Ben Lovejoy

It looks like sports fans are set for an extremely comprehensive all-in-one option. Disney-owned ESPN is partnering with FOX and Warner Bros Discovery to create a package of no fewer than 14 different channels.

The joint venture will offer access to thousands of games and events, across a diverse range of sports – and you’ll be able to bundle the new service with Disney+, Hulu, or Max …

A new report from China suggests that Vision Pro may launch in the country under a different name, thanks to Huawei successfully registering the name as a trademark back in 2019.

The same report suggests that the spatial computer will go on sale in the country in either April or May …

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s AI announcement has raised major concerns, after he said that the company had more user data than was used to train ChatGPT – and would soon be using it to train its own AI systems.

The company’s plan to use Facebook and Instagram posts and comments to train a competing chatbot raises concerns about both privacy and toxicity …

Spotify reported a mix of good news and bad in its latest quarterly earnings report. The good news was that Spotify paid users hit 236M, up 4% on the previous quarter. Subscribers on the free ad-funded tier grew even more, up 5% to 602M.

The bad news was that the company, which managed a rare quarterly profit in Q3, returned to being a loss-making business in Q4 …

A micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra has been variously predicted to launch in 2024, 2025, and 2026 – but a new report today suggests that it may slip to 2027, or even later.

The problem is said to be Apple’s hesitation over the high cost of the micro-LED screen, which suppliers have so far been unable to reduce to a more palatable level …

Apple Music is offering a wide range of exclusive USHER content, ahead of the singer’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday.

Dubbed the King of R&B, USHER is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, selling 80 million albums worldwide …

Macworld’s Jason Cross sounds like he’s taking an approach along somewhat similar lines to my Apple product diaries with his Vision Pro review, saying that he’s going to take time before giving a verdict – and in the meantime share some of his early take-outs.

His initial thoughts describe some of the things that most impress him about the device – and some of the biggest problems he’s encountered so far …

A Casey Neistat Vision Pro video posted over the weekend was, he says, simply intended to be a piece of silly fun – wearing the device while catching metro trains and walking through Times Square.

But he said that in the course of making the video, he had a totally unexpected experience, which convinced him that this type of device is the future of computing …

If you can’t afford or justify your own spatial computer, we learned last year that there would be a Vision Pro guest mode to you borrow someone else’s.

We discovered that Apple doesn’t exactly encourage this, as there are some fairly major gotchas, and a new video now gives an idea of what the experience is like …

When Apple Music said it was paying 10% more in Spatial Audio royalties, there were those among us who cynically wondered whether this meant everyone else would be paid less.

That seems to be confirmed by a new report today, which says that Apple is not increasing its total royalty payout, but rather re-allocating it …

There’s no official Vision Pro YouTube app, as Google declined to create one, and also blocked the use of its iPad app, which could otherwise have been used.

But there’s now an unofficial YouTube app for Apple’s spatial computer, thanks to Christian Selig, best known as the creator of the now-dead Reddit client, Apollo …

A supply chain report says that the first Apple foldable device could launch in 2026 or 2027 – later than some sources have suggested – but that it’s unclear whether it will be a folding iPhone or a replacement for the iPad mini.

Making sense of the report is challenging as there are so few details, and the author admits they don’t actually know what it means …

More than 600 new Vision Pro apps will be available on launch day, says Apple – adding to the million plus iPad apps that also run on the device.

The company says that the new apps will change the way we approach everything from entertainment to productivity …

The Senate hearing on social media saw Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologise to families who hold social media responsible for children who harmed themselves, including some who took their own lives.

It also saw some bizarre racism by one senator who apparently can’t tell the difference between Singapore and China …

In a new piece in Vanity Fair, Tim Cook talks Vision Pro – including his first ever experience of using an early prototype of the device in the company’s secretive design block.

The piece doesn’t say when that was, only that it was before Apple moved to its current campus, and that it was “years ago; maybe six, seven, or even eight” …

Following in the footsteps of Netflix, both Hulu and Disney+ password sharing crackdowns are now underway.

Disney+ began its clampdown in Canada, and is now emailing US members to announce new terms and conditions which specifically include restrictions on sharing passwords across households …

There’s been much discussion of Apple’s proposed App Store changes, and whether or not they will satisfy antitrust regulators.

The EU has so far been non-committal, but has said that it will be examining them closely, and won’t hesitate to “take strong action” if required …

A new study says that more than seven hours a day of daily screen time is harmful to our health, and the cost of this to the US economy adds up to $73B a year.

Eye-strain, muscle fatigue, neck pain, sleep interference, and even damage to our musculoskeletal system can result from spending too much time in front of a screen, says the report …

I’ve previously said that much as Vision Pro looks insanely impressive, I’m still not expecting to hand over my cash before a third-gen device. If you’re of the same mind, then the $439 Viture One XR glasses might be worth a look.

To be clear, the company makes no claims to be competing with Vision Pro. Its glasses product are a very different beast, but do tick some of the same boxes – including the ability to view Spatial Video content shot on the iPhone 15 …