Apple today added two more channels to the Apple TV, delivering financial news channel CNBC and network FOX NOW to the platform.
CNBC offers access to a live stream of the financial channel, as well as on-demand clips from news segments and full episodes of the channels "Prime" content original series. Viewing requires authentication with one of a number of cable and Internet providers. Notable cable companies not available for authentication include Time Warner and Charter.
FOX NOW includes on-demand access to a number of shows from the network, including 24: Live Another Day, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Glee, and more. Authentication through a cable provider is required for full access to content.
Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models.
In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring.
There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category.
M4...
Apple is set to "significantly change" the iPhone's design language later this year, according to a Weibo leaker.
In a new post, the user known "Digital Chat Station" said that the iPhone's design is "starting to change significantly" this year. The "iPhone 17 Air" reportedly features a "horizontal, bar-shaped" design on the rear, likely referring to an elongated camera bump. On the other...
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by Juli Clover
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch.
All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
Friday February 14, 2025 6:03 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the HomePod mini in November 2020, followed by the AirTag in May 2021, and both still remain first-generation products.
Fortunately, rumors suggest that both the HomePod mini and the AirTag will finally be updated at some point this year.
Below, we recap rumors about the HomePod mini 2 and AirTag 2.
HomePod mini 2
In January 2025, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple is ...
The deal breaker is the last line of the article. Hopefully they'll break free from cable soon and offer the channels a la carte! As soon as they do, so long cable subscription!!
What holds the model up now is not just ads. It's not the studios getting ad money and "greedy" cable taking the subscription. It's ads + subscription that makes it all go now.
We already have Apple's cut at al-a-carte. Had it for years. Subscribe to just the shows you want via the iTunes store. They even come with the benefit of commercial-free.
The al-a-carte that many think they can get (apparently by whining) is whole channels for near nothing. In other words, their math is 200 channels / $100 per month = 50 cents per channel. "I" want 10 channels, so my "new model" price should be about $5. Take 95% of the cash flow out of any business and that business will die.
The "requires cable subscription" issue is simple. All of the other players besides us consumers LIKE the model "as is". To make the big change "we" desire, THEY need to see how they are going to make MORE money- not less- by switching to what "we" seek. You guys keep whining about cutting the cord and cutting THEIR cash flows too. They don't want to make less money.
To get the al-a-carte "we" want then, involves a "new model" that would up the average revenue made per household now. If that is- say- $100/month now, the rest of the players probably want a "new model" to yield $125/month or more. So, "as is" is 200 channels for $100 month. New model will be "our" 10 or 15 favorite channels for $125/month or more. Channels wouldn't be priced at 50 cents each. They'd be priced like HBO at $10, $15, $20 or more EACH. The end result must be "more money" for the rest of the chain or they don't want to make the change. Why should they?
And what about those commercials? Commercials provide a subsidy. That's other people- companies- paying money into the model just hoping that you might see their commercial and buy something from them. If you have 10 or 15 favorite channels and "190 channels 'I' never watch", that's 190 channels running commercials you never see… that throw money into the pot to discount the model "as is" down to the $100 "we" pay. Kill the 190 channels "I" never watch and "we" kill a LOT of subsidy dollars.
How much is all those commercials worth in a monthly fee (for commercial-free) terms? I've done the math a few years ago. To get rid of all of the commercials and replace that with a monthly fee to make up for them, it would cost every household in America about $54/month.
The al-a-carte crowd is generally dreaming of $5/month, $10/month or maybe as much as $20-30/month. Plus $54/month? No way. But "we" expect the people that make the shows "we" do want to watch can keep making those shows anyway.
Then, there's the miserable dependency of any "new model" replacement over the internet. To connect us consumers with the cloud requires the replacement to work through pipes owned by the cable middlemen who likes their cable revenues "as is" now. Even if an Apple could motivate the Studios to take a HUGE risk and embrace the "new model" now, why should the cable middlemen allow Apple to take their cable TV revenues without making up for that revenues in- say- higher broadband rates.
I love the dream as much as the next guy but it falls apart as soon as we think beyond our own self interest. Very simply, the rest of the players in the chain can NOT make more money AND Apple piling on for a big cut while "we"- the source of all of the money in the model- get a huge discount. We already have programming created on the dirt cheap that might fit the al-a-carte "dirt cheap subscription" dream. It's called youtube.
