MacRumors

T-Mobile has announced a new Family Match promotion that offers families four lines of unlimited talk, text, and 6GB of 4G LTE data per line for $120 per month starting May 11. Additional lines can be added for $20 per month.

As America gets set for summertime travel, summer camps, summer concerts and more fun in the summer sun, the Un-carrier’s got you covered. Starting tomorrow, families can get 4 lines with unlimited talk, text and data with 6GB of Un-carrier Data per line for just $30 a line – a savings of $20 per month for a family of four on T-Mobile Simple Choice with Family Match. Additional lines are just an extra $20 each per month with 6GB.

The deal is not quite as good as T-Mobile's past Family Match promotions, including the same four-line deals with unlimited LTE per line for $150 per month or 10GB of LTE per line for $120 per month, but it does provide Simple Choice customers that missed out with another savings opportunity heading into the summer season.

The limited time offer is available for new and existing Simple Choice customers on approved credit, and the promotion can be combined with T-Mobile's other offers, including Binge On, Data Stash, JUMP! On Demand, Mobile Without Borders, and Music Freedom. T-Mobile will also pay up to $650 of your early termination fees if you switch to their carrier from AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint.

The new Family Match plans are available starting Wednesday at T-Mobile stores across the U.S. or by calling 844-222-1927.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a patent that describes a collection of iPad-compatible Smart Covers that could integrate various display technologies to greatly enhance "the overall functionality of the tablet device." The original patent application was published in August 2012 and dates back to August 2011, four years before Apple introduced the original iPad Pro and its Smart Connector. (via Patently Apple).

The first integration of a next-generation Smart Cover lies in video playback, where a user could watch a video with the cover folded up into a triangle like Apple's current Smart Covers allow, but now supporting a set of touch-sensitive areas for play, pause, fast forward, and rewind controls. Although the user would not be able to directly see where they were pressing down, "the size and location of the touch sensitive areas can allow for a user to easily learn the locations after a short familiarization period," according to the patent.

Another suggestion for a Smart Connector-enabled cover has an internal display with "a completely customized control scheme," which would let users change up the cover's input to be anything from a traditional QWERTY keyboard to a sketchbook for artists. The addition of another screen of a size in comparison to the iPad's would introduce an iOS experience "much closer to the one enjoyed by laptop users."

There are a handful of other ideas in today's patent descriptions, one of which includes a cover with solar panels that could charge the iPad with direct sunlight. Most of these applications mention technology that Apple has created in the years since the patent's original filing, including both the Apple Pencil and Smart Connector, although neither are referenced directly by name. That being said, it's still advised to take Apple's newest patent application with a grain of salt, since it's impossible to know whether the company will ever move forward with any of these iPad case designs.

TIME published an article yesterday that offers an interesting take on Apple's long-term plans for the Apple Watch, noting that Steve Jobs' desire to improve the healthcare system indirectly inspired its development.

The article is written by technology consultant Tim Bajarin, who recently spent time at the company's headquarters and met with Apple executives involved with the Apple Watch. He asked them to explain their motivation for creating the wearable device, which was released just over a year ago.

According to Bajarin, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs tasked his R&D teams with developing technology that would create a bridge between patients and healthcare providers, after his own experiences within the healthcare system in his battle with pancreatic cancer, which began in 2004. Jobs died from the disease in 2011.

During the intervening years, Jobs had become concerned with what he saw as a lack of connection between patients, their data, and healthcare providers, and sought to bring greater order to the system by developing a mobile platform and an ecosystem of devices that would make patient-doctor relationships more efficient and less frustrating.

During Bajarin's time at Cupertino, he was invited into Apple's dedicated health labs, where Apple has seven full-time nurses monitoring employee volunteers using advanced medical equipment as they perform various exercises in controlled conditions. Bajarin came away from his visit with the take-home message that while Apple has marketed the Watch as a fashionable timepiece, the company is committed to Jobs' original vision for the device as an enhanced health monitoring system.

The last few years has seen the company increase its focus on health and medical technology that integrates with its mobile devices. HealthKit framework debuted in 2014, allowing developers to build health monitoring software that integrates with Apple's Health app. Apple's open source framework ResearchKit was made available to developers in April 2015, enabling them to create their own iPhone apps for medical research purposes.

Just last month, Apple released CareKit iOS, another health-related framework allowing app developers to create integrated software that helps patients and doctors to better track and manage medical conditions.

You can read the TIME article here.

Apple manufacturer Foxconn is close to signing a deal with the Indian government to open a manufacturing facility intended to make iPhones, reports ET Now (via AppleInsider). The project would cost $10 billion and be built on top of 1,200 acres of land in Maharashtra, India.

While several other Indian states were in consideration for the plant, Foxconn chose Maharashtra, the third largest state in the country. The manufacturer hasn't yet picked a location for the facility in the state yet, but does have a couple options it's considering. Once the deal is done, ET Now reports it would take 18 months before the plant is operational.

Last year, Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai revealed that Foxconn was scouting locations in the state for a manufacturing facility. Foxconn is reportedly looking to build 10 to 12 facilities in the country by 2020. The Taiwanese manufacturer has been looking to re-enter the Indian market after being forced to shut down production in the country once it lost Nokia as a client in 2014.

India has increasingly become important to Apple's business, with the Cupertino company recently gaining approval to open its own retail stores in the country and announcing plans to open a $25 million facility focused on maps development in Hyderabad.

An anonymous tipster has submitted a photo of a possible preproduction iPhone 7 dummy unit that could easily be fake, but offers a good visual representation of rumors surrounding the next-generation smartphone.

The unverified photo shows what appears to be a silver iPhone 7 with a similar form factor as the iPhone 6s, beyond at least three notable differences.

The first is the absence of rear antenna bands, giving the rear shell a cleaner all-metal look. Earlier this year, a previously reliable source informed us that Apple would indeed remove the antenna bands across the rear of the iPhone 7.

The antenna bands would instead be repositioned along the top and bottom edges of the iPhone, as shown in a number of mockups such as our own below. The bands slightly extend to the side edges of the iPhone akin to the current design.

The second is the inclusion of a Smart Connector, first introduced on the iPad Pro, that could allow for both data and power transfer between the iPhone 7 and accessories. Speculation about the port's exact role on the iPhone 7 has ranged from battery case connectivity to wireless charging.

Multiple reports have claimed the next iPhone will feature a Smart Connector, supported by a purported image of the iPhone 7 Plus featuring the port, but the latest word from oft-reliable Japanese website Mac Otakara suggests Apple may have ditched those plans until at least next year or perhaps indefinitely.

A third difference is what appears to be a flush camera lens, without the infamous protruding ring found on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s series. Early rumors pointed towards a flush design, but more recent rumors suggest the camera could remain slightly convex. The photo does not depict a dual-lens camera system, which could be exclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus. The microphone and LED flash remain unchanged.

A possible fourth but less distinguishable change may be the absence of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which multiple sources claimed would be removed on the iPhone 7. This rumor also carries some uncertainty with it after images of a possible Lightning cable assembly with a headphone jack, considered to be appropriate for the next iPhone, surfaced last week.

However, despite rumors claiming the iPhone 7 could also have stereo speakers, there still appears to be only one grille to the left of a Lightning port and microphone on the bottom. If ever realized, dual speakers could possibly be exclusive to the larger iPhone 7 Plus/Pro or delayed until the 2017 iPhone with an OLED display and glass casing.

Earlier today, a claimed design drawing of the iPhone 7 pointed towards the next-generation smartphone having the same length and width as the iPhone 6s. The device's overall form factor is expected to resemble the iPhone 6 from 2014, resulting in three consecutive generations of the same design beyond minor tweaks.

Other rumored features for the iPhone 7 series include a faster TSMC-built A10 chip, touch-sensitive home button, waterproofing and dustproofing, faster Intel LTE modems, and a slightly larger battery. At this point, however, it is still not entirely clear which features are designated for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, expected to be announced in September, or the OLED-based iPhone due in 2017.

Opera today announced the launch of a brand new privacy-focused app, called Opera VPN, which allows users to block ads and even change their virtual location to circumvent restricted internet access (via TechCrunch)

In addition to these features, Opera VPN will stop ad-tracking software from gaining information about your internet habits that create personalized advertisements within browsers like Safari and Chrome.

“Every day, millions of people, from students to working people, find that social-media sites like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook are blocked when they surf on their campus or workplace Wi-Fi. The same goes for video-streaming sites,” Chris Houston, President of Surfeasy, Opera’s VPN division, said in an announcement released this morning. “With the new Opera VPN app, we help people to break down the barriers of the web and enjoy the internet like it should be,” he added.

Opera introduced a similar virtual private network feature into its OS X-based web browser in April, following its acquisition of VPN app company SurfEasy last year. Thanks to a VPN's ability to shield a user's true IP address, Opera's acquisition has let the company introduce new security-focused updates into its internet browser desktop and mobile apps.

At launch, users will be able to choose from five virtual locations, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Singapore and The Netherlands. The app will also be available in English, Arabic, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Those interested can download Opera VPN from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Spotify today announced 12 new original series coming to the music streaming platform this summer and fall, which the company hopes will keep its users drawn into the service more often (via Bloomberg).

The shows will surround music and pop culture in general and be "centered around three main themes – music performances, music profiles and music culture," with episodes lasting up to fifteen minutes each.

The new video offerings come about a year after Spotify began showcasing clips from Comedy Central, ESPN, and MTV within the app. Now the company intends to get into the original programming game, with new shows like Landmark, a documentary series detailing important moments in music history, and Rush Hour, which will force two artists to quickly collaborate on a setlist of songs that they must then perform live.

The company has even netted a few well-known actors and producers for some of the shows, like Tim Robbins, who will produce a "mockumentary series about a competition to become the next dance music phenom." This first phase of 12 shows will be focused on music, and Spotify intends to speak with artists to figure out ways it can incorporate the video initiative into upcoming album launches.

Tom Calderone, the company’s content partnerships chief, said that the second phase of programming is already planned, as well, focusing on animated and comedic series "tailored to the service’s young audience." Calderone mentioned that one of the biggest hurdles the company must face is educating its users about the shows, and somehow promoting each series within the iOS app, which now has better tools for user visibility thanks to an all-new tab bar update. An update to the Android app is expected sometime this summer.

While Calderone has plenty of experience making shows people watch, Spotify has little experience getting people to watch much of anything. Videos are buried in the current version of the app, “down there with how to unsubscribe and the privacy policy,” Calderone joked.

“It will be our job to make this stuff famous,” Calderone said. “We have a ways to go.”

Spotify gave no specific launch date for the shows besides a vague summer and fall estimation. The company did confirm that each series will be available for both free and paid users to watch in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden.

Since Apple Music launched, rumors began swirling that the company was working on launching its own slate of original shows. Although iTunes chief Eddie Cue has said recent announcements aren't a signal that the company intends to delve deeper into original programming, it has confirmed a few series are in the works, including one starring Dr. Dre and another that will "spotlight the app economy."

Although Drake's newest album "Views" was only available on iTunes and Apple Music for one week, under the terms of the company's exclusivity deal with the artist, the album managed to sell more than one million copies in just five days, which The Wall Street Journal calls "a rare achievement in an age of rapid streaming growth and declining sales of downloads and CDs."

Most of those sales numbers -- 632,000 copies to be exact -- came within the first 24 hours of release, with the rest trickling over the one million mark in the subsequent days. The figures specifically target sales for the $13.99 iTunes copy of Views, but Apple Music showed some impressive streaming statistics for Drake's new album, as well.

In total, Views was streamed more than 250 million times worldwide, 200 million of which were inside the United States, suggesting Apple Music managed to get some of the artist's fans to sign up for the service beyond its current 13 million paid subscribers.

The results fly in the face of industry fears that paid streaming services might hasten the continuing decline of music sales, which have fallen by more than 60% in the past 15 years, according to data from Nielsen. While that could still eventually happen, plenty of fans purchased the $13.99 Drake album last week even though they could also access it immediately, along with some 30 million other tracks, by subscribing to Apple Music for $9.99 a month—or even just by signing up for a free trial.

As Drake's album launched on April 29, his record label’s parent company, Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, went to work keeping any traces of pirated songs and videos off of sites like YouTube. According to sources within the industry, the new trend of exclusivity deals between artists and streaming services like Apple Music and Tidal, has led to a renewed crackdown on pirated music. Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group alone has spent "millions of dollars a year" going through a similar process with other big releases.

Drake has been one of the headline artists representing Apple Music since it was first announced last year at WWDC. Since then, the singer has hosted 20 episodes of his own Beats 1 Radio show, OVO Sound, partnered with Apple Music to sponsor his Summer Sixteen tour, and had some of his songs featured in ads for the streaming music service.