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After teasing some details of HBO Max over the weekend, AT&T has officially offered up more specific information about the upcoming streaming service. At an event this evening, AT&T reveled that HBO Max will launch in May of 2020 for $14.99 per month. At launch, HBO Max will include 10,000 hours of programming. As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, this includes quite a few familiar names: There will also be a new Game of Thrones spin-off called House of the Dragon coming to HBO....

JustWatch, a company that provides streaming guidance and analysis on video platforms, today shared research on the market share of streaming services in the United States. The research is based on data collected during the last quarter of 2020, and it considers the most popular platforms available in the country. Unsurprisingly, Apple TV+ was not the most popular streaming service of the quarter, but the platform was actually the last in the ranking with a market share of only 3% in the US....

Five years ago, Apple unveiled what I unequivocally consider the best smart speaker of 2022. It was late to the party, panned by tech press, and discontinued before its time. It was the original HomePod, and there’s still nothing else like it. Sure, there are five flavors of HomePod mini, but we wanted Apple to make a smaller HomePod to complement the big one, not replace it. The big HomePod has big sound that’s fit for large rooms or as your best speaker in your primarily listening place....

It’s never a great experience when iCloud goes down and Apple services are affected, but it always helps to know it’s not just you having issues. Apple typically acknowledges ongoing outages on its System Status site with a brief description of the problem, and this week Apple has updated its design to emphasize last known issues. Previously, Apple’s System Status page focused on showing the current state of iCloud and related services while previous outages were detailed on a timeline at the bottom of the page....

Following a lawsuit revealed back in October in which Apple exposed an issue with a large percentage of fake Apple adapters being marketed as “genuine” online, today the company has posted an official warning to customers. The message, posted on the front page of the company’s support webpage, warns customers that counterfeit power adapters and batteries could pose safety issues. The company also offers customers that might have had a recent battery replacement the option to bring in their devices to an Apple Store or authorized service provider to check if the battery is genuine:...

Apple Watch is useful at putting notifications just a glance away on your wrist when you’re not using your iPhone, but that can be a distraction when you’re driving. In a recent Feature Request, we suggested Apple could address this issue by automatically enabling its upcoming Theater Mode feature on Apple Watch when the iPhone detects you’re in the car. Now it appears Apple has something similar in mind… There are already a few solutions to making Apple Watch take a back seat when you’re driving....

Apple Watch has always been certified to work underwater, so users can swim and get metrics with it. With Apple Watch Ultra, Apple has taken this certification even further. However, controlling the touchscreen on the Apple Watch underwater is not exactly possible – but one swimmer has found a good way to do it. Using Apple Watch underwater with AssistiveTouch Swimmer Rafael Zeier recently got an Apple Watch Ultra, which has a new Action button that lets users start a workout or trigger other system actions with just a press....

Apple has revealed that the Apple Watch will ship in April, though a specific date wasn’t given. The announcement came during today’s earnings call. Apple’s wearable will support notifications and “glances” from iPhone-based apps and is said to be aiming for 19-hour battery life, though it is reportedly having trouble hitting that goal. Apple is also planning to enable Apple Pay transactions on older iPhones by pairing those handsets with the watch....

Our prediction that Apple would offer gift cards rather than cash discounts on Black Friday was confirmed when the U.S. and Canadian stores went live this morning. We first saw this in Australia and New Zealand, whose time-zones made them the first stores to open for Black Friday business. While Europe bucked the trend, offering cash discounts instead, the North American gift card deals are dollar-for-dollar with Australia. The main ones are:...

An odd application made its way onto the iPhone App Store called “GameStore” a few days ago. The application was deemed an Apple internal testing tool for their iOS in-app-purchase system, and the June 2009 date -the month of the event in which in-app-purchase was formally announced- on the application’s store page seems to affirm that. The application was quickly removed from the App Store, and today, buyers were informed that refunds for the application were issued to their iTunes accounts....

Apple has sent care packages to its employees in China who are stranded in the country due to the coronavirus outbreak. The care package includes items like food, hand sanitizer, and a 10.2-inch iPad. Accompanying the items is a letter from Apple, which explains that the CareKit is designed to include “comfort items” like Hershey’s candies and butter cookies. The kit also includes tea, hand sanitizer, and more. Most notably, however, is a 10....

As the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus gradually become available around the world, Apple this evening has rolled out an update to the Apple Store app on iOS. The update brings the app to version 3.5 and includes a couple of minor changes. First off, Apple says the update is an “iOS compatibility update,” meaning that it fixes any issues that may have arisen with the launch of iOS 9 to the public last week and the subsequent release of iOS 9....

During its FQ4 conference call this morning, Apple supplier Lumentum reported a huge increase in orders for 3D sensing laser components thought to be included in the upcoming iPhone 8 to enable advanced augmented reality features, as noted by analyst Gene Munster at LoupVentures. To be specific, the company has $200M in orders during the quarter up from just $5 million in revenue for the 3D sensing tech during the June quarter....

One of the latest Apple TV+ shows in the works is an adaptation of the popular thriller Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman. Now we’ve learned that the series will star Lupita Nyong’o and Natalie Portman. Reported by Variety, Lady in the Lake for Apple TV+ will be co-written by Alma Har’el and Dre Ryan with Endeavor Content serving as the studio. Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther, Us, Star Wars) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Thor, Star Wars)will take the lead roles in the series and also executive produce alongside Har’el and Ryan....

Apple TV+ and Apple Original Films had its best outing at the Oscars so far, with six total nominations for the company. Most notably, CODA nabbed the most prestigious Best Picture Oscar nomination. Incidentally, CODA is also the first movie with a predominantly deaf cast to land a Best Picture nomination. Last year, Apple got its first ever of academy award nominations for the 2021 Oscars, having only launched TV+ that year....

At its March event, Apple showcased Apple TV Channels, a feature that lets you subscribe to third-party streaming services directly in the TV app on iOS and tvOS. Apple teased CBS All Access as a partner, but the service was not among the services available at launch. Now, that might soon be about to change. In a post on Twitter, the CBS All Access Help account has revealed that CBS All Access will be coming to Apple TV Channels on July 29th....

The Apple vs Ericsson patent trial saga continues. We learned a couple of days ago that the Ericsson case against Apple would be heard in June of next year. This is where Ericsson accuses Apple of patent infringement in the 5G chips used in the latest iPhones. We’re today learning that Apple’s countersuit, accusing Ericsson of infringing Apple patents in its base stations, will be heard the following month, in July....

The main Apple versus Qualcomm court battle, which starts today, looks set to be by far the world’s biggest patent or antitrust case, making previous lawsuits seem trivial in comparison. Apple and four of its suppliers are jointly seeking a staggering total of up to $30B in damages and other payments from Qualcomm, dwarfing even the largest of previous patent and antitrust cases … We’ve seen several earlier court battles between the two companies, but the case opening today in San Diego is the main event, in which Apple sues Qualcomm for unfair practices in the way it charged the iPhone maker for the use of its patents....

When an iPhone or other Apple device experiences hardware failures, Apple technicians perform an analysis of the device to determine whether it can be easily repaired or if the device must be entirely replaced. However, the company will soon be able to repair things like Face ID sensors and even cracked rear glass on iPhone 12 models without replacing the device. In an internal memo sent to Genius Bars and Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASP) obtained by MacRumors, Apple today informed that technicians will have access to a new method that allows them to repair more parts of the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 without the need for a replacement unit....

[slideshow] Check them out: WordPress iOS app gets interface overhaul, new power-user features, performance boost (9to5mac.com) Facebook rebuilds iOS app for speed, runs twice as fast, instant photo loading, out today (9to5mac.com) Apps & updates: The World Ends with You, CNN 2012 U.S. Election Center, Clueful, more (9to5mac.com) WordPress iOS app gets interface overhaul (9to5mac.com) Kingdom Rush for iOS | 99 cents This self-dubbed “No. 1 Strategy Game on the iPad” is a fantasy defense game featuring orcs, trolls, evil wizards, and even forests, mountains, wastelands, where soldiers essentially engage in “hand-to-hand cartoon battles....