Category: UNCATEGORIZED

Video served as both form and function today at Apple’s media event, and the company wasn’t stingy with classic Apple event videos. Ranging from previews of new services like Apple Arcade to a look at the artists creating content for Apple TV +, the videos should give folks who missed the livestream a quick look at what’s next out of Apple services.

As with most events, today’s kicked off with a teaser video:

The first product Apple announced was Apple News+, which offers access to over 300 magazines and newspapers for $9.99/month. Of note, Apple News+ is the only product Apple announced today that’s also available today.

The second new product out of Apple is Apple Card. Apple Card is essentially an electronic credit card that works anywhere that Apple Pay is accepted. The Apple Card app lets you see your transaction history, pay your card, and earn 2 percent cash back daily on your purchases all within the Wallet app.

And yes, it comes with a physical card, which is made of titanium, laser-etched with your name, and has no number. The Apple Card should make credit card fraud more difficult.

Apple then announced a new gaming subscription service called Apple Arcade.

The service won’t launch until this fall, but will include more than 100 premium games at launch from partners including Disney, Konami and Lego. Importantly, this is a cross-platform product, meaning games are playable on iOS, MacOS and tvOS, giving Apple the chance to leverage iOS to get gaming on the Mac.

This one came with two videos, but no price.

And finally, Apple announced Apple TV+, a forthcoming subscription service that would give users access to Apple’s new library of original content. This includes a new show from Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell about a morning news show and an anthology series from Kumail Nanjiana that tells the true story of everyday immigrants, among many others.

And one more thing… Oprah has signed on to do two new shows with Apple TV+.

Apple TV+ doesn’t come out until the Fall and there’s still no word on pricing.

Apple’s event today, where it announced its streaming plans and more, ended with a whole bunch of celebrities taking the stage to talk about the shows they’re making for the new TV+ service. The boldface names included Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston — but for the big finish, Apple brought out Oprah Winfrey.

Apple said last year that it had signed “a unique, multi-year content partnership” with Winfrey. That announcement, however, didn’t include any details about the programs she’d be making.

Winfrey described two documentaries today. First, there’s “Toxic Labor,” looking at the effects of sexual harassment in the workplace. There’s also an untitled, multi-part documentary about mental health.

Winfrey also said she’s working on a new version of her book club, which she said will be “the biggest, most vibrant, the most stimulating book club on the planet.” The idea is that by working with Apple, her interviews with authors can be streamed to Apple stores and devices around the world.

“I want to literally convene a meeting of the minds, connecting us through books,” she said.

More broadly, Winfrey said with her Apple content, “I want to reach that sweet spot where insight and perspective, truth and tolerance, actually intersect.” And she’s excited to use their platform to get her message out to an enormous audience: “They’re in a billion pockets, y’all. A billion pockets.”

The original “Sesame Street” TV show taught preschoolers basics like numbers and letters, but Apple’s new Sesame Street-themed show will instead focus on teaching kids coding basics. Introduced on stage today at Apple’s press event by none other than Big Bird himself, the Sesame Workshop-produced show is one of the new arrivals to Apple TV+, the company’s just-announced streaming TV service and Netflix rival.

The new kids show will focus on coding, because “coding fosters collaboration, critical thinking skills, and is an essential language that every child can learn,” Apple announced today by way of a muppet called Cody, who has learned to speak in PR soundbites.

“By teaching preschoolers about coding, we’re giving them the opportunity to change the world!” the muppet exclaimed.

The show will also have “cool music” and “funky dance moves,” Cody added.

Apple, of course, directly benefits by helping inspire the next generation of coders, as its ecosystem of apps – and the billions of dollars they generate – are built by millions of third-party developers. For Apple to retain a dominant position in the app industry, it needs to continue to build out its pipeline of new coders.

To date, the company has been pushing its coding language, Swift, by hosting educational sessions at Apple Stores, funding school programs and nonprofit initiatives, offering course materials to teachers, and through its own learn-to-code app, Swift Playgrounds. But this new kids TV show is designed to spark interest in programming at an even earlier age.

“You’re helping kids grow up to be smarter, stronger, and kinder,” said Big Bird to Cody, touting the series on stage at the press event.

Because Apple didn’t show a trailer for the series, it’s unclear how the coding tutorials will be presented to viewers. But at a high level, it will use the big ideas behind coding to solve problems.

Apple’s deal with Sesame Workshop had been announced in June 2018, and was said to include both live action and animated TV. But none of the actual shows were announced until today. The deal, it’s worth noting, does not include “Sesame Street” itself, as HBO made a five-year deal with Sesame Workshop for that title back in 2015.

Social investing and trading platform eToro announced that it has acquired Danish smart contract infrastructure provider Firmo for an undisclosed purchase price.

Firmo’s platform enables exchanges to execute smart financial contracts across various assets, including crypto derivatives, and across all major blockchains. Firmo founder and CEO Dr. Omri Ross described the company’s mission as “…enabl[ing] our users to trade any asset globally with instant settlement by tokenizing assets and executing all essential trade processes on the blockchain.” Firmo’s only disclosed investment, according to data from Pitchbook, came in the form of a modest pre-seed round from the Copenhagen Fintech Lab accelerator.

Firmo’s mission aligns well with that of eToro — which is equal parts trading platform, social network and educational resource for beginner investors — with the company having long communicated hopes of making the capital markets more open, transparent and accessible to all users and across all assets. By gobbling up Firmo, eToro will be able to accelerate its development of offerings for tokenized assets.

The acquisition represents the latest step in eToro’s broader growth plan, which has ramped up as of late. Earlier in March, the company launched a crypto-only version of its platform in the US, as well as a multi-signature digital wallet where users can store, send and receive cryptocurrencies.

The Firmo deal and eToro’s other expansion activities fit squarely into the company’s belief in the tokenization of assets and the immense, sector-defining opportunity that it creates. Etoro believes that asset tokenization and the movement of financial services onto the blockchain are all but inevitable and the company has employed the long-tailed strategy of investing heavily in related blockchain and crypto technologies despite the ongoing crypto winter.

“Blockchain and the tokenization of assets will play a major role in the future of finance,” said eToro co-founder and CEO Yoni Assia. “We believe that in time all investible assets will be tokenized and that we will see the greatest transfer of wealth ever onto the blockchain.” Assia expressed a similar sentiment in a recent conversation with TechCrunch, stating “We think [the tokenization of assets] is a bigger opportunity than the internet…”

After the acquisition, Firmo will operate as an internal R&D arm within eToro focused on developing blockchain-oriented trade execution and the infrastructure behind the digital representation of tokenized assets.

“The Firmo team has done ground-breaking work in developing practical applications for blockchain technology which will facilitate friction-less global trading,” said Assia.

“The adoption of smart contracts on the blockchain increases trust and transparency in financial services. We are incredibly proud and excited that [Firmo] will be joining the eToro family. We believe that together we have a very bright future and look forward to pursuing our shared goal to become the first truly global service provider allowing people to trade, invest and save.”

To close out today’s press event focused on Apple’s service’s business, the company has officially announced its streaming initiative, Apple TV+.

The company already had a long list of shows in development, which will hopefully put all your “Carpool Karaoke” jokes to rest. They include an “Amazing Stories” reboot executive produced by Steven Spielberg, an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s classic “Foundation” books and “The Morning Show,” a drama set in the morning TV industry starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

Details about the shows have been coming out for more than a year, so the main question was: How would consumers get access to all of this content? And how much would they have to pay for it, if anything?

Reports last fall suggested that Apple might actually give this content away for free to anyone with an iOS or tvOS device, and that the original content would essentially function as an incentive to buy Apple hardware and as a funnel to other services.

And indeed, Apple announced that there’s a new Apple TV app coming in May — as well as Apple TV Channels, which will allow you to subscribe to other streaming services like HBO, Showtime, Starz and CBS All Access.

To highlight the caliber of filmmakers involved in this initiative, Apple showed off a promotional video featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Octavia Spencer, Ron Howard, M. Night Shyamalan, Sofia Coppola, Damian Chazelle, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon — who are, of course, all involved in making shows for Apple TV+.

Spielberg then took the stage to talk about his childhood love of the Amazing Stories magazine, which he subsequently turned into an ’80s TV series.

“Thanks to the visionary and inventive folks at Apple, my Amblin team and I are going to be resurrecting this 93-year-old brand and offering to multi-generational audiences a whole new batch of Amazing Stories,” he said.

And then  there was a veritable parade of celebrities touting their various shows: Aniston, Witherspoon and Steve Carrell, who are all starring in “The Morning Show; then Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodward, who talked about their science fiction series “See”; Kumail Nanjiani who said his anthology series “Little America” will consist of “human stories that feature immigrants,” then Big Bird (yes, that Big Bird) announced coding-themed shows that Sesame Workshop is making for Apple and then J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles — Bareilles performed the theme to their show “Little Voice.”

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Ouster has raised $60 million as the San Francisco-based lidar startup opens a new facility that will have the capacity to assemble and ship several thousand sensors a month by the end of 2019.

The new factory, which will have a grand opening ceremony March 28, currently produces hundreds of sensors per month. Ouster says at full capacity, the factory will produce $25 million to $50 million in inventory per month.

Lidar measures distance using laser light to generate highly accurate 3D maps of the world around the car. It’s considered by most in the self-driving car industry a key piece of technology required to safely deploy robotaxis and other autonomous vehicles (although not everyone agrees). However, the sensors are also useful in other industries — and this is where Ouster’s business model is targeted.

Ouster has cast a wider net for customers than some of its rivals. Unlike others vying solely for automotive customers working on the development of autonomous vehicles, Ouster is selling sensors to other industries. Ouster is selling its light detection and ranging radar sensors to robotics, drones, mapping, defense, building security, mining and agriculture companies.

The strategy has appeared to pay off. Ouster says it has 400 customers from 15 industries.

The $60 million in additional funding follows a Series A raise of $27 million announced back in 2017 as Ouster came out of stealth mode. In the years since, the company led by Angus Pacala has grown to more than 100 employees and announced four lidar sensors, with resolutions from 16 to 128 channels, and two product lines, the OS-1 and OS-2. The startup expects to nearly double its headcount in the coming year to support further product line development.

The $60 million in equity and debt funding includes investments from Runway Growth Capital and Silicon Valley Bank, as well as additional funding from Series A participants Cox Enterprises, Constellation Tech Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, Carthona and others.

Ouster said the additional investment has helped to develop Ouster’s product lines, including the launch of the OS-1 128 lidar sensor, and fund the expansion of its production facilities.

The company also announced the appointment of Susan Heystee, senior VP for OEM business at Verizon Connect, to its board of directors.

Waymo, the self-driving car company under Google’s Alphabet, could be a new competitor to the company. Waymo announced this month it will start selling its custom lidar sensors to companies outside of self-driving cars. Waymo will initially target robotics, security and agricultural technology. The sales will help the company scale its autonomous technology faster, making each sensor more affordable through economies of scale, Simon Verghese, head of Waymo’s lidar team, wrote in a Medium post at the time.

Along with the long-awaited introduction of Apple’s TV and movie streaming service, the company also introduced a new Apple TV app for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.  The updated design is meant to make it easier to find content, no matter the source – whether that’s Apple’s new TV channels service, Apple TV+, your iTunes library, cable or satellite TV, or other streaming services, like Amazon Prime Video or Hulu.

The updated app includes a new “Watch Now” tab where you can pick up where you left off on current shows, see suggestions of trending and popular content, or dive into personalized recommendations that get smarter the more you’re on the app.

The interface looks much like what you’d expect from a streaming service – with sections like “What to Watch” or “New and Noteworthy” where image thumbnails of the shows are browsed through horizontally.

When you find things you like, you can add items to your Watch Later list.

Similar to Roku’s TV and movies hub, The Roku Channel, or Amazon’s Prime Video Channels, the Apple TV app will also offer a simple way to subscribe to premium channels.

With a few clicks, you can start a free trial to paid channels like HBO, Showtime, Starz and others, using your saved payment information.

To navigate the app, you can tap on the sections across the top: Watch Now, Movies, TV shows, Sports, Kids and Library. Some of these have had small changes, as well.

For example, the brand new Kids experience lets children browse by their favorite characters, similar to Netflix.

There are other nice touches as well – like the ability to skip shows’ intros to get straight to the action – and, of course, you can still use Siri to find content and control the experience.

The revamped app will be available on Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad in May, and will come for the first time to the Mac this fall. It will also become available worldwide in over 100 countries, when the OS update arrives.

As previously announced, the Apple TV will be available on non-Apple devices for the first time, too. This includes smart TVs like those from Samsung, LG, Sony, and Vizio, as well as on Roku and Amazon Fire TV platforms at a later date.

Apple’s new credit card has a curious security feature that will make it much more difficult to carry out credit card fraud.

The aptly named Apple Card is a new credit card, built into your iPhone Wallet app, which the company says will help customers live a “healthier” financial lifestyle. The card is designed to replace your traditional credit card and give you perks, such as daily cash. Chief among the benefits is a range of security and privacy features, which Apple says — unlike traditional credit card providers — the company doesn’t know where a customer shopped, what they bought, or how much they paid.

But its one feature — a one-time unique dynamic security code — will make it nearly impossible for anyone to use the credit card to make fraudulent purchases.

That three-digit card verification value — or a CVV — on the back of your credit card is usually your last line of defense if someone steals your credit card number, such as if your card is cloned or skimmed by a dodgy ATM or stolen from a website through a phishing attack.

But rotating the security code will increase the difficulty for an attacker to use your card without your permission.

The idea of a dynamic credit card number first came about a few years ago with the Motion Code credit card concept, built by Oberthur Technologies, which included a randomly generating number built into a tiny display on the back of the card. The only downside is if someone steals your physical card.

Since then, other credit card makers — including Mastercard, the issuing bank for Apple Card — have worked to integrate biometric solutions instead. By enabling a fingerprint sensor on the card, powered by the card machine it was entered into, it was hoped that fraudulent purchases would be impossible. Other credit cards have worked to roll out biometric-powered credit cards. Again — a big let down was online fraud, which still accounts for a huge proportion of fraud.

Apple Card seems to meld the two things: a virtual credit card with a rotating security code, protected by a biometric, like Touch ID or Face ID in newer devices. Better yet, the company’s debut physical titanium credit card won’t even have a credit card number.

Now if someone wants to commit fraud, they need to steal your phone and your face or fingerprint.

Like other sensitive data — such as health, financial and biometric data — any banking and credit card data is stored on the device’s security chip, known as the secure enclave.

Apple Card will be available in the U.S. later this summer.

Apple is revamping its Apple TV app with a new offering. But how will you be able to access the service exactly? Apple is launching the Apple TV app on smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio.

The Samsung app will land first, and other manufacturers will get the Apple TV app this Spring. The app will also be available on Roku and Fire TV devices. And the company is also launching an Apple TV app on macOS this Fall. It’s unclear if you’ll be able to access the service from Android phones, Windows 10 computers, etc.

The Apple TV app has been available in a handful of countries so far. Apple is launching the app in over 100 countries by the end of the year.

The app combines content you can buy and rent in the iTunes Store, subscriptions to premium partners, such as HBO, Starz and Showtime, as well as on-demand offering from cable subscriptions (Spectrum, AT&T, etc.). And of course, Apple is also announcing its own original content subscription, Apple TV+.

The tvOS Apple TV app will arrive in May in a software update. Apple promises not to share your data with other companies.

Apple wants to tilt the balance from ad-laden freemium gaming titles towards upfront gaming experiences that can be downloaded across platforms on iOS and macOS.

At the company’s services event, they announced Apple Arcade, their new premium service for gaming across their hardware products. “We want to make gaming even better,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said onstage.

It looks like the company will have a hang in building out the titles by working directly with developer partners to product titles. The subscription will boast 100+ new and exclusive games while Apple will be adding new content “all the time.” Early partners include names like Disney, Konami and Lego.

All games will be playable offline. The subscription will provide access to all of the content in the games without ads. This may be the company’s best chance at leveraging its strength on iOS to finally build a better home for games on Mac.

The service is coming this fall. Apple oddly didn’t detail pricing though they did share it would be launching 150 regions.

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