MacRumors

Snapchat is gearing up to launch a slate of original television shows, using the social network's unique, short-lived media hook as a means to create content that lasts between 3-5 minutes long. Snapchat has signed original show deals with a collection of companies over the past few months, including NBCUniversal, Turner, A+E Networks, Discovery, BBC, ABC, ESPN, Vice Media, Vertical Networks, NFL, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In a report by The Wall Street Journal today, sources familiar with Snapchat's plans stated that the company is also discussing deals with CBS and Fox, and is ready to close a deal with Scripps Networks Interactive, which owns Food Network and HGTV. This latter deal is said to result in "offshoots" of current TV shows including House Hunters and Chopped for Snapchat.

Snapchat's current goal is to have between 2 and 3 new episodes of original TV shows debuting every day by the end of 2017. The shows will be housed in the Stories tab of Snapchat, somewhere among the content users see from their friends and the existing media-created news posts.

As Snapchat has held meetings with its TV partners, the company is said to have given "extensive and detailed notes" in an effort to launch a unified slate of shows. Some versions of Snapchat's TV initiatives have already launched, including an interactive audition experience themed after The Voice, but the company is said to now be "looking for scripted dramas, daily news shows, horror, documentaries, animated shows, and more."

While media companies have had various disagreements with YouTube and Facebook, TV companies are flocking to create original shows for Snapchat. That is in part because Snap executives including Mr. Bell, a former News Corp. executive, embrace certain old media values like scarcity and promoting a select group of premium content above user-generated fare.

Mr. Bell says he wants to help grow TV audiences by exposing Snapchat's young user base to their brands. "I don't want to be a TV killer," Mr. Bell says.

To this extent, Snapchat might change some fundamental aspects of the social network in order to encourage binging and catching up with its shows, instead of sticking to its ephemeral content strategy which removed some past shows from the service after 48 hours. For the new slate of TV shows, it's still unclear when exactly Snapchat plans to begin the launch, but users can at least expect them to begin debuting by the end of the year.

Many social networks are looking to add original television content to their services, with Twitter just this week detailing its strategy for launching a 24/7 live streaming news network through a partnership with Bloomberg and various other companies. While Facebook hasn't yet launched original video content of its own, it is building a social network that is more than ready to do so in the future, with multiple updates and app debuts centered around improving and prioritizing video-related content.

Last week we reported that Apple had emailed all iTunes Affiliate Program members to inform them that its commission rate for all apps and in-app content would be reduced to 2.5 percent on May 1, down from 7 percent, globally.

The news came as a blow to app review and discovery websites like AppShopper and TouchArcade that depend on the commissions to generate revenue.

However, this morning MacGamerHQ posted an email communication from iTunes Affiliate Support that casts doubt on Apple's original announcement.

The message above was received in response to a query about whether Mac apps would be impacted by the commission changes. As shown, the email states that iOS and Mac app commissions remain at 7 percent, while only in-app commissions will fall to 2.5 percent.

If the affiliate team's information is accurate, then the change in commissions does not apply to individual app purchases, as Apple originally stated.

MacGamerHQ notes that several affected site owners and bloggers are still seeing 7 percent commissions come through for iTunes affiliate links, despite the fact that the changes were meant to come into effect on Monday. We'll make sure to update this post if/when Apple clarifies the situation.

Update 5/8: Apple has confirmed in a note on its Affiliate Resources website that the commission rate change only applies to in-app purchases (2.5 percent, down from 7 percent). All other rates remain unchanged.

Long-time Apple chip supplier Imagination Technologies has started a "dispute resolution procedure" with Apple after failing to resolve a disagreement over licensing between the two companies (via Reuters).

Last month, Apple informed the British chipmaker that it plans to cease using its graphics technology in consumer devices over the next two years as it transitions to using its own in-house chips for products including iPhones and iPads.

The news came as a major blow to Imagination, which receives a small royalty on every device sold, amounting to up to half of its revenue. The company's shares fell by 70 percent on the day and have barely recovered.

Imagination stated in April that it doubted Apple could go it alone without violating Imagination' patents, intellectual property and confidential information. On Thursday it said it had been unable to make satisfactory progress with Apple on an alternative commercial arrangements for the current license and royalty agreement.

"Imagination has been unable to make satisfactory progress with Apple to date regarding alternative commercial arrangements for the current licence and royalty agreement," it said.

"Imagination has therefore commenced the dispute resolution procedure under the licence agreement with a view to reaching an agreement through a more structured process. Imagination has reserved all its rights in respect of Apple's unauthorised use of Imagination's confidential information and Imagination’s intellectual property rights."

Analysts have predicted that Imagination will become loss-making by 2019 without any Apple royalties to fall back on, and that the firm will have to work out a cost-cutting strategy if it is to survive.

The company has revealed it is selling MIPS and Ensigma – two of its three major businesses – in an attempt to shore up cash, allowing for a renewed focus on its PowerVR graphics technology.

"While the Group has continued to invest in its MIPS and Ensigma businesses, it has now decided to actively market these businesses for sale, concentrate its resources on PowerVR and strengthen Imagination's balance sheet," it said.

Apple today announced that its App Analytics platform in iTunes Connect now provides developers with insight into where customers discover apps, a welcome change that will give developers more information on where app referrals are coming from.

Developers will be able to see if customers are finding apps from App Store browsing and search, from within other apps, or from web referrals.

App Analytics in iTunes Connect now provides insight on where customers discover your app, including App Store browsing and search, within other apps, or on the web. With key metrics based on source types, you can see your top referring apps and websites, making it easier to optimize your marketing campaigns.

Apple first debuted its app analytics platform in May of 2015, giving developers a detailed look at app usage statistics to enable them to create more effective advertising campaigns.

Apple today updated its Clips social video creation app for the first time, introducing some minor feature tweaks and improvements.

When using Live Titles, which is designed to allow users to add captions to videos via voice transcription, there's now an option to edit the title by tapping on it.

Clips has also gained a new feature that makes it easier to share content with people who have multiple messaging addresses, suggesting the most frequently used address from the list. A full list of changes is below:

What's New
- Tap on Live Title text while playing or paused to edit it
- When sharing to a contact with multiple messaging addresses, Clips suggests the address used most frequently
- Improved stability and reliability when recording video clips and sharing videos that contain certain posters

Introduced back in early April, Clips is an app that aims to make it easy to create short videos that can be shared via Messages and social networking apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Clips lets users combine several video clips and photos with voice-based titles, music filters, and graphics to create enhanced videos that are up to an hour in length.

Clips can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Homebuilding company Brookfield Residential today announced plans to offer Apple HomeKit as standard in new communities where it builds homes.

The Delano neighborhood in the Eastwood Village of Irvine, California will be the first to feature all connected homes that are able to interface with HomeKit and will be equipped with HomeKit-compatible accessories like lights, thermostats, locks, and more.

"In our new neighborhoods, the future comes standard: As with other consumer innovations such as keyless autos, what is novel today will soon be pervasive," said Foley. "And Apple Home is the most innovative yet easy-to-use system for smart homes, giving homebuyers connected living at their fingertips - or at the command of their voices, using Siri. This makes their appliances work for them, providing joy, ease, security and privacy."

Specific HomeKit accessories that will come standard in all homes include Lutron Caseta lighting, the Honeywell Lyric T6 Smart WiFi Thermostat, Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolts, and Ubiquiti Wireless Access Points for "peak WiFi performance throughout the home."

Along with new homes in Irvine, Brookfield also has plans to build HomeKit-compatible homes in many other areas of Southern California including Playa Vista, Chula Vista, San Marcos, Azusa, and Ontario Ranch.

There are multiple homebuilding companies that have announced plans to support Apple's HomeKit platform, including KB Home, Lennar, Weberhaus in Germany, and R&F properties in China.

SoundCloud today launched a new feature called "The Upload," which will act similarly to Apple Music's My New Music Mix and Spotify's Discover Weekly playlists by curating a list of new songs specifically personalized to each user's listening habits.

The company said that The Upload will make it much easier to filter through SoundCloud's ever-expanding library of music, which sees new tracks and artists added to the service every day. To find The Upload, users can navigate to the Search tab on iOS and Android, and the Discover tab on the web.

Once SoundCloud has an indication of what a user likes, The Upload will begin curating songs daily.

The Upload is all about surfacing more of what you’re into, or what you might be, and is the go-to destination for a regularly updated, bespoke playlist of new music relevant to you.

With the largest and most diverse music catalog around, we want to make discovery on SoundCloud even easier and we’re utilizing machine learning to offer new ways for you to find more music. This new feature is another opportunity for creators on SoundCloud to get their music heard by our global community and a great way for listeners to be on the pulse of what’s next, now.

The new feature gathers and recommends music that has been uploaded to SoundCloud "within the last few days," and takes into account what each user has listened to as well as what they have liked. As the comparable features work on Apple Music and Spotify, the more users listen on SoundCloud, the better The Upload's recommendations become.

In February, SoundCloud introduced a streaming music plan with a cheaper price tag, called SoundCloud Go, which users can subscribe to for $5.99/month. A top-tier SoundCloud Go+ option is also available for $12.99/month, including access to an expanded catalogue of music. SoundCloud has around 175 million users, but the company has never detailed specific numbers in relation to how many people subscribe to its paid streaming service.

SoundCloud is available to download on the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Brother today announced that every series in its mobile printer lineup now features at least one model certified by Apple's MFi Program.

MFi-certified printers are fully compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, enabling users to print instantly from an iOS device via Bluetooth, without the need to download special drivers. That's in addition to existing AirPrint support on select Brother printers for wireless printing from an iOS device over a Wi-Fi network.

Brother's MFi-certified models include the RuggedJet RJ-2050, RJ-2150, RJ-3050Ai, RJ-3150Ai, RJ-4030Ai, PocketJet 763MFi, and M-Print MW145MFi and MW260MFi. Look for the "Made for iPhone, iPad, and iPod" logo on the box.

Brother has a wide variety of mobile printers available to purchase on its website, with some models costing upwards of $1,000.

Sprint today announced the "Sprint Magic Box," a small plug-and-play device that the carrier said will "dramatically improve" LTE data services and connections for any Sprint customers in its range. The indoor consumer device is built to be placed near a window, and is free for qualifying customers, with no installation, labor, or rental costs attached to its use.

The Magic Box doesn't require a router or Wi-Fi to use -- Sprint also mentioned that it doesn't interfere with established Wi-Fi networks -- and it automatically connects to the nearest Sprint cell site to guide users through installation. Once it's up and running, Sprint said that users will see a better data experience while streaming videos and surfing online, with up to 200 percent increases in download and upload speeds.

The carrier also said that the Magic Box will be additionally beneficial in cities, as one device will boost the densification of Sprint's network for any Sprint user nearby.

So why did we name it Sprint Magic Box? Because the product is so simple, it just plugs in and works like magic to create a better experience by virtually eliminating hard-to-reach indoor areas. Within minutes customers see an average increase of 200% in download and upload speeds. The early feedback from thousands of customers who’ve been using Sprint Magic Box has been tremendous, and we’re excited for more customers to benefit from this amazing new innovation.

One Magic Box has more than enough coverage to provide faster speeds for any average-sized home or business. According to Sprint, this means the device can cover an indoor area of around 30,000 square feet, and reaches up to 100 meters of outdoor coverage, with up to 64 simultaneous user connections sustainable on one Magic Box.

Users interested can fill out a request form to see if they qualify for the Magic Box, which can be found on Sprint's website. The form asks for a Sprint number and description of how users heard about the offer, among the usual name and email requirements.

Ecobee today announced that its next-generation ecobee4 smart thermostat with built-in Amazon Alexa voice services is now available to pre-order for $249 on its website in the United States. Pre-orders are estimated to start shipping on May 15, the same day it will hit shelves at Lowe's, Home Depot, and Best Buy.

Like the ecobee3, the ecobee4 continues to support Apple HomeKit, IFTTT, and Samsung's smart home platform SmartThings.

While the ecobee3 also works with Alexa, it can only be controlled by voice using external devices such as the Amazon Echo. The ecobee4, in addition to having a touchscreen and smartphone control, has Alexa built right in with far-field voice technology so that it can hear you from across the room.

Alexa voice service allows customers to simply ask their ecobee4 to adjust the temperature of the home, in addition to the growing list of Alexa skills such as setting a timer, helping plan your commute, or playing the news. Through far-field voice recognition, ecobee4 will conveniently respond to voice commands from anywhere in the room.

The ecobee4 has a built-in speaker and microphone for Alexa, while its side profile appears to be slightly rounder than the ecobee3. Otherwise, it has identical features and tech specs as the ecobee3.

The ecobee4 comes with a wireless room sensor and supports up to 32 sensors. Ecobee said a companion smart light switch that can measure a room's occupancy and temperature will be released later this year.

The ecobee4, like other smart thermostats, is designed to help homeowners save money by intelligently adjusting the temperature of a home. Room sensors help manage hot and cold spots of a home, and homeowners can easily adjust temperature and comfort settings from a paired iOS or Android device.

The ecobee3 remains available for $199 on sale and $249 regularly.