After installing new firmware, Trådfri outlets can be added to the Home app and controlled alongside the rest of your HomeKit products.
Ikea sells the Trådfri smart plugs for just $9.99, which is much cheaper than other HomeKit-enabled smart plug options on the market. You will, however, need the accompanying Trådfri Gateway, a $30 hub that is required for all of Ikea's affordable smart home solutions including light bulbs, dimmers, motion sensors, and more.
The Trådfri outlets are larger than some other HomeKit-based outlets, but can be used sideways and will only take up a single socket. Multiple Trådfri accessories can be connected to the Trådfri Gateway.
You can get the Trådfri smart plugs and the Trådfri Gateway from Ikea. Ikea is rolling out its new software update and it should be available to customers in the U.S. now before expanding to other countries in the near future.
New discounts on a variety of Apple products have hit some of the major retailers this week, including sales on HomePod and the older 2017 models of the iMac and MacBook Pro.
HomePod
For the HomePod, Costco is now providing its members a chance to save even further on the recently discounted smart speaker, priced at $279.99 in Costco retail stores, down from $299.00 on Apple's website and all other major retailers at the moment.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
You'll have to be a Costco member to purchase the HomePod, and if you opt for shipping a charge of $4.99 will be added onto the order. You can purchase the HomePod in both White and Space Gray from Costco, and it's unclear how long the discount will last.
iMac
For the iMac, both Amazon and B&H Photo are discounting select models of Apple's desktop computer from mid 2017. This includes the 21.5-inch and 27-inch models, with savings of as much as $400 off the computer. The prices listed below are the best available online for each respective model, and start as low as $1,099.00 for the 21.5-inch iMac.
Mid 2017 Retina iMacs
21.5-inch iMac, 3.0 GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB - $1,099.00, down from $1,299.00 [Amazon / B&H]
21.5-inch iMac, 3.4 GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion - $1,297.00, down from $1,499.00 [Amazon]
27-inch iMac, 3.4 GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion - $1,593.00, down from $1,799.00 [Amazon]
27-inch iMac, 3.5 GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion - $1,699.00, down from $1,999.00 [Amazon / B&H]
27-inch iMac, 3.8 GHz, 8GB RAM, 2TB Fusion - $1,899.00, down from $2,299.00 [Amazon / B&H]
MacBook Pro
Amazon is also discounting the 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2017 by $200 (this is the model without a Touch Bar). There are two models on sale, the first of which has 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD priced at $1,099.99, down from $1,299.99.
The second MacBook Pro on sale has 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD for $1,299.99, down from $1,499.99. Although they lack a Touch Bar, these MacBook Pros include a Force Touch trackpad, up to 10 hours of battery life, and two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports.
If you're on the hunt for even more discounts and bargains, be sure to head over to our full Deals Roundup.
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets, or ACM for short, today announced that it will investigate whether Apple abuses its position in the App Store by, for example, giving preferential treatment to its own apps.
ACM says the investigation will initially focus on Apple because the majority of anticompetitive allegations it has received from other companies and developers have been about the App Store. More specifically, the investigation will revolve around Dutch apps for "news media" available in the App Store.
ACM board member Henk Don:
To a large degree, app providers depend on Apple and Google for offering apps to users. In the market study, ACM has received indications from app providers, which seem to indicate that Apple abuses its position in the App Store. That is why ACM sees sufficient reason for launching a follow-up investigation, on the basis of competition law.
However, the antitrust watchdog stresses that Apple is innocent unless proven guilty, and also encourages developers to come forward if they experience similar problems with Google's Play Store.
ACM launched the investigation upon completion of its market study that explores the influence of app stores. For numerous apps, the watchdog found that no realistic alternatives to the App Store and Play Store exist, potentially giving Apple and Google the opportunity to set unfair conditions.
On the one hand, Apple and Google have an interest in offering many different apps from app providers in their app stores. On the other hand, however, Apple and Google are app providers in their own right, too. So their apps compete with those of other market participants. These competing interests may pose antitrust problems.
ACM cites unnamed developers who say they do not always have a fair chance against Apple's and Google's preinstalled apps on mobile devices, must use Apple's and Google's in-app purchase mechanisms for digital goods and services, have difficulties communicating with Apple and Google, and more.
The investigation's initial focus on Dutch news apps is a rather narrow one, especially considering that Apple News is not yet available in the Netherlands. But, the premise seems to be that Apple News is a preinstalled app while other news providers must go through the App Store and pay Apple's "tax."
As the ACM notes, apps have become an increasingly important part of daily life, so it will be interesting to see how these investigations play out and how they impact the future of the App Store and Play Store.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg, which first reported the news.
Update: In a statement issued to CNN, Apple said it is "confident" the probe "will confirm all developers have an equal opportunity to succeed in the App Store."
Apple today announced it has nearly doubled the number of suppliers that have committed to run their Apple-specific production on 100 percent renewable energy, bringing the total number to 44.
The list of newly committed suppliers includes, among others, Gorilla Glass maker Corning, Face ID module provider Finisar, A-series chipmaker TSMC, Apple Watch manufacturer Quanta Computer, AirPods assembler Luxshare, and iPhone assemblers Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron.
Apple now expects to add five gigawatts of renewable energy to its supply chain by 2020, exceeding its goal of four gigawatts in that timeframe.
Apple says that manufacturing makes up 74 percent of its carbon footprint. To address this, Apple and its suppliers have invested in or procured a mix of clean energy technology, including wind and solar. Apple has also further expanded its supplier education and support initiatives.
Apple also announced that it has allocated all of its $2.5 billion in green bonds, the largest amount of any U.S. corporation. Through this, the company says it has contributed to 40 environmental initiatives around the world, including projects Apple has created to cover its entire electricity load.
Apple's Green Bonds also support environmental research and innovation. Projects include solar rooftops in Japan, an aquifer to conserve water in Oregon, and the creation of a custom alloy made of 100 percent recycled aluminum that is now found in the latest MacBook Air and Mac mini.
Amazon has thousands of employees around the world that listen to voice recordings captured in the homes of Amazon Echo owners, reports Bloomberg.
Voice recordings are captured when the Alexa wake word is spoken and then a subset of those recordings are listened to, transcribed, annotated, and added back into the software as part of Amazon's effort to help Alexa better respond to voice commands. Amazon has facilities for Alexa improvement in places that range from Boston to Costa Rica, India, and Romania.
Seven people familiar with Amazon's review process spoke to Bloomberg and revealed some insider details on the program that may be concerning to Echo users.
While much of the work has been described as "mundane," employees have sometimes come across more private recordings, such as a woman singing off key in the shower or a child screaming for help. Amazon employees have internal chat rooms where they share files when help is needed parsing a word or, more concerning, when an "amusing recording" is found.
Two workers told Bloomberg that they've heard recordings that are upsetting or potentially criminal, and while Amazon claims to have procedures in place for such occurrences, some employees have been told it's not the company's job to interfere.
Sometimes they hear recordings they find upsetting, or possibly criminal. Two of the workers said they picked up what they believe was a sexual assault. When something like that happens, they may share the experience in the internal chat room as a way of relieving stress. Amazon says it has procedures in place for workers to follow when they hear something distressing, but two Romania-based employees said that, after requesting guidance for such cases, they were told it wasn't Amazon's job to interfere.
Alexa users have the option to disable the use of their voice recordings for improvements to the service, but some may not know that these options exist. Amazon also does not make it clear that actual people are listening to the recordings.
According to Bloomberg, recordings sent to employees who work on Alexa don't include a user's full name or address, but an account number, first name, and the device's serial number are associated with the recording.
In a statement to Bloomberg, Amazon said that an "extremely small" number of Alexa voice recordings are annotated and that there are measures in place to protect user identity.
We take the security and privacy of our customers' personal information seriously. We only annotate an extremely small sample of Alexa voice recordings in order [to] improve the customer experience. For example, this information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone.
We have strict technical and operational safeguards, and have a zero tolerance policy for the abuse of our system. Employees do not have direct access to information that can identify the person or account as part of this workflow. All information is treated with high confidentiality and we use multi-factor authentication to restrict access, service encryption and audits of our control environment to protect it.
It is standard practice to use some recordings for product improvement. Apple has employees who listen to Siri queries to make sure the interpretation of a request lines up with what the person said. Recordings are stripped of identifiable information, however, and stored for six months with a random identifier.
Google too has employees who are able to access audio snippets from Google Assistant for the purpose of improving the product, but Google, like Apple, removes personally identifiable information and also distorts audio.
Amazon does not appear to be removing all personally identifiable information, and while the Echo is meant to collect audio only when a wake word is spoken, the employees who spoke to Bloomberg said they often hear audio files that appear to have started recording with no wake word at all.
Alexa users concerned with the data that's being collected and used by Amazon should make sure to enable all privacy features and uncheck the option for letting Amazon save Echo recordings. Additional details on how Amazon uses the voice recordings it collects can be found in the original Bloomberg article.
Update: Amazon has provided the following statement to MacRumors as clarification: "By default, Echo devices are designed to detect only your chosen wake word (Alexa, Amazon, Computer or Echo). The device detects the wake word by identifying acoustic patterns that match the wake word. No audio is stored or sent to the cloud unless the device detects the wake word (or Alexa is activated by pressing a button)."
Apps designed for the Mac often don't receive as much attention as apps made for iOS devices, so we have a series here at MacRumors that's designed to highlight useful and interesting Mac apps that are worth checking out and potentially investing in.
This month's picks include apps for sharing files, organizing web apps, monitoring internet traffic, fixing repeating keys on a broken MacBook keyboard, and quickly pairing your AirPods to your Mac. Many of the apps we're highlighting this month were chosen by our MacRumors forum members.
CloudApp (Free) - CloudApp is a handy app that lets you share files, screenshots, videos, screen recordings, and more, via the cloud. You can drag a file into CloudApp and it'll be uploaded to the cloud and copied to your clipboard so you can paste the file into Slack, email, Messages, or elsewhere. You can annotate screenshots and files, making it a great way to communicate when collaborative editing is needed. CloudApp is free, but premium tiers with additional features are available starting at $10/month or $8/month on an annual plan.
Little Snitch ($45) - Little Snitch monitors all of the traffic on your Mac so you can see what apps are sending data, and where. It basically makes all of your Internet connections visible and gives you control over them, letting you approve or restrict what's being sent from your Mac. There's a world map so you can see where connections are being made, and there are modes for getting instant notifications or letting it run in the background.
Stack (Free) - Stack is a Mac app that's sort of an internet launchpad for web apps, describing itself as an "internet OS." It houses all the websites you might want to keep tabs on like Facebook, Messenger, Gmail, Slack, and more, keeping them in one convenient place. You can organize your different apps into categories, and the app provides unified notifications so you don't miss anything.
Unshaky (Free) - Unshaky is not an Apple-sanctioned app, and that's because it's meant to fix a major Apple problem - the faulty MacBook Pro keyboard. Unshaky is designed for people who have keys where the letters repeat, as it's able to detect the extra presses and eliminate them. We haven't tried this app ourselves because we don't have a keyboard with repeating letters, but it has positive reviews as a temporary fix from those who are having issues. If you have a repeating key you'll need to get a repair from Apple, but this can help while you wait.
AirBuddy ($5) - AirBuddy is a Mac app for the AirPods. It lets you pair your AirPods to your Mac the same way you do on your iPhone - just by opening up the AirPods case next to your Mac and then clicking. It's super simple, but if you use your AirPods with your Mac often, it's invaluable. A Batteries Notification Center widget on Mac displays AirPods battery life, charging case battery life, and the battery life of your Mac. The AirBuddy app works with Macs that support Bluetooth LE, which is all modern machines.
If you have a favorite must-have Mac app that we haven't highlighted yet, let us know in the comments, and we might feature it in a future video. Many of this month's app picks came directly from recommendations from our forum members, and it's these recommendations that have helped make this series useful.
Apple recently redid the web interface for Podcasts, providing new podcast webpages with a streamlined design that's easier to navigate and built-in web playback.
Each new page features a clear recap of each episode along with a "Play" button for playing an individual episode or all of the episodes in order directly from the web browser without the need to open up iTunes.
Clicking on an episode's name opens up a full page for the episode in question, so you can see complete details about what's included in each one before deciding to listen.
As 9to5Mac points out, the prior design for podcasts on the web was just a list of podcast episodes that opened up podcasts in iTunes with no web playback option available.
Apple is planning on introducing a standalone Podcasts app on the Mac when macOS 10.15 launches, so this new web look may be a precursor to the future launch of the dedicated Podcasts app.
Amid a decline of 4.6 percent in worldwide PC sales, Apple's Mac sales were also down 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2019, according to new PC shipment estimates shared this afternoon by Gartner.
Apple shipped an estimated 3.98 million Macs during the quarter, down from 4.08 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple's market share grew year-over-year though, coming in at 6.8 percent, up from 6.6 percent in Q1 2018.
Gartner's Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q19 (Thousands of Units)
Apple continues to be ranked as the number four PC vendor worldwide, coming in after Lenovo, HP, and Dell, but ahead of Asus and Acer. Apple also held the number four spot in the year-ago quarter.
Lenovo, HP, and Dell all saw shipments grow or remain steady, while Asus and Acer, like Apple, experienced declines. Lenovo, the number one worldwide PC vendor during the quarter, shipped 13.2 million PCs for 22.5 percent market share, while HP, a close second, shipped 12.8 million PCs for 21.9 percent market share.
Dell came in third with close to 10 million PCs shipped and 17.6 percent market share, while Asus and Acer brought up the rear with 3.6 and 3.2 million PC shipments, respectively.
Overall, there were an estimated 58.5 million PCs shipped in Q1 2019, down from 61.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Apple's U.S. Mac shipments also declined, with Apple shipping an estimated 1.44 million Macs during the quarter, a 3.5 percent decline from the 1.5 million Macs it shipped in Q1 2018. Apple is ranked as the number four vendor in the United States, trailing behind HP, Dell, and Lenovo, but beating out Microsoft.
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q19 (Thousands of Units)
HP was the top U.S. PC vendor with 3.24 million PC shipments, followed by Dell with 3.16 million and Lenovo with 1.5 million. The overall PC market in the United States saw a 6.3 percent decline compared to Q1 2018, with a total of 11 million PCs shipped.
Apple's Market Share Trend: 1Q06–1Q19 (Gartner)
IDC also released its shipment estimates this afternoon, and is often the case, IDC's shipping estimates are different than Gartner's due to the variations in the way each firm makes shipment calculations.
IDC also suggests that overall worldwide PC shipments declined, but by just 3 percent with a total of 58.48 million PCs shipped during the quarter.
Apple is also the number four worldwide PC vendor in IDC's estimates, with IDC suggesting Apple shipped an estimated 4.058 million Macs during the quarter, a mere 0.5 percent drop from the 4.078 million Macs shipped in the year-ago quarter.
Data from Gartner and IDC is based on estimates, and while Apple used to provide specific breakdowns of Mac sales, the company is no longer doing so and there will be no way to confirm shipment estimates going forward.
These new numbers follow refreshes of both the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air lineups, both of which were overhauled in October 2018, but come prior to the launch of updated iMacs. Apple this year has several additional Mac updates on the horizon, including a new high-end high-throughput modular Mac Pro.
Apple's Mac sales could potentially be suffering due to the negative publicity surrounding the butterfly keyboard issues in the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, a problem that has become increasingly visible due to its impact on even the newest Mac notebooks.
Seagate in January announced an updated lineup of its popular Backup Plus hard drives, debuting the Backup Plus Slim and the Backup Plus Portable, both of which are now available for purchase and are ideal for those who need lots of storage space at an affordable price.
The Backup Plus Slim and the Backup Plus Portable are your average, run of the mill hard drives. The Backup Plus Slim is the thinner of the two models as it has less storage space, measuring in at 4.5 inches by 3 inches with a thickness of just about half an inch.
The Backup Plus Portable is about the same size but it's close to an inch thick and about twice as heavy (eight ounces vs. four). Neither one of these drives takes up much space, so they're ideal for backup or other purposes and can be tucked away in a drawer afterwards.
Design wise, the two hard drives are made from a black plastic material with a brushed aluminum front plate. The test models I have are in silver, but these also come in black, a light blue color, and red.
The Backup Plus Slim offers 1TB or 2TB of storage, and the Backup Plus Portable is available with either 4TB or 5TB of storage space. Both are formatted to work with either Mac or Windows.
These hard drives are using standard USB-A cables to plug into a computer, which means that you're going to need a USB-A to USB-C adapter if you want to use them with one of Apple's modern Macs.
USB-C hard drives aren't much more expensive than these Seagate Backup hard drives, so it's maybe not even worth picking one of these up if you have a USB-C machine unless you're swapping files between computers and continue to have a Mac or Windows machine that uses USB-A. For older machines that still have USB-A ports, these hard drives will work well, and functionally, they're fine with an adapter on a USB-C machine.
There's nothing special about the transfer speeds of the Backup Plus Slim and Backup Plus Portable. Seagate says they can reach transfer speeds of 120MB/s, and in my tests on a 2016 MacBook Pro with USB-C, I even saw transfer speeds a little bit higher at about 130MB/s.
Backup Plus Portable on left, Backup Plus Slim on right
You're not going to want to use standard hard drives in situations where you need fast file transfer capabilities, but for things like backups where you have hours to let a backup take place, these drives work well.
Both hard drives come equipped with links to register them on Seagate's website, as well as options to download Seagate's Toolkit software for automatically syncing files between mirrored folders on the drive and on your Mac. You can use these with Windows and Mac machines right out of the box without the need to reformat.
Backup Plus Slim
Seagate sells these hard drives with a one-year Create plan for Mylio, photo organizing software that lets you upload photos to the cloud and access them on multiple devices, but after that year, it costs $50/year to use.
Backup Plus Portable
There's also free two month access to Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan, which costs $9.99/month to use after the trial period. Both Mylio and Creative Cloud are optional, so you don't need to sign up for them if you're not interested in those services.
Bottom Line
If you've made the swap over to USB-C and only have USB-C machines, Seagate's Backup Plus Portable and Backup Plus Slim probably aren't the best option for you, because you'll need a dongle.
If you still use USB-A machines or a mix of USB-C and USB-A, however, these hard drives are an affordable way to get a lot of storage for things like Time Machine backups, offloading photos, and more.
How to Buy
Seagate's Backup Plus Slim is available from Amazon, with 1TB of storage priced at $55 and 2TB of storage priced at $70. The Backup Plus Portable is also available from Amazon with 4TB of storage priced at $110 and 5TB of storage priced at $125.
Note: Seagate provided MacRumors with a Backup Plus Portable and Backup Plus Slim for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.
YouTube TV today announced a price hike for all users, first hitting new subscribers immediately and then arriving for existing subscribers beginning with billing cycles after May 13. The price hike will be a $10 increase on the monthly cost of the live TV streaming service, boosting the price of the platform to $49.99/month.
The cost of YouTube TV will be even more if you subscribe to the service through one of Apple's devices, as those members will be billed at $54.99/month due to the 30 percent cut that Apple takes during the first year of an annual subscription. Apple's policy has resulted in divergent prices for numerous apps and services on the App Store, leading to legal battles with companies like Spotify.
For YouTube TV, the company says that the price increase is so that it can keep bringing its customers "the best possible service," today including the addition of Discovery network branded channels. Eight total channels are being added to YouTube TV as of this week: Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and MotorTrend. EPIX is also available for an additional charge.
That means YouTube TV has now grown to over 70 channels. The base price of the service also includes 6 accounts per household, a cloud DVR with no storage space limits, 3 concurrent streams, and local affiliate coverage in over 90 percent of the markets where YouTube TV is available (which is now all U.S. markets).
With today's news of a price hike, YouTube TV is now the third major over-the-top streaming service to announce a price hike in the past month. DirecTV Now started the trend in early March with a $10/month price hike, then FuboTV followed later in the month with a $10/month price hike, and now YouTube TV customers are facing their own $10/month subscription increase.
With the changes, Hulu With Live TV and PlayStation Vue are now the cheapest options among the major platforms, and YouTube TV sits in the middle in terms of cost for entry-level subscriptions.
SlingTV - $25/month for "Orange and Blue" with limited-time discount
Hulu With Live TV - $44.99/month
PS Vue - $44.99/month for "Access" tier
YouTube TV - $49.99/month
DirecTV Now - $50/month for "Plus" and "Live a Little"
FuboTV - $54.99/month for "Standard"
This is the third price hike in YouTube TV's history. The service originally cost $35/month and then increased its price to $40/month in the spring of 2018.
Apple today released tvOS 12.2.1, the sixth update to the tvOS 12 operating system designed for fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models. tvOS 12.2.1 comes a little over two weeks after the release of tvOS 12.2.
tvOS 12.2.1 is a free update that can be downloaded over the air through the Settings app on the Apple TV by going to System --> Software Update. Apple TV owners who have automatic software updates turned on will be upgraded to tvOS 12.2.1 automatically.
It's not clear what's been fixed in tvOS 12.2.1, but given that it's a minor 12.x.x update, it likely addresses bugs and other issues that were found in tvOS 12.2.
Apple does not provide release notes for tvOS updates, making it difficult to determine what might be new or improved in the operating system.
The prior update, tvOS 12.2, introduced new AirPlay 2 features, allowing users to ask Siri to play specific media on an Apple TV or third-party TV (support coming soon) from an iOS device.
Apple has shared a new "Shot on iPhone XS" video featuring Toronto Maple Leafs stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on its YouTube channel in the U.S. and Canada, just in time for the start of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight.
In the short clip, Matthews films a day in the life of Marner as the teammates travel, practice, greet fans, and more.
The Maple Leafs are set to face the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN and CBC. The playoffs begin tonight with ten teams hitting the ice, including the President's Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Earlier this year, while in nearby San Jose for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game, Matthews joined NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid, and Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller at Apple's Infinite Loop campus to discuss how technology is improving the game of hockey.
Rapper Wiz Khalifa today announced that a new documentary series about his career, called "Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam," will launch exclusively on Apple Music on Wednesday, April 17. The series will feature five episodes that "go into the most intimate aspects of Wiz's life," through archival footage and various interviews with friends and family (via Variety).
The series is launching between both of Khalifa's performances at Coachella, taking place this weekend and the weekend of April 19. The project's executive producer, Michael Strahan, said that the team was excited to work with Apple Music on the series for a chance to "give the world an intimate look into the rise of an entertainment icon."
The trailer takes a different approach to that of most music documentaries, showing footage of a teen Wiz at an in-store meet-and-greet attended by one person, and rapping for a handful of people at a basketball court. His mother and longtime associates talk about his early drive and dedication, even when he was performing for hardly anyone — and of course the trailer ends with him rapping the same song later in his career for thousands of people.
Although Apple is shifting its video focus to Apple TV+, it appears that music-related documentaries and behind-the-scenes films will remain on Apple Music. However, Apple removed the TV & Movies section on Apple Music in a recent iOS update, which introduced a revamped layout to allow for quickly navigating curated music playlists.
You can still find these documentaries on their respective artists' profiles if you know what you're searching for, and Apple typically promotes the latest ones on the Browse page's carousel. On macOS, TV & Movies is still available at the top of the Browse tab, including behind-the-scene films about Ed Sheeran, Kesha, Shawn Mendes, Sam Smith, and more.
The next major release of macOS will feature standalone Music and Podcasts apps alongside Apple's promised TV app coming to the Mac this fall, according to 9to5Mac's Guilherme Rambo, who has discovered icons for the apps. Rambo says he has confirmed the plans with sources familiar with the matter.
Image via 9to5Mac
The report also claims that the existing Books app on Mac will be redesigned to look more like the Apple News app on Mac.
Like the Apple News, Home, Stocks, and Voice Memos apps on macOS Mojave, Rambo says the new Music, Podcasts, and TV apps will be built with Apple's so-called Marzipan developer tools, which allow for a single app to be designed to run across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with a similar codebase.
Despite the standalone Music and Podcasts apps, Rambo says iTunes will stick around on the next major macOS release, as it is still used for some legacy purposes like manual syncing of older iPhones, iPads, and iPods.
Apple's plans to bring UIKit-based Music, Podcasts, and possibly Books apps to the Mac were first hinted at by developer Steve Troughton-Smith on Twitter last week. Apple should unveil macOS 10.15 alongside iOS 13, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 at WWDC 2019, which kicks off on June 3 in San Jose.
I am now fairly confident based on evidence I don't wish to make public at this point that Apple is planning new (likely UIKit) Music, Podcasts, perhaps even Books, apps for macOS, to join the new TV app. I expect the four to be the next wave of Marzipan apps. Grain of salt, etc
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) April 5, 2019
Britain's Prince Harry has revealed that he is working with Oprah Winfrey on a documentary series for Apple TV+ about mental health, due for launch sometime next year.
The Prince, also known as the Duke of Sussex, announced the partnership on his official Instagram account. The multi-part series is being co-created and executive produced by the Prince and Winfrey and has already been in development for several months.
The dynamic multi-part documentary series will focus on both mental illness and mental wellness, inspiring viewers to have an honest conversation about the challenges each of us faces, and how to equip ourselves with the tools to not simply survive, but to thrive. This commitment builds on The Duke of Sussex’s long-standing work on issues and initiatives regarding mental health, where he has candidly shared personal experience and advocated for those who silently suffer, empowering them to get the help and support they deserve.
[...]
Quote from HRH: "I truly believe that good mental health - mental fitness - is the key to powerful leadership, productive communities and a purpose-driven self. It is a huge responsibility to get this right as we bring you the facts, the science and the awareness of a subject that is so relevant during these times. Our hope is that this series will be positive, enlightening and inclusive - sharing global stories of unparalleled human spirit fighting back from the darkest places, and the opportunity for us to understand ourselves and those around us better. I am incredibly proud to be working alongside Oprah on this vital series."
Oprah appeared during Apple's services-focused March event, where she announced two documentaries coming to Apple TV+ that would focus on sexual harassment and mental health themes, but the host made no mention of the latter series' connection with royalty.
Prince Harry has vigorously campaigned about mental health and spurred several initiatives in recent years to improve openness and support for sufferers. The Prince has also spoken candidly about his own personal experiences and struggles, particularly with regards to how the death of his mother, Princess Diana, affected both him and his brother, William.
Apple TV+, coming this fall in over 100 countries, will be an ad-free, subscription based service, with Apple's original shows and movies available via Apple TV+ in the new Apple TV app.
Apple today added to its collection of Apple Watch Series 4 ads with a new short video highlighting its selection of Apple Watch bands, which come in many varieties including the Sport Band, Sport Loop, Milanese Loop, Modern Buckle, Hermès, and more.
Apple Watch Series 4 is completely redesigned. And now you can give it a fresh look with new bands in a variety of styles and colors.
Apple's next Activity Challenge for Apple Watch owners will take place on Earth Day, which falls on Monday, April 22. Apple Watch users will be able to earn the Earth Day 2019 badge by doing any workout for 30 minutes or more.
Details on the upcoming challenge were shared this afternoon on Twitter by Kyle Seth Gray, who also shared images of the achievement badge and accompanying iMessage sticker those who complete the challenge will receive.
Apple hosts Activity Challenges for major holidays and well-known events, and for the past several years, there's been an Earth Day Challenge. Goals in both 2017 and 2018 were the same as the 2019 goal -- complete a 30 minute workout.
Apple often celebrates Earth Day in a variety of ways, and Apple retail employees are likely to don green shirts in honor of the environment-focused event. Apple retail stores are also likely to be updated with green leaf accents on their logos, something that Apple does on Earth Day each year.
Apple has done two other Activity Challenges this year to celebrate International Women's Day in March and Heart Month in February.
With an Apple News+ subscription, you can download magazines for offline reading, but Apple doesn't provide an easy way to see what's downloaded and what's not. You can tell on an individual magazine basis by checking to see if a download icon (cloud and arrow) is available, but there's no section in Apple News+ for managing offline content.
You can, however, still check to see what's downloaded, though you'll need to turn off your WiFi and LTE to do so.
Open up the Control Center on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on the Airplane Mode icon to disable WiFi and your cellular connection if using an LTE iPad.
Open up the Apple News app.
Tap on the Apple News+ section.
Let it load.
When the Apple News+ section is done loading whatever content is available, you'll see a list of all of the magazines that have been downloaded for offline reading.
You can tap on any one of the magazines that you've downloaded to read it, and to download more, simply turn WiFi and LTE back on.
For more on Apple News+, make sure to check out our dedicated Apple News+ guide. Apple News users can follow MacRumors on Apple News using this link.
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