MacRumors

The United States Federal Communications Commission today informed T-Mobile and Sprint [PDF] that it needs more time to review the proposed merger between the two companies before making a final decision on approval.

According to the FCC, it is pausing the informal 180-day transaction clock to allow for "thorough staff and third-party review" of newly submitted and anticipated business documents.

Sprint and T-Mobile on September 5 submitted a revised network engineering model that's "significantly larger and more complex," which the FCC needs to look over. The two companies also did not provide the FCC with documentation on a "Build 9" business model until September 5, so that's also something the FCC needs to review, and T-Mobile is also planning to offer up additional economic modeling documents.

The FCC says that the 180-day clock will remain stopped until T-Mobile and Sprint have completed the record "on which they intend to rely" and a reasonable amount of time has passed to allow the FCC and third-parties to look over the documentation.

Sprint and T-Mobile officially reached a merger agreement back in late April, so the original 180-day review period was set to end in October. The FCC aims to complete applications for license transfers relating to complex mergers within an informal 180 day period, but warns that some application review periods can exceed 180 days.

If the T-Mobile and Sprint merger is ultimately approved by regulators, two of the four major carriers in the United States will combine into one single entity. T-Mobile and Sprint combined will have nearly 100 million customers, putting it second only to Verizon.

The combined company will be named T-Mobile and current T-Mobile CEO John Legere will serve as the Chief Executive Officer. Sprint and T-Mobile have previously said they're hoping to close the deal in the first half of 2019.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Ahead of the launch of the iPhone Xs and the iPhone Xs Max, luxury iPhone companies Brikk and Caviar have announced custom versions of the two new iPhones made from materials like carbon, ceramic, alligator, and other materials.

Russian site Caviar, for example, is offering ornate iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs designs with carbon bodies, snake skin, alligator skin, gold accents, and diamond accents.

One of the most expensive Caviar iPhones, a version that features gold plating, mother of pearl, and 20 diamonds, is priced starting at $5,420.

Brikk, meanwhile, is offering iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max models in carbon, ceramic, and gold. Pricing on the carbon models, which feature "an extremely rare form of carbon" that's also used by Lamborghini, are priced starting at $9,995. For that price, you also get solid gold logos and 24k yellow gold buttons.

Brikk's ceramic iPhones start at $12,995 and come in either black or white, also with a 24k gold main body and buttons. Brikk says its ceramic iPhones offer exceptional heat resistance and light weight.

For those with even more cash to spend, Brikk also plans to offer solid gold versions of the iPhone Xs and Xs Plus, which will cost upwards of $50,000. These devices are just announcements at this point, as Brikk and Caviar will need to wait for the official iPhone Xs and Xs Max launch to purchase iPhones for customization purposes.

Both Caviar and Brikk are known for selling ornately-designed luxury iPhone models for exorbitant prices, which are fun to look at but are out of the price range of most iPhone buyers.

Nevertheless, should someone be interested in one of these iPhones, Caviar is taking pre-orders now and Brikk is expected to begin accepting pre-orders soon.

Plex today announced on its forums that it is planning to shut down the Plex Cloud service as of November 30, 2018.

Plex introduced the Plex Cloud option back in the fall of 2016, providing Plex users with a way to store their media in the cloud to make it accessible from anywhere without the need for a local server.

Since its launch, Plex Cloud has suffered from issues, which led Plex to stop allowing new Plex Cloud servers in February to address performance, quality, and user experience problems.

According to Plex, it has not been able to solve its Plex Cloud problems in a cost effective manner.

We hold ourselves to a high standard, and unfortunately, after a lot of investigation and thought, we haven't found a solution capable of delivering a truly first class Plex experience to Plex Cloud users at a reasonable cost.

Starting on November 30, 2018, Plex Cloud users will no longer be able to access their Plex Cloud servers. Plex Cloud worked through a connection to services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive, so all content will remain available to users through those services. Plex also plans to unlink all third-party cloud storage services from Plex Cloud on November 30.

With the discontinuation of Plex Cloud, Plex media content will be accessible only through local libraries, with the company recommending that people store former cloud content on a NAS. Plex says that the end of Plex Cloud will allow it to focus on improving core functionality and adding new features and content.

There's just a day to go until Apple holds its annual iPhone-centric event to introduce new iPhone models, with this year's event expected to see the debut of the 5.8-inch OLED iPhone Xs, the 6.5-inch OLED iPhone Xs Max, and the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone, which could be called the iPhone Xr.

We're also expecting to see new Apple Watch Series 4 models with larger displays thanks to reduced bezels and more accurate ECG-based heart monitoring technology. Other surprises could be in the works too, such as the launch of new second-generation AirPods and the debut of the long-awaited AirPower.

Apple's event will kick off on September 12 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Steve Jobs Theater on the new Apple Park campus, with Apple set to live stream the event on the Apple TV and on the events website. Check out the list below to see when the event takes place in your time zone, and read on to see just how to watch.

• Honolulu, Hawaii -- 7:00 a.m. HAST
• Anchorage, Alaska -- 9:00 a.m. AKDT
• Cupertino, California -- 10:00 a.m. PDT
• Phoenix, Arizona -- 10:00 a.m. MST
• Vancouver, Canada -- 10:00 a.m. PDT
• Denver, Colorado -- 11:00 a.m. MDT
• Dallas, Texas -- 12:00 noon CDT
• New York, New York -- 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Raleigh, North Carolina -- 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Toronto, Canada -- 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Halifax, Canada -- 2:00 p.m. ADT
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- 2:00 p.m. BRT
• London, United Kingdom -- 6:00 p.m. BST
• Berlin, Germany -- 7:00 p.m. CEST
• Paris, France -- 7:00 p.m. CEST
• Cape Town, South Africa -- 7:00 p.m. SAST
• Moscow, Russia -- 8:00 p.m. MSK
• Helsinki, Finland -- 8:00 p.m. EEST
• Istanbul, Turkey -- 8:00 p.m. TRT
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- 9:00 p.m. GST
• Delhi, India -- 10:30 p.m. IST
• Jakarta, Indonesia -- 12:00 a.m. WIB (9/13)
• Shanghai, China -- 1:00 a.m. CST (9/13)
• Singapore -- 1:00 a.m. SGT (9/13)
• Perth, Australia -- 1:00 a.m. AWST (9/13)
• Hong Kong -- 1:00 a.m. HKT (9/13)
• Seoul, South Korea -- 2:00 a.m. KST (9/13)
• Tokyo, Japan -- 2:00 a.m. JST (9/13)
• Adelaide, Australia -- 2:30 a.m. (9/13)
• Sydney, Australia -- 3:00 a.m. (9/13)
• Auckland, New Zealand -- 5:00 a.m. NZST (9/13)

How to Watch Live on Apple TV

On the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, Apple has an Events app that can be downloaded from the tvOS App Store.

1. Open the App Store.
2. Use Siri or the Search field to search for "Apple Events."
3. Select the "Get" button to download the app.
4. Choose the Events app from the Apple TV home screen.

Prior to 10:00 a.m. on September 12, the Events app will display instructions letting you know to come back at the proper time to watch the live stream. Once the event begins, the app will open right up into a live broadcast straight from Apple Park.

On the older Apple TV models, there's no need to install an Events app because it's a pre-existing channel. Simply select the "Events" option at the proper time to watch Apple's live stream on a second or third-generation Apple TV.

How to Watch Live on Mac, iPad, and iPhone

For those who do not have an Apple TV and would prefer to watch the event on a Mac or iOS device, all you need is the Safari web browser.

Apple has a dedicated Apple Special Event website where the live stream will be hosted. All you need to do is open the link using the Safari browser on a Mac, iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone to watch live when the event begins.

iOS 10 or later is required, as is macOS Sierra or later.

How to Watch on Windows

If you don't have an iOS device or a Mac handy to watch the event, you can do so on a Windows machine by visiting the Apple Special Event website using the Microsoft Edge browser.

Live Twitter Coverage

Apple is planning to provide a live stream of the event on Twitter as well as on the Apple TV and website, so those interested in viewing the stream via the social network can do so.

MacRumors Coverage

For MacRumors readers who are not able to watch the event live, we will be offering live coverage of everything Apple announces both here on MacRumors.com and on the MacRumorsLive Twitter account, so make sure to follow us on Twitter and tune in to the website in the morning if you don't want to miss anything.

We'll have extensive coverage of all of the new announcements throughout the week as well, so make sure to keep an eye on the site.

If you want to get a sneak peek at everything Apple plans to announce on Wednesday, make sure to check out our What to Expect article, and for full details on all of the new iPhone features we're expecting to see, visit our dedicated iPhone Xs roundup.

Apple's "Gather round" media event will be kicking off at 10:00 AM Pacific tomorrow, and as is tradition some MacRumors readers who can't follow the event live are interested in avoiding all of the announcements and waiting until Apple posts the recorded video of the event so as to experience it without already knowing the outcome.

For those individuals, we've posted this news story, which will be updated with a direct link to the presentation once it becomes available from Apple. No other news stories or announcements will be displayed alongside this story.

Apple has become quicker about making event videos available for replay over the past several years, and videos are now frequently available within an hour of an event's conclusion.

Users waiting for the video to be posted are welcome to gather in the thread associated with this news story, and we ask that those who follow the events refrain from making any posts in the thread about Apple's announcements.

Video Posted: A direct link to the video file is now available, with no spoilers.

eBay has created a new technology it's calling "HeadGaze," which tracks the user's head movement through the iPhone X's TrueDepth camera and ARKit so that they can navigate around eBay without touching the screen. The technology was created by Muratcan Cicek, an eBay intern with motor impairments who was looking for a way to shop online independently.

The eBay team built a model that tracks the user's head using 3D information from ARKit, creating a virtual cursor that follows the head's motion in every direction. Then, designated buttons on the screen can be activated depending on how long the cursor has been in one spot. These buttons can perform actions like scrolling down, moving to another page, selecting a product to purchase, and more, all without touching the screen.

Cicek says that the technology's modular code design will let developers "easily integrate" HeadGaze's features into existing or future apps:

This year as part of my internship project at eBay, my team and I developed HeadGaze, a reusable technology library that tracks head movement on your iPhone X and starting today, the technology is available via open source on GitHub.com. The first of its kind, this technology uses Apple ARKit and the iPhone X camera to track your head motion so you can navigate your phone easily without using your hands.

HeadGaze enables you to scroll and interact on your phone with only subtle head movements. Think of all the ways that this could be brought to life. Tired of trying to scroll through a recipe on your phone screen with greasy fingers while cooking? Too messy to follow the how-to manual on your cell phone while you’re tinkering with the car engine under the hood? Too cold to remove your gloves to use your phone?

eBay has developed an app called "HeadSwipe" as a way to test the HeadGaze technology. HeadSwipe is focused on browsing and buying items in eBay's deals section, and can be navigated entirely through head motions on iPhone X. Both HeadGaze and HeadSwipe are available open source on GitHub.

Next, the team is also looking at technology that tracks eye movements, and potentially fusing the two experiences together in future apps.

Instagram is testing a new feature that allows users to tag friends in videos (via TechCrunch). The option uses the same icon that users normally tap at the bottom left of tagged photos, but instead of overlaying the content with tagged names, the button links to a separate page listing all the people tagged in the video.

The new page, titled "People in this Video", also lists users that the original poster wants to notify of the shared content. As it stands, the videos don't copy over to the tagged users' profiles like tagged photos do, but that could change if Instagram opts to roll out the feature globally in future.

Video tagging only appears in the mobile app right now, so it won't show up for anyone using the web version of the social media platform. Instagram also confirmed that the feature is currently only available to a "small percentage" of users who specifically opted in to test video tagging.

Photo tagging has been possible on Instagram since 2013, with the feature having since been extended to support additional usage scenarios, such as product tagging and tagging friends in Stories. Video sharing was introduced later the same year, but the ability to tag people in them has been missing thus far.

TechCrunch notes that the introduction of video tagging could drive additional engagement on the platform and usher in a spate of "shoppable videos" that could enable users with a large following to share videos promoting their favorite products, places, and brands more easily.

Tesla is notifying customers that it will soon restock its wireless phone charger at a discount, after the device quickly sold out when it was released late last month.

The Verge reports that emails are going out to customers informing them that the Tesla Wireless Charger, originally costing $65, will return to the electric car maker's online store at a roughly $15 discount, thanks to a higher production run this time around.

The battery-powered Qi-based charger features a sleek white or black enclosure, a 6,000 mAh battery for charging on the go, 5W of output, a built-in USB-C cable for Android devices, and a USB-A port that supports faster wired charging.

Tesla says customers who purchased the charger when it first went on sale in August will be refunded the $16 difference, but the company omitted to mention when the discounted version will be available. We'll update this post if we learn more.

Apple recently updated its Maps app to add transit directions and data for areas in Alaska, Wyoming, and Idaho.

Apple Maps users in select cities in these states can now select public transportation routes when getting directions between two locations. In Alaska, for example, there are bus routes and other transit options in cities that include Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks.

In Wyoming, transit options are available in areas that include Cheyenne and Jackson, and in Idaho, transit data is available in Victor.

Transit information appears to still be rolling out in these three states and could expand to additional cities over the course of the next few weeks.

Apple has not yet added Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho to the website where it lists locations where transit directions are available, but it should be added in the near future.

Transit directions were first added to Apple Maps in 2015 with the launch of iOS 9. Maps initially only offered transit information in a handful of cities, but over the course of the last three years, Apple has worked to expand the feature to additional areas.

Transit information is now live in dozens of cities and countries around the world, with a full list available on Apple's iOS 11 Feature Availability website.

(Thanks, Ram!)

Apple this afternoon shared a new "Insights" video on its developer site that is designed to highlight the benefits of using App Store subscriptions as a payment method for apps.

The video focuses on the developers behind Elevate, Dropbox, Calm, and Bumble and how these apps "create great customer experiences by continuing to provide value throughout the subscription lifecycle."

"The value for a user is that you're not just buying this one thing at this one point in time, you're actually buying something that's evolving," said Elevate developer Jesse Germinario.

"If you're a subscription business, your incentives are actually perfectly aligned with your customers, because they need to continue to get value out of the product in order to keep subscribing, which means that you have to continue making the app better," said Calm developer Tyler Sheaffer.

Apple's efforts to push developers to embrace subscriptions were first highlighted last month when Business Insider shared details on a secret meeting held in April 2017.

At the meeting, Apple hosted more than 30 software developers and encouraged them to adopt subscription payment models.

Apple told developers that the app model is changing, with paid apps representing just 15 percent of total app sales, a number that is declining. Successful apps, Apple said, need to focus on subscriptions and regular engagement from users rather than one time sales.

Apple's video on app subscriptions can be watched on the company's developer website.