and create content of their own. Instead, Apple’s goal with News is to “empower those journalists to get their content to the right customer.”

In late October, Tim Cook said that Apple News had approximately 40 million users. However, Cook didn’t reveal whether that number was regular users or customers who had simply checked out the app, making it difficult to determine how many people truly use Apple News. Apple has partnered with dozens of publications for Apple News, including CNN, The New York Times, ESPN and more. To get the latest news and rumors from MacRumors, make sure to add MacRumors to Apple News by clicking this link.

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Adobe November 2015 Creative Cloud Update Includes New Features for Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects and More

Several of Adobe’s key Creative Cloud apps will see updates as part of the company’s promised 2015 update plan. As highlighted at Adobe MAX and IBC 2015, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, Illustrator CC, Indesign CC, Premiere Pro CC, After Effects CC, and more will gain new features.

Many of Adobe’s apps, including Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, and Premiere Pro CC are being updated with new Touch capabilities for use on Windows tablets and Apple trackpad devices.

Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, Lightroom CC and more are receiving minor updates alongside Adobe’s video editing apps, with features announced at Adobe MAX. Photoshop CC includes a new UI, customizable toolbar, and workspaces, along with new Artboards capabilities and tight integration with Adobe Fuse CC to create realistic human 2D models.

Illustrator CC includes a new Shaper tool that combines 12 tools and panels in one, non-destructive Live Shapes, and Improved Smart Guides, and InDesign CC includes new online publishing features. Several of Adobe’s apps, including Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, and Premiere Pro CC are also being updated with new Touch capabilities usable on Windows tablets and Apple trackpad devices.

Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe’s professional video editing software, is being updated with expanded support for UltraHD formats (DNxHR, HEVC H.265, and OpenEXR) for editing 4K to 8K video footage. Premiere Pro’s Optical Flow Time Remapping allows for smooth slow-motion and speed-ramp effects, plus high-quality frame rate conversions. Adobe Premiere Pro is also being updated with HDR support.

Adobe After Effects CC is gaining support for the Lumetri Color settings introduced in Premiere Pro earlier this year. With Lumetri color support, changes made in Premiere Pro will carry over to After Effects.

Adobe Audition CC includes a new Remix tool for adjusting the duration of a song to match video content. Remix is able to automatically rearrange music to any duration to create custom tracks that fit video creation needs. It’s also able to generate synthesized speech in dozens of voices for custom narration and scratch voiceover.

Adobe’s fall updates are the second major round of updates the company’s Creative Cloud apps have seen this year. The apps also saw significant feature updates in June.
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