Benjamin Mayo

Apple today premieres its latest big-budget original, a new comedy-drama series called Bad Monkey. The show is adapted from a novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen. You can watch the first two episodes right now on Apple TV+.

The Bad Monkey TV show is created by Bill Lawrence, who is on an Apple TV+ winning streak with both Ted Lasso and Shrinking to his name, and stars Vince Vaughn in the leading role.

Apple and Rivian today announced that native Apple Music support is rolling out to all Rivian electric vehicles. Get the latest software update for your Rivian car, to start streaming Apple Music through the Rivian dashboard interface.

You’ll need a Rivian Connect+ subscription, in order to use the Rivian’s integrated connectivity to stream Apple Music anywhere. Alternatively, you can connect your car to the internet using your phone’s mobile hotspot.

A primary contributor to the high price of Apple Vision Pro is the displays it uses; two cutting-edge 4K micro-OLED displays, one for each eye. Research analysts at Omdia report the current 1.4-inch OLED displays cost Apple about $300 each.

That means, of the $3500 starting price for the Apple Vision Pro, about 20% (~$600) of that money just goes to paying for the cost of the displays. (That’s not counting the outward facing EyeSight display, either). The good news for the future Vision Pro roadmap is that cost of these micro-OLED panels is coming down, albeit slowly.

Matt Damon and Casey Affleck star in the newest Apple original film The Instigators, streaming now on Apple TV+.

The duo are reluctant partners in a heist to steal back the ill-gotten gains of a corrupt politician. Things get worse when the robbery disastrously goes wrong and they found themselves on the run from both the police and the city’s crime bosses.

Apple today announced that the Apple Vision Pro ecosystem has crossed a new milestone, with the visionOS App Store now featuring more than 2,500 native spatial apps.

This is up from the 2,000 visionOS apps figure Apple previously reported in June. The 2,500 native apps join 1.5 million compatible iPhone and iPad apps, which also can run in their own floating windows on the device.

Following the EU ruling in June that said Apple’s App Store anti-steering policies are officially in breach of the Digital Markets Act, Apple is announcing changes. Specifically, these changes address the rules around app developers linking out to the web to inform users about alternative payment methods.

The new rules remove many of the restrictions Apple previously imposed about how developers were allowed to link out. At the same time, it introduces yet another fee structure, specifically for App Store Link Out uses cases.

In a change of strategy, Apple has backed away from its original theatrical release plans for upcoming movie Wolfs. It previously plotted to launch the film exclusively in cinemas across thousands of screens worldwide for an extended run, following the pattern set by previous releases like Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, Argylle, and most recently, Fly Me to the Moon.

The company today announced that the film will get a small-scale limited theatrical release on September 20, followed by a worldwide streaming debut on Apple TV+ on Friday, September 27.

Despite being announced by Apple in 2021, digital IDs in Wallet have only been adopted in five states so far, with Ohio joining just last week.

However, despite dragging its feet with a proprietary app-based system for almost a year, the state of California now seems close to rolling out support to let citizens add their driving license as a digital ID in Apple Wallet, on their iPhone or Apple Watch …

In a follow-up report to their previous coverage, MobileGamer has again collated a set of off-the-record comments from Apple Arcade game developers about how the service is faring.

The leading complaints revolved around payments and poor communication channels with their Apple representatives. One indie developer is reported to have not been paid for six months, with other studios chasing month-long delays in getting their Bonus Pool royalty payments from Apple.

Apple today launched the first round of Apple Intelligence features into the iOS 18 beta channel, with a public launch to customers likely coming in October, after iOS 18.0’s debut in September.

Today’s updates for Siri include a new edge-lit UI design and deeper product how-to knowledge. Apple says the new Siri will also more reliably understand user intent, if the user stumbles over their words while making their request, and can better maintain context from one request to the next. However, there’s still a lot Apple demoed at WWDC that isn’t yet shipping for testing …

This weekend, Apple officially announced the release date for the return of its sci-fi series Silo, based on the books by Hugh Howey.

Silo season 2 kicks off on November 15, with the first episode. The remainder of the second season will roll out weekly on Apple TV+, with a new episode every Friday.

Apple and Amazon have partnered up to offer three months free Apple TV+, when you subscribe to any streamer on Twitch. The promotion kicks off on July 30, and runs through August 19.

You can sub or gift a sub to someone else, and qualify for the promotion. Separately, the Amazon Appstore is also running a promo for a three 3-months TV+ trial on compatible Fire TV sets.

Apple has joined other tech giants like OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft in agreeing to a set of voluntary AI safety rules established by the Biden administration (via Bloomberg).

The safeguards are a first step in the US government having oversight of how artificial intelligence technology develops. Apple’s cooperation comes ahead of the launch of its suite of Apple Intelligence features, starting with iOS 18 this fall.

Apple today premieres its new original series Time Bandits, inspired by the 1980s movie of the same name. Taika Waititi produced and stars in this latest incarnation, also featuring Lisa Kudrow as Penelope, leading a squad across time and space to help save the world.

Eleven-year-old Kevin is the Time Bandits’ newest recruit, a history nerd who is a key aide on the time-travelling missions. This fun, light-hearted, series is designed for the whole family to enjoy. Watch with an Apple TV+ subscription.

In a report from Lucas Shaw at Bloomberg, we are hearing yet again that Apple is trying to tighten the purse strings on Apple TV+, if only slightly. The company seemingly wants to shed the image in the industry that it will pay more than rivals, simply because it is cash-rich.

In contrast to the prior streaming boom frenzy, like other streamers, Bloomberg says Apple is being more particular about what projects it greenlights and is exercising more scrutiny over the budgets of its shows. However, the company is still willing to splash out on big titles, and hunts deals with star-studded actors attached. For just one example, cast salaries for The Morning Show season four will reportedly exceed $50 million, with stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon earning more than $2 million per episode, each.

The new limited series Lady in the Lake, based on the book of the same name, debuts today on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes.

The show stars Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram in the lead roles, as Apple continues to invest in star power with big-budget streaming productions. The seven-episode TV show premieres today, and runs through August 23.

Apple’s acclaimed Apple at Work comedy ad series continues with the return of ‘The Underdogs’, in a new video entitled OOO (Out of Office).

The Underdogs series kicked off during the pandemic summer of 2020, and the company has released a new instalment almost annually ever since, given the popularity of the shorts.

In a bizarre mid-July announcement, Apple has today updated the HomePod mini. Not with any new features or upgrades, however, but with a new (or more precisely, different) choice of color.

You can now order the HomePod mini in a new Midnight colorway. This joins the previous collection of White, Blue, Yellow, and Orange color options. The very similar ‘space gray’ color option has been replaced by the new Midnight option.

Apple’s TV show and movies streaming service, Apple TV+, today announced that it has renewed the limited series Presumed Innocent for a second season.

The first season of the show stars Jake Gyllenhaal in a story based off the popular novel of the same name. The first season is set to wrap up its eight-episode run with a finale on July 24. The renewal announcement is a bit of a shock given the show was originally set up as a limited series …

The tetraprism camera available in the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max offers up to 5x optical zoom for the telephoto lens. The smaller 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro did not get this upgrade, retaining its 3x zoom.

However, both the upcoming 2024 iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will get the same 5x telephoto lens. Ming-Chi Kuo says this camera will have identical specifications as what debuted in the 15 Pro Max. The analyst indicates more significant upgrades are coming in future years …