MacRumors

Netflix plans to output even more interactive television shows similar to the Black Mirror episode "Bandersnatch", but it's unclear as of now if any of these will work on the Apple TV. Netflix vice president of product Todd Yellin announced the company's intent to make more interactive content at a conference in Mumbai today (via Variety).

These shows, and potentially movies, will extend beyond the science fiction setting of Black Mirror and could even include romances, comedies, and more, where the audience gets to choose the outcome. Yellin said that the output of these stories will increase over the next two years.

“[Bandersnatch] is a huge hit here in India, it’s a huge hit around the world, and we realized, wow, interactive storytelling is something we want to bet more on,” Yellin said. “We’re doubling down on that. So expect over the next year or two, to see more interactive storytelling. And it won’t necessarily be science fiction, or it won’t necessarily be dark. It could be a wacky comedy. It could be a romance, where the audience gets to choose, should she go out with him or him.”

When "Bandersnatch" released in December 2018, Apple device users had to watch the episode on an iPhone, iPad, or web browser to get the full experience. When selected on the Netflix ‌Apple TV‌ app, a brief apology video would play and point users toward the correct device with which they could watch the episode.

Despite being unavailable on ‌Apple TV‌, "Bandersnatch" can be viewed on TV streaming devices like Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Android TV. Netflix has launched interactive TV shows before, including "Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale" and "Minecraft: Story Mode." While some of these kids' shows are playable on ‌Apple TV‌, like Puss in Book, they are linear versions that automatically choose the outcomes for you.

Others, like Minecraft, display an apology message on ‌Apple TV‌ and ask you to visit a supported device to watch the show. Although the ‌Apple TV‌ remote lacks the more complex controls provided by game consoles, computers, and smart TVs, it's unclear why Netflix hasn't figured out a way to get these shows to work on the ‌Apple TV‌ with the Siri Remote.

Still, this isn't the first time Netflix has been at odds with an Apple platform or service, as the streaming company continues to resist support for Apple's TV app. We've reached out to Netflix regarding future support for its interactive shows on the ‌Apple TV‌, and will update this article if they provide a comment.

Mesh Wi-Fi company Eero was acquired by Amazon one month ago, launching speculation by some consumers that the acquisition would allow Amazon access to even more user data. In a new interview with The Verge, Amazon SVP of devices and services Dave Limp claimed that Amazon will "not change anything" about Eero, and that Eero is "not changing a word" of its privacy policy.

Many users raised concerns over Amazon's new ownership of Eero, given that Amazon's existing Alexa devices have some ability to track and listen to user behavior inside their home. At the time of the acquisition, Eero promised one user on Twitter that it does not track customers' internet activity and will not start doing so under Amazon, which Limp doubled down on today.

Specifically, Limp said that the only interaction Amazon plans to have with Eero is to "add resources" and provide "a little bit of advice here and there."

Amazon's Dave Limp: “The company’s doing well,” Limp said. “Nick and his team are doing well. The roadmap is great, their customer service is great, their engineering is great. We’re just going to keep the team intact.

Eero CEO Nick Weaver: “If anything, we’re just going to strengthen our commitment to both privacy and security,” Weaver told us. “We’ve got some pretty clear privacy principles that we’ve used for developing all of our products, that are the really the underpinnings of everything. Those aren’t going to change.”

In celebration of the acquisition officially closing, Eero routers are available for $100 off today only on Amazon. The Gold Box deal includes three bundles of the mesh Wi-Fi system: 1 Eero and 1 Eero Beacon for $199.00, down from $299.00; 1 Eero and 2 Beacons for $299.00, down from $399.00; and 3 Eeros for $399.00, down from $499.00.

Like other mesh Wi-Fi routers, Eero is a full system that includes a base router and signal-boosting "Beacons" to extend the range of the signal and provide blanket Wi-Fi coverage throughout your home. Smaller living spaces should be good with just one Beacon, but you can add on more for extended coverage. Head to Amazon to check out the sale before it expires later tonight.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Connected health company Withings today announced new features coming to its sleep sensor mat, Withings Sleep, which will help track and provide detailed information about breathing disturbances during the night. This feature is available to all Withings Sleep owners today, and is the first step towards more advanced sleep apnea detection, which is coming later in 2019.

Withings says that a breathing disturbance can be any sign of troubled breathing that happens at night, which can be fairly common but goes unnoticed by most people. While these disturbances can be harmless, when they happen more frequent and become more intense, they have the chance to impair sleep quality and act as a sign of a chronic illness such as sleep apnea.

With breathing disturbances tracking on Withings Sleep, users will be able to identify early warning signs of these issues. Withings Sleep itself is a slim mat that you place under the mattress to track sleep cycles, heart rate, snoring, and more. The new feature monitors all of these statistics to track the intensity of breathing disturbances.

Each disturbance is then rated in the Health Mate app, from low to high, while providing monthly charts to see how your progression has been. The app also provides educational content so you can learn how these disturbances impact sleep, blood pressure, fitness, and weight, and seek proper medical care if needed.

“Despite its prevalence and serious consequences, sleep apnea goes largely undetected as current tests are confined to the clinical and sleep lab environment,” says Eric Carreel, President of Withings. “By allowing people to track the intensity of breathing disturbances, we are helping them identify warning signs early. This announcement is very important as it furthers our mission to bring medical grade analytics into the home and is the first step towards the medical certification of sleep apnea detection which we aim for by the end of this year.”

Withings Sleep is a direct competitor to the Apple-owned Beddit sleep monitor system, which is a flexible strip placed under a sheet on top of a mattress that tracks sleep time, heart rate, respiration, temperature, movement, and more.

Those with the Withings Sleep can update their device with breathing disturbances tracking starting today, through the Health Mate iOS app. Withings sells the Withings Sleep for $99.95 on its website and on Amazon.

Following a collection of student-related bundles, Spotify today announced that Spotify Premium will now include a free subscription to Hulu With Limited Commercials at no extra cost, for all users in the United States. The bundle is launching today and is open for sign-ups by Spotify Premium customers in the U.S. through June 10, 2019 (via The Verge).

Hulu With Limited Commercials recently lowered in price to just $5.99/month, but now Spotify Premium users will gain access to the video streaming service for free, as long as they stay subscribed to Spotify. This means that for $9.99/month, these users will be able to listen to all of the music on offer at Spotify, as well as stream the ad-supported version of Hulu.

To start saving, new Spotify Premium users can sign up for a 30-day free trial now and activate Hulu on the "Your Services" page in account settings. Those who already have Spotify Premium with Hulu, the company will automatically switch these users over from a $12.99/month price to the new $9.99/month price.

Lastly, those who already have a Hulu account but not Spotify will have to cancel their billing through Hulu and switch it over to Spotify. All Hulu plans connected to Spotify for this offer can not have any extras added onto it, so premium channels like HBO aren't allowed.

For the student bundles, Spotify and Hulu last August updated their offer by including Showtime. This means that eligible college students can get a Spotify Premium subscription ($9.99/month), Hulu With Limited Commercials subscription ($5.99/month), and a Showtime subscription ($10.99/month) for $4.99 per month total.

Niantic, known for Pokémon Go, has been working with WB Games on a new augmented reality project set in the Harry Potter universe. Today, Niantic officially unveiled some gameplay details, giving us our first look at how the game will work.

In Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, players become recruits of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force and must investigate and contain a "Calamity" that has befallen the wizarding world.

Players (or witches and wizards) from around the world will need to come together to cast spells and return Foundables, which are apparently artifacts, creatures, people, and memories, to their proper place after freeing them from Confoundable magic, all with the goal of keeping magic hidden from muggles.

As you step outside and explore the world, the Map will reveal Traces of magic, highlighting the location of magical Foundables. While these Traces can be found all around you, certain Foundables may be more likely to appear at various types of real-world locations including parks, banks, municipal buildings, college campuses, libraries, monuments, zoos, art galleries, and more. Cast a variety of spells to overcome the Confoundable magic, keep the magical Foundables safe, and send them back to the wizarding world. By returning Foundables, you'll earn unique rewards that can be tracked in the game Registry.

All in all, it sounds similar to Pokémon Go, with players locating magical artifacts instead of Pokémon, and using spells rather than Pokéballs to capture them. Players will have access to inns to replenish spell energy, magical ingredients for brewing potions, and portkeys that unlock AR portals into "iconic wizarding world locations."

According to Niantic, combat will also be included when witches and wizards visit real-world locations called Fortresses, which host Wizarding Challenges. These are real-time multiplayer battles against dangerous foes, similar to the raids in Pokémon Go.

Players will be able to specialize in different magical professions, including auror, magizoologists, and professors, each with unique skills and abilities.

Niantic plans to launch Harry Potter: Wizards Unite on iOS and Android later in 2019.

Tidal today added support for its Tidal Masters Quality Authenticated audio tier on iOS devices, bringing master quality music to iOS devices for the first time.

Master audio was previously available on Android, but hasn't been available to iPhone and iPad listeners.

Tidal's highest studio quality audio option is limited to certain tracks (Tidal says there are 150,000 of them) and you'll only hear higher fidelity audio if you're using appropriate hardware, aka, a wired connection. Full release notes for the new Tidal update are below:

- HiFi users can now access over 150,000 master-quality tracks - audio as flawless as it sounded in the mastering suite.
- CarPlay improvements
- Minor bug fixes

Tidal master quality songs are available to those who subscribe to its Tidal HiFi service, which is priced at $19.99 per month. Tidal does offer a 60-day free trial for new subscribers.

A full list of albums that feature master quality recordings is available on Tidal's website.

Eight months after DirecTV Now raised the prices of all streaming plans by $5/month to stay in line with the market, the company is this week warning customers that it's increasing the prices again, this time by $10/month across the board. The company will reportedly begin implementing this price hike in the next billing cycle for customers, starting in April (via Cord Cutters News).

This means that DirecTV Now's basic "Live a Little" tier will rise from $40/month to $50, "Just Right" will increase from $55/month to $65, "Go Big" will increase from $65/month to $75, and "Gotta Have It" will increase from $75/month to $85. The Spanish language Todo y Más package will also increase from $45/month to $55. There will be no changes to channel availability in these plans.

In addition to all of this, DirecTV Now is introducing two new plans that will be available to new customers signing up for the service, instead of the five previously mentioned plans. These new plans are "DirecTV Now Plus" ($50/month for 40+ channels) and "DirecTV Now Max" ($70/month for 50+ channels). While the new plans include HBO at no additional charge, they are missing a number of channels from the previous plans including ones from Viacom, Discovery, A&E, and AMC.

New customers will only see these two new plans, but it appears that anyone signed up for DirecTV Now on one of the five original plans will be able to keep their subscriptions intact, albeit at a $10 higher monthly price tag.

It was reported in January that DirecTV Now lost as many as 267,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2018, attributed to the closure of several discount bundles that were heavily featured on the service's website, including the popular Apple TV bundle. This month, DirecTV Now gained support for Apple's TV app, allowing users to sync their TV shows watched in DirecTV Now with the Up Next list in the TV app.

Twitter today launched a new app called Twttr, which is designed to let participants in Twitter's Prototype Program beta test new Twitter features on iOS devices.

Accordingly, the first batch of testers who have been accepted to Twitter's Prototype Program are being notified via email over the course of the next few days, and those who were not accepted to the program at this time were added to a wait list.

At launch, the Twttr app is going to focus on testing a new design for conversations, which is aimed at making it easier to follow replies to an initial tweet. Conversations feature a more chat bubble-like shape along with indentation and color coding.

TechCrunch says that in the future, Twitter may use its prototype app to test out additional changes that could be implemented into the main Twitter app in the future.

Not everyone is going to be accepted to the prototype app testing program. A few thousand English and Japanese speakers will be invited, though testers will be able to discuss the changes.

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming watchOS 5.2 update to developers, one week after seeding the fourth watchOS 5.2 beta and over a month after releasing watchOS 5.1.3.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the ‌iPhone‌.

The watchOS 5.2 update introduces a set of new Hermès watch faces. The watch faces are available in pink and blue, and feature a gradient-style design that changes much like other Hermès watch faces. There are customizable numbers and an option for a single complication.

There were no other major changes discovered in watchOS with the release of the first four, but we'll update this post should we find new features or major tweaks worth noting in the fifth. We may not know the full extent of the changes in watchOS 5.2 until we get a public release with Apple's release notes.

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.2 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the fourth beta and more than a month after releasing the tvOS 12.1.2 update.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 12.2 developer beta can be downloaded onto the ‌Apple TV‌ via a profile that's installed using Xcode. Once the initial beta has been downloaded, subsequent betas can be installed over the air.

tvOS 12.2, paired with iOS 12.2, lets users ask Siri to play specific media on an ‌Apple TV‌ from an iOS device. You can, for example, ask ‌Siri‌ to play Modern Family on the TV in the living room, or Pitch Perfect on the TV in the bedroom. This works for music and TV shows, and movies.

No other new features were discovered in the tvOS 12.2 beta as of yet, and it can be difficult to determine what's new because Apple does not provide release notes for tvOS betas or releases. If additional features are discovered in tvOS 12.2, we'll update this post.