CBS Likely to Reach Streaming TV Deal With Apple, Met With Eddy Cue Last Week
Apple’s much-rumored plans to launch a streaming TV service in the fall were confirmed today at Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, where CBS CEO Les Moonves told Re/code‘s Kara Swisher that CBS will “probably” sign a deal with Apple for the network to be included as a launch partner. “We’re very excited about it,” he told Swisher during his live interview on Wednesday morning.
CBS CEO Les Moonves speaks with Kara Swisher at Code Conference (Re/code)
Moonves confirmed that he met with Apple senior executive Eddy Cue last week to discuss the plans, as part of an “ongoing conversation” about the upcoming streaming TV service, but said he does not know when the service will launch. The service has been rumored to be unveiled at WWDC next month, but Apple’s efforts to include local programming could delay the announcement until later this year.
“Apple TV is trying to change the universe,” Moonves said, by offering a smaller bundle of TV networks, delivered over the Web, than pay TV providers traditionally sell. Moonves said Apple’s effort was similar to ones that have already launched from Dish Network’s Sling and Sony’s Vue.
“I think the age of the 200 channel universe is slowly dying,” Moonves said. “The good news for us, is any one of those groups will need CBS,” adding that his network will get a bigger proportion of whatever revenues those “skinny bundles” generate than it does in traditional packages.
Apple’s streaming TV service will reportedly be anchored by popular networks such as ABC, CBS, FOX, ESPN and FX. The web-based TV service for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and other devices is expected to deliver a lightweight package of about 25 channels for between $30 to $40 per month. The service is expected to be available in September if Apple can secure content agreements in time.
Google Search Will Begin Indexing iOS App Content in Coming Weeks
Google has announced that it will begin indexing content from iOS apps in search results in the near future, enabling iPhone users to open mobile app content straight from Google Search. The company says that indexed links from an initial group of apps will begin appearing on iOS in search results in both the Google app and Chrome for signed-in users in the coming weeks. Google first introduced app indexing in search results for Android in October 2013.
Google also outlines instructions for developers on how to get an iOS app indexed in search results, a process that, among other steps, involves adding deep linking support to the app and submitting an iOS app indexing interest form. Google notes that filling out the form does not automatically guarantee getting app deep links in iOS search results, and encourages those interested to attend the “Get your app in the Google index” talk at Google I/O this week.
Bellabeat Officially Launches Stress-Measuring ‘Leaf’ Activity Tracker [iOS Blog]
Bellabeat, a company focused on creating technology products designed for women, is today ready to launch its first wearable, the Leaf activity tracker. First announced last year, the Leaf is an activity tracker that looks more like a stylish piece of jewelry than a standard activity tracker from a company like Jawbone, Nike, or Fitbit.
The Bellabeat Leaf is, as the name suggests, a leaf-shaped activity-tracking wearable that can be positioned as a clip, necklace, or bracelet. Depending on where it’s worn, it’s advertised as being able to track metrics like activity level, sleep quality, stress level, and ovulation.
Described as a wearable “you’ll actually want to wear,” the standard leaf is made from a light maple-colored wood and accentuated with a steel leaf plate that’s available in five designs. Bellabeat is also introducing a new limited edition gold version that’s made from a dark marshwood and accompanied by a gold-plated leaf, plus the company is selling a range of bracelet and necklace accessories to pair with the Leaf.
The Leaf is designed to be worn all day, tracking activity, sleep, and stress. It works in conjunction with an upcoming Leaf app, which is able to track information on menstrual cycles to provide a complete picture of health. Leaf will also deliver vibration-based notifications on activity level throughout the day.
Receive real-time feedback in the form of slight vibrations, notifying you to increase or decrease your activity and reminding you about other aspects of your health, such as getting more sleep. The LEAF app even helps to monitor your monthly menstrual cycle by tracking expected days and providing information based on your activity, sleep and stress levels.
As you continue to use the LEAF, it becomes smarter by learning your personal habits and tailors feedback accordingly. The LEAF is truly unique in that it allows you to cross reference your cycle with trends in your daily activity, all easily viewable in your app.
Tracking activity and sleep is a function included in most smart wearables, but stress detection is relatively unique. When worn as a pendant or a brooch near the chest, the Leaf monitors breathing and uses that along with user-provided information as a metric to determine stress levels.
The Leaf ships with a necklace chain, but it can also be added to existing jewelery and paired with the aforementioned accessories Bellabeat plans to offer. It includes a standard watch battery, so there is no need to charge it on a daily basis, but the battery will need to be replaced after approximately six months.
Bellabeat previously accepted pre-orders for the standard edition of the Leaf, but those quickly sold out. Today’s sales of the Leaf and the Limited Edition Leaf mark the official launch of the Leaf, which will begin shipping out to customers on June 15.
The Leaf and the Limited Edition Leaf can be purchased from the Bellabeat website beginning today. The standard Leaf is available for $119, while the limited Edition Leaf is available for $250.
Fox Debuts ‘Movie of the Day!’ App With Daily Discounts on iTunes Movies [iOS Blog]
Fox today debuted a new app called Movie of the Day! [Direct Link] which aims to provide customers a new daily discount on one movie from Fox’s large catalog (via Engadget).
Every day the app updates with a new movie deal, ranging from “from blockbusters to acclaimed indies, and everything in between,” at a discount which goes up to 70 percent off of the original price. To start off, the app is available only for iOS devices, but there are plans to expand to other app stores like Google Play. In addition to the basic daily discount, the app also lets users browse a movie’s cast, check out other user reviews, and read a quick synopsis of the film.
Going live today in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and France, the app’s first discount is a $6.99 version of X-Men: First Class, originally $14.99. Every movie showcased within the new Fox app links back to the iTunes store, so anyone taking advantage of the daily sales will be able to build up their iTunes movie catalog at a cheaper rate than normal.
Although the company hasn’t made any confirmation of the next few movies to be showcased, the app’s screenshot carousel hints that films like Rio 2, Fight Club, and The Fault in Our Stars could be discounted in the coming weeks. Those interested can download Movie of the Day! for free right now on the App Store.
‘Movie of the Day’ app hopes you’ll impulse buy ‘X-Men’ via iPhone
Fox and Apple are trying a new twist on digital movie sales starting today, pushing a Movie of the Day app on iOS. For now, it’s only for Apple devices and Fox movies (a Google Play version should arrive eventually), but as you can guess from the name it just does the one thing. “Daily Flash Sales” offer a single movie, heavily discounted (up to 70 percent off, somewhere between $5 and $10), for purchase for 24 hours, with the app highlighting which one and pointing users to it. It’s launching in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and France today and the first flick for sale is a $7 copy (in HD or SD, and you could just grab it via iTunes) of X-Men: First Class. Movies like Alien, Die Hard, Ice Age, Planet of the Apes, Rio, and The Sound of Music will float through its library, so if you’re interested in filling up your Apple-connected digital shelf it could be worthwhile.
Filed under: Cellphones, HD, Mobile, Apple
Source: Movie of the Day (iTunes)
Apple Surpasses Google to Reclaim Title of World’s Most Valuable Brand
Apple was named the most valuable global brand in market research firm Millward Brown’s tenth annual BrandZ brand value report [PDF], seeing a 67% rise in brand value to $246.9 billion. The Cupertino-based company surpassed Google, which ranked first in the 2014 report, to reclaim the top ranking in the study for the fourth time in the past five years. See BrandZ’s annual reports in 2011, 2012 and 2013 for reference.
“With a 67 percent rise in Brand Value to $247 billion, Apple returned to number one in the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking. Success of the iPhone 6 and the related excitement surrounding the Apple brand drove the increase. Apple also led in the rate of brand value growth over 10 years – 1,446 percent.”
The top ten most valuable global brands in the report is made up almost entirely of technology and telecom companies, with Microsoft, IBM, Visa, AT&T, Verizon, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Marlboro rounding off the top ten after Apple and Google. Other notable technology companies on the list include Facebook (12th), Amazon (14th), HP (39th), Oracle (44th), Samsung (45th) and Twitter (92nd).
Millward Brown explains that its brand valuation methodology is based on three million consumers and more than 100,000 different brands in over 50 markets, with brand appeal measured against actual sales performance.
New iOS Bug Crashing iPhones Simply by Receiving a Text Message
A new bug has been discovered in the Messages app, allowing a string of characters sent to a person via iMessage or text message to crash an iPhone and cause the Messages app to fail to open. The bug, which requires a specific string of characters, was first noticed on reddit earlier this afternoon and has been spreading around the Internet since then.
Sending the string of characters to an iPhone results in an immediate respring, causing an iPhone to crash and quickly reboot, and then it prevents the Messages app from being opened again.
If you receive one of these messages, there’s a quick way to fix it. The Messages app appears to be able to be opened to the last conversation where the offending message was sent from, so sending another message (or having a person send you a message) in this conversation clears the bug and returns functionality to normal.
Other fixes include sending yourself a message via Siri or sending yourself a message through the Share feature in the Notes app or any other app if you can’t open the Messages app at all.
Apple Replaces Problematic ‘Discoveryd’ Process With mDNSresponder in 10.10.4 Beta 4
In today’s fourth OS X 10.10.4 beta, Apple made a significant behind-the-scenes change that could result in improved networking performance for some users — the removal of the “discoveryd” process. As noted by MacRumors forum members and 9to5Mac, in OS X 10.10.4 beta 4, the discoveryd process has been replaced by mDNSresponder.
Since OS X Yosemite debuted in October, there have been ongoing complaints about discoveryd consuming CPU resources, draining battery life, and causing issues with Wi-Fi. These problems have lingered for several months, even after multiple bug fixes and performance improvements included in OS X 10.10.1, 10.10.2, and 10.10.3.
Discoveryd was introduced with OS X Yosemite, replacing mDNSResponder for managing Mac networking tasks, but it’s led to a host of problems like those listed above along with issues like slow wake from sleep, failures to resolve DNS names, duplicate machine names, and more, as detailed in a post earlier this year by Ars Technica. Several developers have also complained about discoveryd in Yosemite, including Instapaper’s Marco Arment and Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry.
It’s no secret in the tech community that discoveryd is the root cause of so many problems. There are even crazy workarounds. With so many issues, you’d expect some information from Apple explaining ways to mitigate the problems.
The removal of the unstable discoveryd process in OS X 10.10.4 beta 4 may improve network stability problems for many users who have been experiencing continual issues. With the removal of discoveryd, Apple has reverted back to using the earlier mDNSresponder process that was used before discoveryd was implemented with OS X Yosemite.
iOS 9’s Upcoming Transit Addition to Maps May Be Limited in Scope at Launch
Apple has been working on adding mass transit routing information to its Maps application for several years, and while the feature appears to be ready to debut as part of iOS 9, it could be limited in scope at launch. The transit service may initially be available only in a small number of cities across the United States, Canada, Europe, and China when iOS 9 is released to the public, according to sources that spoke to 9to5Mac.
San Francisco and New York are said to be two of the locations in the United States where transit directions will be available. Both major cities are known for their public transportation options. In Canada, Toronto will likely gain transit routing options in the Maps app, as will London, Paris, and Berlin in Europe. Cities in China will also be included in the initial launch.
Apple is planning to expand access to transit information to additional cities following the fall launch of iOS 9, and cities that the company is hoping to add support for in the near future include Boston, Massachusetts and Tokyo, Japan, among others. Apple will likely work quickly to expand the feature even further across the rest of 2015 and into 2016.
Mass transit routing options have been missing from Maps since 2012, when Apple’s native mapping system first replaced Google Maps in iOS 6. Transit directions were initially expected as part of iOS 8, and hints of transit options were indeed found in iOS 8 documentation, but organizational issues and staff shortages allegedly delayed the feature’s release.
Apple’s acquired many mapping-related companies since it introduced its Maps app, including transit apps HopStop and Embark, and in recent years, the company has also been expanding its in-house routing team as it furthers its work on the transit feature.
iOS 9, with the new Maps transit feature, is expected to be introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8.
Fire breaks out at Apple facility in Arizona
An Apple building in Arizona is on fire, and a live stream from local news station ABC 15 shows crews on site, as well as a burning roof full of scorched solar panels. Based on the location, it appears to be the facility Apple purchased from sapphire maker GT Advanced, with an eye towards turning it into a command center for the company’s worldwide data networks. There’s no information yet about any possible injuries, and it does not appear to be affecting the status of Apple’s services. The situation brings to mind images of Samsung’s burning data center last spring, which knocked out services around the world for some of its TVs and phones. According to the Superstition Fire and Medical District (yes, it’s real) right now it appears that solar panels caught fire on the roof.
Developing..
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isSlim=1
SFMD helping Mesa FD at a 2 Alarm fire at the new Apple Plant at Elliott & Signal Butte. Appears that solar panels caught fire on the roof.
– SFMD (@sfmd_az_gov) May 26, 2015
Filed under: Apple
Source: ABC 15
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