Benjamin Mayo

The trio of Apple TV+, Netflix and Peacock are to be packaged in a new streaming TV bundle option, as teased by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at a conference today.

More details about the bundle offering will be revealed later this month, but Roberts promised a “vastly reduced” price compared to buying the three services separately.

The new iPad Pro is Apple’s thinnest product ever, with the 13-inch model measuring at just 5.1mm thick (excluding camera bump).

The last time the iPad Pro was redesigned, with the 2018 model, there was a big controversy as people noticed it was relatively easy to bend their iPads, with some arriving bent out of the box. For this ultra-thin redesign, the question of rigidity and durability inevitably has relevance again. But, in an interview with Arun Maini, Apple SVP John Ternus addressed these concerns, noting that the new iPad has a redesigned internal structure meant to improve the device’s stiffness.

The M4 is looking like a very strong generation for Apple Silicon. According to leaked Geekbench scores likely posted by reviewers who already got their hands on the new iPad ahead of next week’s embargo, the new iPad Pro with the M4 chip scores about 3700 in single-core CPU benchmark, and around 14500 in multi-core.

That compares to ~3100 and ~12000 for the M3 MacBook Air, which Apple only just shipped in March. The new iPad Pro bests the Air by about 20%, an impressive generational jump, at least in these benchmark results.

Apple is preparing to unveil a major revamp to Siri at WWDC in June, as reported by The New York Times today.

The report says the new version of Siri will be powered by generative AI, allowing it to be more conversational and understand more types of requests. Rather than focus on open-ended requests like a loquacious ChatGPT clone, Apple is using the new foundations to make Siri better at handling tasks like setting timers, creating reminders and more.

Apple Music today launched new Shazam-powered playlists that track what is being played the most across terrestrial broadcast radio stations. The Radio Spins charts are also available on the Shazam website.

Using their music recognition technology, Shazam is now logging what songs are being played on tens of thousands of radio stations worldwide, to help users discover more insights about what music is trending globally.

Based on the book by Blake Crouch, Dark Matter is a new sci-fi drama series that starts streaming today on Apple TV+. It is written by the author of the novel, and stars Joel Edgerton in the lead role as Jason.

Jason, a physicist and teacher, is abducted into an alternate reality in which he gets a glimpse of other ways his life could have gone. Intrigue quickly turns to madness, though, and he must find a way back to save his family from himself.

As well as losing an ultra-wide camera, the new iPad Pro has also dropped support for 5G mmWave.

As seen on the iPad Pro specs page, the M4 iPad Pro supports 5G cellular on sub-6 GHz spectrum only, and LTE on 31 bands. The older cellular iPad Pro could do mmWave and supported one additional LTE band.

While the new iPad Pro with M4 is a major step forward across the board, there a couple gotchas to be aware of. Firstly, with this generation, Apple has removed the ultra-wide camera from the rear camera module altogether.

Also, while Apple touts the performance jump of the 10-core CPU found inside the new M4 chip, that chip variant is exclusive to the 1 TB and 2 TB iPad Pro models. Lower storage iPads get a 9-core CPU. They also have half the RAM …

Alongside the new iPad Pro announcement, Apple today unveiled next-generation versions of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad. They are designed to be much more sophisticated and much more capable, to take advantage of the M4 chip performance found in the new iPad Pro.

The new Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad includes live multi-cam editing. Up to four iPhones can record different angles of a scene at the same time, and that footage is streamed into the iPad running Final Cut …

Apple today announced the new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro, as part of its ‘Let Loose’ special event. The new iPad Pro makes the leap to the M4 chip, the next-generation of Apple silicon, for improved performance. Apple touted its new Neural Engine to stress the artificial intelligence capabilities.

The new tablets feature OLED displays, offering richer contrast and brightness, housed in a new thinner industrial design that is significantly smaller and lighter; the 11-inch is 5.3mm thin and the 13-inch is 5.1mm thin, which Apple says makes it the thinnest product they have ever created. The new 11-inch model starts at a higher $999 price point, and the 13-inch model starts at $1299.

As is tradition, Apple has taken down the Apple Store ahead of its special event, which kicks off at 7 AM PT. The video presentation will see Apple introduce the next-generation iPad Pro, iPad Air, and accompanying new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil accessories.

The iPad Pro is expected to be the star of the show, touting a new OLED display, M4 chip with AI capabilities, a new thinner industrial design and more.

Update: Ted Lasso: The Complete Series is now available for preorder on Amazon. The Blu-ray is dated for release on July 30. It will be available in HD Blu-ray and DVD formats.

The hit comedy series Ted Lasso is currently only available to watch via Apple’s streaming service, Apple TV+. Finally, more than four years after its season one premiere, it appears that the exclusivity window is finally going to end and the show will soon be getting a physical disc release.

9to5Mac understands that Warner Bros. is preparing to release Ted Lasso on Blu-ray, with an expected July release date …

Tomorrow, Apple will hold its first event of the year where it is expected to unveil a new generation of iPad Pro, iPad Air, and accompanying new Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard accessories.

The Apple website may have just given us a bit more insight into what to expect. In the Japanese Apple.com source code, the homepage banner for the event describes the logo’s header image as a creator holding a “Apple Pencil Pro”. The discovery was first spotted by ribu_ap712 on X.

Apple today announced its commemorative Pride Collection for 2024, featuring new wallpapers for iPhone and iPad, and a new watch face and matching band for the Apple Watch.

The new Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop band will be available to order starting May 22. The new watch face and dynamic iOS wallpapers will also be available ‘soon’, as part of iOS 17.5.

The Apple.com homepage has been updated with a last-minute teaser to celebrate the upcoming Apple event, which kicks off tomorrow at 7 AM PT. Apple is expected to announce a new lineup of iPad Pro and iPad Air.

The new teaser at the top of the page cycles between the various illustrations of Apple logo, with a twist that you can erase the art with your mouse pointer on Mac, or finger on your iPhone’s touchscreen. When the logo is fully erased, a new variant animates in.

On Tuesday, May 7, Apple will hold its first product event of the year, ‘Let Loose’. The company is set to introduce new lineup of iPad Pro and iPad Air. The iPad Pro tablets will get OLED displays, a new thinner chassis, and run on the M4 chip. The iPad Air will be updated with the M2 chip, and be offered in a new larger 12.9-inch display size for the first time.

As reported today by Mark Gurman, Apple is set to announce all of this in a brisk video presentation running about 35 minutes in length. This is similar to the runtime of the October ‘Spooky Fast’ event.

As the frantic investor hype around streaming dies down, every studio is re-evaluating the way they do business, what shows they are commissioning, and their relationships with creators.

The financially-rich Apple has less pressure to do this than most, but we have seen changes at Apple Studios too, albeit perhaps to a lesser extent compared to other streaming outlets. The Ankler reports today in its Dealmakers column that Apple is talking to producers and agents about a potential new deal structure for their originals going forward.

In time for Mental Health Awareness Month, Apple Podcasts is shining light on a new category of podcasts to listen to.

The new Wellbeing category collects shows featuring health, fitness and wellness topics. As noted by AdWeek, listenership for shows in this genre has increased 40% in the last five years.

As about a third of the 2024 Major League Soccer season has now concluded, Apple is dropping the price of the MLS Season Pass package in kind.

The season subscription is now sold for $69, down 30% compared to its $99 price at the start of the season. For Apple TV+ subscribers, the pass is now just $59.

The last few months have seen Apple rapidly implement technical and policy solutions to comply with the Digital Markets Act. That has seen the rollout of things like alternative app marketplaces, web distribution, alternative browsers, and more as part of iOS 17.4 and iOS 17.5 updates.

So far, those rules have only applied to the iPhone and iOS. But now, the European Commission has expanded the Digital Markets Act’s purview of products to include the iPad (via Bloomberg).

This morning, Apple announced expanded availability of the HomePod and HomePod mini, with orders starting for the first time in Malaysia and Thailand. The devices will start shipping next week, from May 10. That opens up the reach of HomePod mini and the ‘new’ HomePod (2nd generation) to a brand new market of customers.

Update: Apple will also launch HomePod 2 and HomePod mini in Turkey on May 10. Pre-orders are now available.