A new Beats By Dre advertisement shared online recently depicts a group of celebrities wearing the company's new Solo3, BeatsX, and Powerbeats3 Wireless headphones. All three devices were announced during Apple's September 7 iPhone event, and are positioned as compatible options for users looking to purchase wireless headsets due to the iPhone 7's lack of a 3.5mm headphone port.
In the ad, celebrities including Nicki Minaj, Amber Rose, Rebel Wilson, Juno Temple, Steve Buscemi, and more, all sing along to "I've Got No Strings" from Disney's Pinocchio. Most of the people in the commercial are seen sporting the company's newer model, the BeatsX, which it aims as a more mobile and everyday pair of headphones. That's in contrast to the over-the-head Solo3 and activity-focused Powerbeats3.
All three Beats devices include Apple's W1 chip, which allows the new headphones -- like Apple's new AirPods -- to take advantage of easy, instant pairing to an iPhone. They also come with Fast Fuel, a fast-charging solution that can deliver more power with 5 minutes of charging. 5 minutes of charging delivers 3 hours of playback for the Solo3, 2 hours of playback for the BeatsX and an hour of playback for the Powerbeats3.
The Solo3 has been available to purchase for $299 on Apple.com since the September 7 event, but the Powerbeats3 ($199) and BeatsX ($149) won't be coming out until sometime later in the year, likely to coincide with the holiday shopping season.
Samsung has coordinated with aviation officials around the world to set up exchange booths in "high traffic" airport terminals for owners of recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones (via The Verge).
The booths first appeared in South Korean airports, with similar exchange sites set to open across Australia and the U.S. for travelers to hand in the potentially dangerous devices.
According to one reporter, a Samsung exchange desk manned by the company's staff is already operational at San Francisco's international airport.
It's now a federal crime to board a flight with a Note 7 phone, following two global recalls by Samsung that failed to stem reports of the devices setting on fire, which caused property damage and injuries. Anyone caught with a Note 7 on a plane risks facing fines and up to 10 years' imprisonment.
Samsung is said to have cut its third quarter operating profit by $2.3 billion and adjusted profit expectations from $6.9 billion to $4.6 billion, following its discontinuation of the ill-fated Note 7.
Samsung has a team of representatives at SFO to help customers with the Note7 phone. It's banned from US flights. pic.twitter.com/2IiEcg6hsU
— Sergio Quintana (@svqjournalist) October 17, 2016
The company is set to overhaul its mobile strategy next year to ensure product quality, according to one report. A supply source told the Korea Herald that the company is likely to scrap its annual two-flagship models strategy in favor of focusing on a single device.
Speculation suggests that would be the Galaxy S8, expected to launch in late February 2017, although Samsung will probably shake up its marketing strategy before then, meaning the new phone could be rebranded.
Netflix has reported surprisingly strong third quarter results, sending the company's share prices soaring 20 percent in late trade (via Reuters).
The streaming content company added over 50 percent more subscribers than expected, owing to original shows like Stranger Things and Narcos drawing significant numbers of new international viewers and retaining U.S. customers despite a price hike. The news led to a share price rise to $119.82 in extended trade from a close of $99.80.
The company's performance signaled a distinct turnaround from its previous quarter, which indicated largely disappointing subscription growth. Netflix said it was on course to start collecting yields on its global profits next year, even though it was increasing spending on original programming.
Netflix said it had added about 3.2 million subscribers in Q3, far higher than a 2 million average estimate. In the U.S., the company added 370,000 subscribers, also above analysts' estimate of 309,000.
Netflix has expanded into more than 130 markets worldwide, including most major countries, except China. It said on Monday it was temporarily dropping plans to launch a service in China in the near term, opting instead to license its shows for "modest" revenue.
The company plans to increase spending on original TV shows and movies from last year by $1 billion, for a total of $6 billion earmarked for 2017.
Netflix's shares have surged in the past few years, thanks to rapid growth as the company achieved a significant shift in television watching habits. However, stock was down 12.7 percent this year as investors worried about slowing growth in the U.S. market and increasing competition from the likes of HBO Now, Amazon Video, and Hulu.
Amazon today launched a new Prime Photos feature called "Family Vault", which extends the unlimited photo storage that Amazon Prime subscribers get to their friends and family members (via TechCrunch).
For those unfamiliar with Amazon Prime, a $99 per year subscription includes free two-day shipping, unlimited streaming of movies, TV shows and music, and unlimited photo storage, among other benefits. With the arrival of Family Vault, Prime subscribers can now invite up to five family members or friends to join their online account, where they can combine photos and each get another 5GB of storage for uploading videos and other files.
The thinking behind Family Vault is to allow close friends and families to see each other's photos and videos in a single location, and be able to access them on their own devices, at no cost to those added by the Prime account holder.
The Family Plan announcement also ushers in some new search technology for Prime Photos users, including keyword-related searches for photos with a specific theme or subject (e.g. cat, wedding, beach, and so on) and a face-finding feature called "People".
Amazon is also formally announcing a new low-cost photo printing service, with prints starting at 9 cents, with free shipping for Prime members.
Further details of all of the company's newly announced features can be found on Amazon's Photos minisite or through the Amazon Photos mobile app.
Angela Ahrendts, Apple's Senior Vice President of Retail, was the opening speaker for Fortune's annual Most Powerful Women Summit, speaking a little about the next-generation Apple retail stores, her vision for Apple's physical presence and more.
Ahrendts started the evening by talking about her background and how Apple CEO Tim Cook recruited her, mentioning that she originally tried to convince Cook she wasn't right for the job. Ahrendts said that her big pitch for Apple was to integrate Apple's retail and online stores and turn the company's physical prescence into a bigger part of the communities they operate it. Cook, much to her surprise, loved the idea.
She said that she believes that "the bigger the company, the bigger the obligation" of that company to do something other than rake in profits. One of the things on her agenda was education, so Ahrendts planned on a next-generation of Apple retail stores that could function as something more than retail stores.
The new next-generation store designs are the culmination of that vision, featuring a town square concept that's focused less on selling things and more on enriching lives. She notes that the retail side of the company tries to hire candidates based on their empathy and compassion so that they can enrich lives rather than salesmanship. For instance, Apple wants to teach kids things they can't learn in school, which is why the retail stores will start hosting Swift programming lessons for kids, teachers, and parents.
The lessons, which are currently available for teachers at Apple Union Square in San Francisco, will slowly roll out to next-generation stores by next year. Kids, teachers, and parents will be able to attend Apple retail stores and learn to code for free three times a day. Currently, Apple provides educational camps for kids during the summer.
Another driving force behind the next-generation stores was making the retail spaces represent the products better. "How do we make it so the best of Apple can come together in one place?" Ahrendts said they asked as they designed the new stores. Their solution was to map out everything people did on their devices and integrate them into the stores, which meant a larger focus on the liberal arts.
Ahrendts said that she's always been in a believer of Steve Jobs' "technology married with the liberal arts" philosophy, and that she wanted to increase the presence of liberal arts in the stores. She explained the new Creative Pro position at Apple retail locations is the liberal arts equivalent of the Genius, and that the two are equal in terms of importance. Creative Pros are supposed to help you figure out what to do with your Apple product, which could range from photography lessons to coding to learning how to make movies or music.
Another way of integrating the liberal arts with the retail stores is turning the stores into community centers. "On the weekend you'll see an artist sketching things or a guy playing a guitar," Ahrendts said. The goal is to help foster human experiences that draw people out of their digital bubbles. The town square concept also extends to naming. The accessory-laden "avenues" represent avenues bordering a town square, while the giant screens are called "forums" because they act as a hub for many activities.
Finally, Ahrendts said she considers the retail store the biggest product Apple has. Employee retention is also strong, with Ahrendts saying they have an 87 percent retention rate, better than the average retail retention rate of 20 percent. The company plans to have 95 next-generation Apple stores open by the end of the year.
Ahrendts has been the head of Apple's retail efforts since 2014, when she left her job as CEO of Burberry to join the Cupertino company. Earlier this month, Ahrendts had her title shortened from Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores to just Senior Vice President of Retail, reflecting Apple's new vision of tightly integrating its online and retail efforts. Similarly, Apple dropped the "Stores" from Apple store branding in August, reflecting a more singular experience as well as Apple's efforts to turn the store into more than retail outfit.
Apple still plans to announce its new MacBook Pro "in the month" with shipments to begin at the end of October, according to new information shared by Japanese site Mac Otakara.
Citing a "reliable Chinese supplier," the site says that Apple will launch both 13 and 15-inch models, continuing to offer the machine in the same sizes available today. Apple is also expected to launch a new 13-inch MacBook Air, but will not debut a new 11-inch MacBook Air machine.
Both the new MacBook Pro models, which will replace existing models, and the new 13-inch MacBook Air are said to include USB-C ports and Thunderbolt 3 support.
Previous rumors and part leaks have suggested the upcoming MacBook Pro will include four USB-C ports, doing away with an SD card slot, an HDMI port, USB-A ports, and a MagSafe connection.
It is also expected to feature a redesigned, thinner body with a flatter keyboard, an OLED display touch panel that replaces the physical function keys at the top of the keyboard, and Touch ID support.
Mac Otakara often shares accurate information sourced from the Asian supply chain, but the site does not have a flawless track record and has gotten some details wrong in the past. Other more reliable rumors have also pointed towards an October launch date, however.
With the month coming to an end in just two weeks, it is unclear if there will be an event to announce the new machines. There have been no hints of an event and no invites have been sent out, so it's possible Apple will debut the machines more quietly, with just a press release.
References to a mysterious "Apple Watch Victory" have shown up on Apple's website in the United Arab Emirates, hinting at an alternate name the company may have considered for the Apple Watch Nike+.
An AppleCare+ support page for the United Arab Emirates, shared by 9to5Mac, mentions AppleCare+ options for the "Apple Watch" and "Apple Watch Victory," a product that does not exist.
On a similar page for Canada, the "Apple Watch" and the "Apple Watch Nike+" are listed in the same text, suggesting Apple perhaps planned to call the Apple Watch Nike+ the Apple Watch Victory at some point before changing the name to something more brand oriented.
United Arab Emirates AppleCare+ support page on top, Canadian AppleCare+ support page on bottom
It's possible "Apple Watch Victory" is an unreleased product, a scrapped product or an alternate name for a different version of the Apple Watch, but given the evidence of the two similar AppleCare+ pages, it seems most likely "Apple Watch Victory" was a code name or an alternate name considered for the Apple Watch Apple designed in collaboration with Nike.
Apple's AppleCare+ support page for the Apple Watch in the United States is worded differently, referring only to the Apple Watch without a mention of specific models in the section in question.
While inconsequential, it's always interesting to get an inside look at the changes that a product goes through before release and a glimpse at one of the names that Apple used as a code name or considered using for the Apple Watch Nike line.
The Apple Watch Nike+, which is an Apple Watch Sport model with Nike branding, Nike software, and a unique perforated Sport Band, officially launches on Friday, October 28. 38mm models are priced at $369 and 42mm models are priced at $399.
Update: The "Apple Watch Victory" mention has been removed from Apple's website.
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming iOS 10 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the third iOS 10.1 beta and more than a month after releasing iOS 10 to the public.
Registered developers can download the new iOS 10.1 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile is installed. Public beta testers can download the update over-the-air after installing the configuration profile from Apple's beta testing website.
iOS 10.1 introduces a new "Portrait" mode for the iPhone 7 Plus that allows it to use the two built-in cameras to create shallow depth of field portrait photos with blurred backgrounds.
To achieve the blurred look, the image signal processor in the iPhone 7 Plus uses the wide-angle camera to create a depth map, dissecting the different layers of the photo to decide what to blur. It works on people, pets, and objects, but does require good lighting to achieve the proper effect.
The update also likely includes bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements to address issues that have been uncovered since iOS 10 was released, such as an ongoing CallKit bug that has caused CallKit to function unreliably.
iOS 10 has been described by Apple as the "biggest release ever" for iOS users, with features that include a redesigned Lock screen, a Siri SDK to allow third-party apps to integrate with Siri, and a completely overhauled Messages app with stickers, a full App Store, Digital Touch, Bubble Effects, and more.
Other features include a dedicated "Home" app for HomeKit users, new facial and object recognition capabilities in Photos, and redesigned Maps and Apple Music apps. For more details on iOS 10, make sure to check out our iOS 10 roundup.
Insurance plans offered on a monthly basis from AT&T will soon cover cracked screens, according to recently updated information on AT&T's website (via AndroidPolice). Starting on November 15, AT&T customers who have an iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, or SE and an eligible insurance plan will be able to pay $89 to have a broken screen repaired.
A limited number of Android phones are also eligible for screen repairs, but notably missing is Apple's most recent iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices, perhaps due to repair costs or the availability of parts. AT&T warns that repairs may use new or refurbished parts and could include non-original manufacturer parts.
The new cracked screen repair option is available to customers who have Mobile Insurance, Mobile Protection Pack, Mobile Protection Pack for Business and Multi-Device Protection Pack service. According to AT&T, same-day screen repairs will be available in most cases and are done by Asurion-certified technicians. All repairs include a 12-month warranty.
This will give you the opportunity to get your screen repaired as soon as the same day. You can file a claim in the morning and, if approved, schedule an Asurion-certified technician to repair your cracked screen as soon as the same afternoon, subject to appointment availability.
AT&T's screen repair program comes shortly after AT&T raised its device replacement costs across the board on September 1. The program is launching in 15 markets on November 15, including San Diego, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Los Angeles, and Boston. It will expand to 29 additional markets on December 1.
Mobile insurance from AT&T is available for $7.99 per month and covers damage, loss, theft, and out-of-warranty malfunctions. The $89 screen repair option will be a welcome change for many iPhone owners with AT&T insurance, as replacement iPhones (iPhone 5 and later) are priced at $225 and up [PDF].
Carnegie Mellon University professor Russ Salakhutdinov has been hired by Apple to lead a team focused on artificial intelligence, according to a tweet Salakhutdinov sent out this morning. He will continue to teach at Carnegie Mellon, but will also serve as "Director of AI Research" at Apple.
In his tweet, Salakhutdinov says he is seeking additional research scientists with machine learning expertise to join his team. An included job posting asks that candidates have experience with Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Optimization, and/or Data Mining.
Salakhutdinov specializes in statistical machine learning and has authored many papers on neural networks, deep kernel learning, reinforcement learning, and other related topics.
His expertise may be used to improve services like Siri, which has been in the spotlight recently after journalist Walt Mossberg wrote a piece calling the personal assistant "limited," "unreliable," and "dumb." Siri is powered by a neural network and uses machine learning techniques to improve over time, as do other Apple features like Spotlight, QuickType, Photos, autocorrect, Maps, and more.
Salakhutdinov's hiring comes as rumors suggest Apple is aiming to improve Siri as part of an effort to build the personal assistant into an Amazon Echo-like smart home product that would be able to do things like control smart home accessories.
Apple is also on the verge of finishing an R&D research center in Yokohama, Japan, which will focus on "deep engineering" and developing Apple's artificial intelligence services.
Apple today updated several of its international websites with iPhone 7 and 7 Plus launch dates, announcing the expansion of the new devices to Egypt, Colombia, Cameroon, Kenya, Botswana, Moldova, and Mozambique.
Apple previously updated its websites in Israel, South Korea, Thailand, Morocco, Madagascar, Uganda, Senegal, and Mauritius, other countries that will see late October launches. Launch dates are as follows:
October 20: Egypt Israel
October 21: Colombia South Korea Thailand Mauritius Morocco Madagascar
October 28: Cameroon Kenya Mozambique Botswana Uganda Senegal Moldova
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus launched in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other first wave countries on September 16, followed by more than 30 additional countries on September 23 and another 9 in early October, including India, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, South Africa, Turkey, Jordan, and Oman.
Apple today released the second official update to the iOS 10 operating system, nearly one month after releasing iOS 10.0.2 and a month and a half after providing the new iOS 10 operating system to the public. iOS 10.0.3 comes ahead of iOS 10.1, a more significant update that brings a Portrait mode depth-of-field effect to the iPhone 7 Plus.
iOS 10.0.3 can be downloaded as an over-the-air update on all iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices.
Today's update includes a fix for a bug that could cause issues with cellular connectivity, a problem that only affected the new iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. Shortly after the iPhone 7 was released, a number of Verizon users began experiencing a serious issue that caused them to regularly lose LTE connectivity on their new device. It was later discovered that the issue affected iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices associated with other carriers as well, and it should now be fixed for all users.
iOS 10 is a major update that includes features like a redesigned Lock screen experience, a revamped Messages app with a full App Store, a Siri SDK for developers, new looks and features for Maps and Apple Music, and tons more. Make sure to check out our iOS 10 roundup for details.
A class action lawsuit filed by four former Apple retail employees over alleged California Labor Code violations commences tomorrow in San Diego Superior Court.
A civil jury trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. local time in a courtroom presided over by the Honorable Eddie C. Sturgeon, nearly two years after Apple's appeal and motion for dismissal was denied in the case. The lawsuit, titled Felczer vs. Apple Inc., falls under the court's Department 67.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2011 and elevated to class action status in 2014, accuses Apple of failing to provide timely meal and rest breaks, failing to pay all wages due upon ending employment within the required time, and failing to provide accurate wage statements, according to court documents filed electronically.
The proposed class would involve all current, former, or prospective employees in California who have worked for Apple between December 16, 2007 and the time of trial, which totaled approximately 18,000 employees as of 2014. Any settlement awarded would be divided evenly between class members.
California Labor Code dictates that employees must be provided with at least a 30-minute meal break when the work period is more than five hours, and at least a 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked. The defendants claim Apple failed to always provide these breaks for at least four years prior to the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the complaint notes Apple took several weeks to send out a final paycheck to multiple employees. As a result of these unlawful business practices, the lawsuit asks for compensatory damages and repayment of all wages owed, along with interest and legal fees, but it does not specify a damages amount.
In a new case that echoes Apple's past struggle with the FBI, the Department of Justice has been granted a warrant to search a home in Lancaster, California -- and all the smartphones inside of it -- for all "passwords, encryption keys, and other access devices that may be necessary to access" the various handsets and tablets discovered inside the location. Notably, this includes requiring every person inside the home to provide their fingerprints to the cops to bypass the biometric scanners of each device (via Forbes).
Filed May 9, 2016, a section of the warrant reads:
“authorization to depress the fingerprints and thumbprints of every person who is located at the SUBJECT PREMISES during the execution of the search and who is reasonably believed by law enforcement to be the user of a fingerprint sensor-enabled device that is located at the SUBJECT PREMISES and falls within the scope of the warrant.”
An anonymous person located at the home in question avoided providing details of the crime in question, but they did indicate that the warrant has been served. The person claimed that they did not know about the specifics of the warrant's parameters until it was served to them, and they are "trying to let this pass over" in the meantime.
The case has been said to "shock" legal experts because of the legalese workaround used in the warrant. According to one expert, the government filed the warrant "on the assumption that they will learn more after they have a warrant," without providing any particulars as to what they plan to find at the home in question. This practice goes against the confines and scopes of usual warrants, and was seemingly an attempt to quietly include fingerprint data in the seizure of information.
Jennifer Lynch, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), added: “It’s not enough for a government to just say we have a warrant to search this house and therefore this person should unlock their phone. The government needs to say specifically what information they expect to find on the phone, how that relates to criminal activity and I would argue they need to set up a way to access only the information that is relevant to the investigation.
“The warrant has to be particular in how it describes the place to be searched and the thing to be seized and limited in scope. That’s why if a government suspects criminal activity to be happening on a property and there are 50 apartments in that property they have to specify which apartment and why and what they expect to find there.”
Lynch noted that "we've never seen anything like this," with the government's court filing revealing the first known attempt by the Department of Justice to acquire fingerprints of individuals in a certain location to unlock their smartphones. Lynch said that the filing cites "outdated cases" as the justification for bypassing self-incrimination laws to ultimately use a person's "body as evidence when it may be material."
“The reason I’m so concerned about this … is that it’s so broad in scope and the government is relying on these outdated cases to give it access to this amazing amount of information… The part the government is ignoring here is the vast amount of data that’s on the phone,” Lynch added.
“If this kind of thing became law then there would be nothing to prevent… a search of every phone at a certain location.”
Most recently, it was reported that the FBI was looking into "legal and technical options" for entering another iPhone, this one belonging to the culprit behind the Minnesota mall stabbings in September. The iOS version running on the iPhone is known only to the FBI, so if it's an older model (iOS 8 or prior) the government could potentially access it without the same drama that emerged following its request for Apple to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone earlier in the year.
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.
Apple Music's Beats 1 radio host and creative director Zane Lowe has been announced as a keynote speaker for 2017's South by Southwest music and film festival (via Billboard). Lowe has been tapped to give a presentation for the music portion of SXSW, which runs March 10-19 next year and also includes areas that branch into interactive media technologies.
Other than Lowe, speakers at next year's SXSW include Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards, Mount Everest photographer and climber Cory Richards, author Adam Grant, and many more. The festival has also announced more than 750 panels that will be at SXSW in 2017, including ones focused on topics like "Does Spotify Help More Than It Hurts?"
"The programming announced today reflects a lot of the bigger-picture trends we think will be getting the most buzz in March 2017," said Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer. "These trends include innovation in the transportation space, the rise of artificial intelligence, more emphasis on innovation within healthcare, and an increase in creative industry inclusion.
Of course, the biggest trend for SXSW is always the convergence of the technology, music, and film industries, as different people from different sectors gain incredible value by sharing new ideas and new approaches to common challenges."
As Apple Music continues to grow, Apple executive Jimmy Iovine recently stated that the company is "building the right hybrid" that carefully balances technology with culturally aware paradigm shifts. Lowe was a host for BBC Radio before moving to Beats 1 and Apple Music, and has since helped Apple launch a number of new shows and programming blocks for the service.
Smart thermostat company Ecobee today announced the launch of a cheaper "Ecobee3 Lite" device that will deliver Ecobee's expected "superior comfort, control and energy savings" at $80 less than similar products from competitors, according to the company.
Similar to the flagship Ecobee 3 model, the Ecobee3 Lite has the same touchscreen controls and black aesthetic, and can be controlled from a smartphone through a connected Ecobee app. The cheaper model will also continue to support Apple's HomeKit platform, as well as Amazon Echo, Samsung SmartThings, Wink and IFTTT.
“The new ecobee3 lite delivers the many features of a premium smart thermostat – beautiful design, superior comfort and an intuitive customer experience – but it’s kinder to our customers’ wallets than leading competitors,” said Stuart Lombard, President and CEO of ecobee. “ecobee3 lite upholds our continued promise to make customer’s lives simpler and better.”
To offset the entry-level cost, the Ecobee3 Lite loses a few features included with its $250 counterpart. Namely, the Lite isn't compatible with the company's room sensors, which Ecobee says help the system become smarter with additional sensors placed in multiple rooms so that the thermostat can accumulate a total view of a home's temperature level. Ecobee3 Lite also lacks smart occupancy detection, and doesn't support accessories like humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and ventilators.
In the United States, users will be able to purchase the Ecobee3 Lite beginning on October 31 for $169. The smart thermostat will be available at retail exclusively at Home Depot locations, and online at Amazon.com, HomeDepot.com, BestBuy.com and Ecobee.com. Canadian users will be able to buy the device for $219 (CAD) on Ecobee's website. To make sure your system is compatible with Ecobee, the company has created a compatibility checker.
Apple has made its Thai website black and white to honor the death of Thailand's king Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away last week at the age of 88. Bhumibol Adulyadej had served as the ninth monarch of Thailand since 1946, making him the world's longest-serving head of state at the time of his death ahead of Queen Elizabeth II.
The monochrome website reflects Thai citizens who have dressed in pure black or black and white to mourn the loss of Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was a highly revered figure in the country. Thai TV stations have also provided footage of the king in black and white, colors that represent grief and purity respectively in the country.
Apple has informed retail employees it will be removing the Lead Creative role at its stores, according to multiple sources. The changes should take effect by mid November at all stores except select flagship locations.
Apple will be relegating current Lead Creatives to the role of Creative as part of the transition. A source said pay will remain the same for existing leads, but their current leadership responsibilities will be slowly removed.
The move comes less than three months after Apple introduced a new "Creative Pro" position above Creative. Retail employees holding this position are considered the most knowledgable about Apple products and services, providing customers with advice and expertise about products such as the iPhone. Creative Pros are situated on the sales floor, internally described as the Product Zone.
Netflix has reported surprisingly strong third quarter results, sending the company's share prices soaring 20 percent in late trade (via 
Carnegie Mellon University professor 
Apple has informed retail employees it will be removing the Lead Creative role at its stores, according to multiple sources. The changes should take effect by mid November at all stores except select flagship locations.
