Benjamin Mayo

Apple TV+ today releases a new documentary series covering the spooky phenomenon known as The Enfield Poltergeist, perfectly timed for the Halloween season. All four episodes are streaming now.

Apple has today increased the price of Apple TV+ to $9.99 per month, up from the previous $6.99 price. Apple Arcade has gone up from $4.99 to $6.99, and the News+ monthly price has been upped to $12.99.

The Apple One bundle price has also been increased to reflect the increases in the constituent services. The Apple One Individual bundle is now priced at $19.95/mo, Apple One Family costs $25.95/mo, and Premier costs $37.95/mo.

In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that Apple was caught by surprise at the sudden swell of generative AI tools this year. But they are working hard to catch up with Apple SVPs Craig Federighi, John Giannandrea, and Eddy Cue all in charge of integrating AI-powered functionality into Apple’s products and services.

That will include various new AI features in iOS 18, such as smarter reply suggestions in Messages. Cue is pushing to include features like AI-generated playlists in Apple Music, and exploring how generative AI can be utilized in Apple’s productivity apps like Pages and Keynote. Giannandrea’s team is working on a new, smarter, version of Siri that should be ready to debut next year.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today that Apple is preparing to announce new Macs at the end of this month, the literal end, on the 30th or 31st. Announcements should include an update to the 24-inch iMac, and possibly multiple new MacBook Pro models as well.

Gurman also believes that Apple is also still planning a new higher-end iMac with a 32-inch display, but that isn’t scheduled to launch until late 2024 or 2025.

Despite being renewed for more episodes, “The Problem with Jon Stewart” is ending, according to a report in The New York Times. Filming for season three was set to begin soon, but those plans have now been scrapped.

According to the newspaper, Apple executives resisted coverage of some topics Stewart had planned to tackle in the third season, including coverage of China and AI matters. The upcoming treatment of the 2024 presidential race was also reportedly of concern.

Apple’s newest iPhone 15 lineup is apparently not selling that well in China, according to new analyst research revealed via Bloomberg.

The report indicates a decline in sales of iPhone 15 in its first 17 days of availability, compared to the same period for the iPhone 14 last year. The analysts estimate a 4.5% drop, which — at Apple’s scale — equates to millions fewer devices sold. Apple stock is down 1% in premarket trading on the news.

While Apple prepares for the rollout of the first Vision Pro headset for early next year, the company’s product teams are already focused on the next-generation versions. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says today that Apple is prioritizing the development of a cheaper model, even at the expense of other initiatives like the AR glasses project.

The company is apparently aiming for a price point in the $1500-$2500 range. One of the ways Apple will save on price, Gurman reports today, is by removing the EyeSight feature that uses an external OLED display to project a rendering of the user’s facial expression to other people.

Via Supercharged, Apple is set to announce new iPad updates this week, likely on Tuesday October 17. 9to5Mac has corroborated the report with our own sources. (Update: It is looking more likely the announcement may be about the Apple Pencil.)

The iPad Air, iPad mini and the base model iPad are expected to be refreshed. These updates will likely comprise smaller spec bump updates rather than significant design changes.

Similar to functionality launched in September in the UK, the Apple Wallet app will now be able to show the card’s balance and transaction history for Discover US credit card customers.

Tapping on a transaction will deep-link into the Discover app or website, so users can action accordingly. This integration is rolling out as part of the just-released iOS 17.1 developer beta 3.

Apple original film Napoleon hits cinemas in November, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby. Director Ridley Scott has told Total Film Magazine that he is also working on an extended cut of the film, which will stream on Apple TV+.

The director’s cut currently clocks in at more than four hours, compared to the 2hr38m runtime of the theatrical version. Clearly, Scott is taking full advantage of the freedom of streaming compared to the constraints of theatrical distribution.

Apple TV+ today announced the premiere date for its highly-anticipated miniseries ‘Masters of the Air‘, which is a sequel follow-up to the award-winning ‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘The Pacific’ HBO series. It is based on the book of the same name by Donald Miller, which details the battles of the American 8th Air Force during World War II.

Produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, Masters of the Air will premiere on January 26, 2024, with the first two episodes. The cast includes Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Koeghan, Ncuti Gatwa and more.

The ongoing Google antitrust trial is revealing all sorts of interesting elements of the Apple-Google relationship, which has put the companies’ lucrative deal for Google search to be the default browser on iPhone, iPad, and Mac under legal scrutiny.

Via Bloomberg, the latest development is that Apple considered replacing Google search as the default search engine in Safari, when customers used Private Browsing mode. Google would have remained the default in normal search mode. The talks between Apple and DuckDuckGo took place between 2018 and 2019.

According to a new report, Apple has held early talks with the College Football Playoff tournament about a streaming deal, joining the sea of rumors relating to Apple’s interest in sports right.

The 12-team CFP tournament’s current media deal expires at the end of next year, so the group is holding discussions with possible future rights holders. Front Office Sports reports both Apple and Amazon have held preliminary talks so far.

The new Double Tap gesture for Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 is now available with the new watchOS beta seed released today.

Double Tap is activated by pinching together your index finger and thumb twice in compatible apps. This allows you to perform a contextually-relevant action in the active app without needing to tap the actual watch screen.

Last year, iOS 16 introduced a whole new world of dynamic lock screens to personalize your iPhone experience.

One of these options was the Photo Shuffle lock screen, which randomly cycled through images from your photo library. However, it was missing a critical point of customization that made it hard to use for most people. But thankfully, this functionality gap has now been filled with iOS 17.1 …

Apple TV+ today announced that its first Lionel Messi documentary series will premiere on October 11.

Messi Meets America covers the arrival of the soccer phenom to the US Major League Soccer league, when he joined Inter Miami in July. It features interviews and commentary with David Beckham, Messi himself, and more.

Last week, the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything found that he could crack the back of his iPhone 15 Pro Max by bending it in his hands. People have wondered whether the new titanium frame with rounded edges is less durable, although it’s worth noting the smaller 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro did not crack in the same way.

Consumer Reports tried to repeat the findings with the use of a slightly more scientific methodology, and found that the iPhone 15 Pro Max did not crack under the pressure. Consumer Reports was one of the leading critics of the iPhone design back when the iPhone 6 ‘#Bendgate’ was a thing.

According to a report in the latest issue of the Business F1 magazine, Apple is eyeing Formula 1 as its next big sports investment. The company is reportedly considering an offer worth about $2 billion per year, which would eventually make Apple the exclusive streaming rights holder of Formula 1 racing.

The value of the Apple deal would be about double what the Formula 1 league currently gets from its global TV rights. The magazine says that Apple’s interest in clinching Formula 1 has increased following the success of MLS Season Pass. An Apple F1 pass would likely live alongside MLS and Apple TV+ in the Apple TV app, as a standalone subscription.