Google this week updated its Gboard app for iOS devices with a new ability to translate text into any language supported by Google Translate (via All Things How). This means that users can now send iMessages in different languages right from their keyboard, without visiting an external app.
To see the translation feature, make sure that your Gboard app is updated to version 1.42.0 and then navigate to the Messages app. Open the keyboard, and then tap the globe icon in the bottom left corner to cycle to Gboard. In Gboard, the new translation feature is represented by an icon immediately to the right of the white G button in the top left corner.
From here, you can choose which language you want to translate your text into, and when you tap the translate button it will automatically be applied to the iMessage entry field so you can send it to your contact. The translation feature in Gboard first launched on Android smartphones back in 2017.
Besides translating text, in Gboard you can send GIFs, emoji, stickers, and access features like glide typing and performing a Google search. The keyboard app also connects to other Google services like YouTube, Google Maps, and Google Contacts.
Ahead of its widely expected video service unveil on March 25, Apple is hiring strategists to arrange screenings and other publicity events for Hollywood insiders and others who vote on which movies and TV shows win prestigious awards like Oscars and Emmys, according to Bloomberg's Anousha Sakoui and Mark Gurman.
From the report:
Apple is forming a team of people with awards strategy experience. In January, it hired one such person from Walt Disney Co.'s television group. The iPhone maker is also seeking a high-level candidate to oversee the process, one of the people familiar with the situation said. The company could be in the running for Emmy awards as early as 2020, according to people familiar with the process.
Apple already has dozens of original TV shows and movies lined up for the service, including an unnamed morning show drama starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell.
Apple would be following in the footsteps of other streaming video services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, which have all had original content nominated for awards like Oscars and Emmys in the past few years. As the report notes, winning awards could attract higher-profile directors and actors to Apple.
The report also claims that Apple will charge for some content, while other video will be free for Apple device users, backing up a CNBC report.
We believe that technology achieves its true potential when we infuse it with human creativity and ingenuity. From our earliest days, we've built our devices, software and services to help artists, musicians, creators and visionaries do what they do best.
Sixteen years ago, we launched the iTunes Store with the idea that there should be a trusted place where users discover and purchase great music and every creator is treated fairly. The result revolutionized the music industry, and our love of music and the people who make it are deeply engrained in Apple.
Eleven years ago, the App Store brought that same passion for creativity to mobile apps. In the decade since, the App Store has helped create many millions of jobs, generated more than $120 billion for developers and created new industries through businesses started and grown entirely in the App Store ecosystem.
At its core, the App Store is a safe, secure platform where users can have faith in the apps they discover and the transactions they make. And developers, from first-time engineers to larger companies, can rest assured that everyone is playing by the same set of rules.
That's how it should be. We want more app businesses to thrive — including the ones that compete with some aspect of our business, because they drive us to be better.
What Spotify is demanding is something very different. After using the App Store for years to dramatically grow their business, Spotify seeks to keep all the benefits of the App Store ecosystem — including the substantial revenue that they draw from the App Store's customers — without making any contributions to that marketplace. At the same time, they distribute the music you love while making ever-smaller contributions to the artists, musicians and songwriters who create it — even going so far as to take these creators to court.
Spotify has every right to determine their own business model, but we feel an obligation to respond when Spotify wraps its financial motivations in misleading rhetoric about who we are, what we've built and what we do to support independent developers, musicians, songwriters and creators of all stripes.
Apple goes on to rebut each of Spotify's accusations listed on its Time to Play Fair website on a point-by-point basis.
Apple says the only time it has rejected Spotify app updates is when Spotify has tried to sidestep the App Store rules. Apple also says it has reached out to Spotify about Siri and AirPlay 2 support on several occasions and approved the Spotify app on Apple Watch with the same process and speed as any other app.
Apple adds that "Spotify wants all the benefits of a free app without being free," noting that the "majority of customers use their free, ad-supported product, which makes no contribution to the App Store."
Spotify wouldn't be the business they are today without the App Store ecosystem, but now they're leveraging their scale to avoid contributing to maintaining that ecosystem for the next generation of app entrepreneurs. We think that's wrong.
Apple says the only requirement for developers is that any digital goods and services be purchased inside the app using Apple's in-app purchase system. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of revenue for the first year of an annual subscription, but says Spotify left out that it drops to 15 percent in the years after.
Apple concludes by saying it shares Spotify's goal of sharing music but has a different view of how to achieve that goal. Apple takes aim at Spotify "suing music creators" after a decision by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board requiring increased royalty payments, calling it "just wrong," although Spotify already disputed that allegation.
Qualcomm owes Apple close to $1 billion in rebate payments a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of California said in a preliminary ruling today, siding with Apple in the ongoing Apple vs. Qualcomm legal battle.
Qualcomm, ruled the judge, is obligated to make the rebate payments to Apple as they were part of a business agreement between the two companies.
Today's ruling is unrelated to the patent trial that wrapped up this week and instead pertains to Apple's rebate lawsuit against Qualcomm. Two years ago, Apple sued Qualcomm and said that the chip company had been refusing to pay patent royalty rebates mandated by the agreement.
As explained by Reuters, Apple's suppliers would pay Qualcomm royalties to use Qualcomm's patented technology in iPhones, which Apple would reimburse. Qualcomm and Apple had an agreement that said Qualcomm would pay Apple a rebate on these iPhone patent payments if Apple did not attack it in court or with regulators.
Qualcomm said that it stopped making the required royalty payments to Apple because Apple broke the agreement by urging smartphone makers to complain to regulators and by making "false" statements to the Korean Fair Trade Commission, which was, at the time, investigating Qualcomm for antitrust allegations. Apple in turn said that it was providing lawful responses to Korean regulators as part of the ongoing investigation.
Apple was in the right according to the preliminary ruling, and Qualcomm should have continued to make the royalty payments. In a statement to Reuters, Qualcomm commented on the judge's decision.
"Although the Court today did not view Apple's conduct as a breach of Apple's promises to Qualcomm in the 2013 Business Cooperation and Patent Agreement, the exposure of Apple's role in these events is a welcome development."
Today's ruling was preliminary, and it won't be finalized until the two companies meet in court for the rebate lawsuit, which is set to begin next month. Reuters says that it is unlikely Qualcomm will make a new payment to Apple as Apple's contract factories have already withheld nearly $1 billion in payments to Qualcomm as a way for Apple to recoup its money.
Apple and Qualcomm have been embroiled in an increasingly bitter legal battle for more than two years now, with the fighting spanning multiple countries and covering everything from royalty payments to patent infringement. Right now, Apple and Qualcomm are awaiting the U.S. trial for the rebate dispute and the results of the recent patent infringement trial.
Apple has given a formal series order for "Pachinko," a drama based on the bestselling novel of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"Pachinko," written by Min Jin Lee, chronicles the lives of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they migrate to and establish a life in Japan. Apple first acquired the rights to a TV show based on the book in August 2018.
The novel begins in 1911 with the birth of Sunja, who becomes involved with a married yakuza, falling pregnant and facing ruin in her small village. The town's minister offers her a new life in Japan as his wife, where she is alone, lost, and unable to speak the language. The book then follows the Sunja's family through eight decades and four generations.
The TV adaptation of "Pachinko" will be written and produced by Soo Hugh, who will also serve as showrunner. Hugh has previously worked on "The Terror," "The Whispers," "Under the Dome," and "The Killing." Eight episodes are planned so far.
Apple has more than a dozen original TV shows in the works, which will be distributed through an upcoming streaming service that will be made available in the TV app.
Apple is hosting a March 25 event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, where it is expected to unveil details on the TV service.
Apple today shared a new privacy-focused iPhone ad on its YouTube channel. The ad will premiere tonight and air through March Madness in the United States before expanding to select other markets globally.
The 45-second video starts with the tagline "privacy matters" and then shows a variety of humorous if not slightly awkward situations where people would want their privacy protected in everyday life. In one scene, for example, two men briefly pause their conversation while a waitress is at their table.
"If privacy matters in your life, it should matter to the phone your life is on," the ad concludes. "Privacy. That's iPhone."
The ad arrives around six weeks after a major FaceTime bug was uncovered that allowed one person to call another person over FaceTime and listen to that other person's audio without the call being answered. Apple fixed the bug in iOS 12.1.4 and apologized, but it certainly wasn't good for its reputation.
Apple similarly promoted its privacy stance with a billboard near CES 2019 in Las Vegas that read "what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone."
Bugs aside, Apple really does place an emphasis on privacy, especially compared to some other tech giants like Facebook. Apple has long said it believes privacy is a "fundamental human right," and as part of that, it aims to minimize its collection of customer data and disassociate it from an individual user when it does.
Apple is warning customers who receive unsolicited phone calls claiming to be from the Apple Store at The Americana at Brand shopping complex in Glendale, California, as fraudsters appear to be posing as representatives of the store as part of a phishing scheme aimed at stealing customer information.
The following automated message plays when calling Apple The Americana:
Apple is aware that some customers are receiving unsolicited calls claiming to be from this Apple Store. If you receive an unsolicited call, you should not provide any information to the callers. For more information on cybercrime and ways to protect your computer, visit www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber. Also, if you feel you have been a victim of fraud, please contact your local police. If you would like help changing your Apple ID password, please visit support.apple.com.
Apple did not immediately respond to our question asking if any customer information has been compromised, but it did point us to a previous instance of this warning at its River Park Square store in Spokane, Washington in October 2017.
In that case, the local CBS affiliate KREM 2 reported that customers in Spokane received phone calls from a number that appeared to be the local Apple Store, advising they talk to a "support advisor" who informed customers about a false "breach in cloud security" in an attempt to steal their information.
Our understanding is that Apple temporarily adds this automated message to stores associated with an increase in fraudulent behavior in an effort to protect customers. Apple is far from the only company affected by phishing schemes and offers several tips on how to avoid being victimized.
Apple advises customers who receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Apple to hang up and contact Apple directly.
This is an opportune moment to remind everyone that phishing attacks can also be in the form of emails, so be very careful when you receive an email that claims to be from Apple, especially if prompted to provide your password or other information. Be sure to contact Apple if you are uncertain about any email.
Valve today announced an expansion of its game-streaming app Steam Link, now named Steam Link Anywhere (via The Verge).
The original Steam Link app let users stream PC games on Steam to a mobile device within their home, but Steam Link Anywhere lets users stream games from their PC to any compatible device with internet service, excluding Apple devices.
Apple rejected the original Steam Link app due to "business conflicts," while the app went on to see a release on Android.
The upgraded Steam Link Anywhere will now only be available on Android, Raspberry Pi, and Steam Link hardware, starting today as an early beta. Valve says that players will need a good upload connection for the host computer and a good network connection for the mobile device.
Following Apple's rejection last year, Valve pointed out that there are many other remote access-style apps that are allowed in the App Store, so it was unclear why Apple was blocking Valve's app. Since that time, Sony has released its own game streaming app, allowing PS4 owners to stream and control games on their iPhone or iPad, from anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection.
Similarly, Microsoft this week has detailed work on its Project xCloud game streaming initiative. The service aims to provide Xbox owners a chance to stream their favorite games from the console to a mobile device, although iOS devices haven't been mentioned yet. "True console-quality gaming will become available on mobile devices," Microsoft CVP of Gaming Cloud, Kareem Choudhry, said. "Providing the 2 billion-plus gamers around the world a new gateway to previously console- and PC-exclusive content."
Apple's online refurbished store is now offering discounted versions of the 15-inch MacBook Pro models with Radeon Pro Vega graphics, allowing the higher-end machines to be purchased at a discount.
Apple announced plans to add AMD's Radeon Pro Vega graphics to its MacBook Pro lineup in October when the new MacBook Air models were announced. MacBook Pro models with the new options were able to be purchased in November.
Only the higher-end 15-inch MacBook Pro can be upgraded with the Radeon Pro Vega 16 (+$250) or Radeon Pro Vega 20 (+$350), so purchased new, machines with the new graphics options are priced starting at $3,049.
Apple has a wide selection of MacBook Pro models with Radeon Pro Vega 16 and 20 graphics available. One of the most affordable options, which is a Core i9 model with the Radeon Pro Vega 16, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD, is priced at $2,849, a $500 discount.
A base level Core i7 model with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, and the Radeon Pro Vega 20 is even cheaper at $2,679, a $470 discount.
There are a number of MacBook Pro configurations available with different RAM, SSD, and processor upgrades, all of which are equipped with the new graphics cards. With the wide range of configurations available, people looking for a discounted MacBook Pro with the Radeon Pro Vega should be able to find what they're seeking with today's update.
Apple even has a maxed out MacBook Pro with Core i9 processor, 32GB RAM, Radeon Pro Vega 20, and 4TB SSD for $5,989, a discount of $1,060.
Apple's refurbished stock does fluctuate, however, so available stock of refurbished MacBook Pro models could sell out quickly. Apple refreshes the refurbished store on a regular basis, and it can be handy to keep an eye on a tool like Refurb Tracker to find specific configurations.
Purchasing a refurbished MacBook Pro from Apple is a good way to get a like-new device at a lower price point. All of Apple's refurbished products are tested, certified, cleaned, and guaranteed with a one-year warranty that can be extended with AppleCare+.
IKEA today confirmed its plans to announce the Symfonisk line of speakers during the Milan Furniture Fair, which takes place next month. The Symfonisk speakers come out of a long-term partnership between IKEA and Sonos, resulting in unique products like a speaker that doubles as a bookshelf.
Neither company has released information about what the final version of the speakers will look like, but customers can expect the entire Symfonisk line to provide music playback with an extra purpose in your home's furnishing. IKEA put out a short video highlighting the Symfonisk speakers, but it appears the company has blurred out the actual speakers in the home set-up seen in the video, wanting to save the hardware reveal for next month's announcement.
The press release today also emphasizes the unity of sound and light, suggesting there could be more announcements from IKEA's smart lighting branch, or a product that combines the two.
There’s sound, and there’s light. What if we combined them both? Two hugely important elements for creating the right mood around the home. This was the starting point for making the playful exhibition FEEL HOME in Tortona in Milan. The results? It is best experienced on site, the ambition has been to share knowledge through fun interactive installations based on everyday life activities.
“Together with Sonos we wanted to combine our home furnishing knowledge with their expertise in creating great sound experiences for every room of the home, and in Milan we want you to experience the real difference that sound and light makes in your life”, says Björn Block, Business Leader for IKEA Home Smart at IKEA of Sweden.
During IKEA's Democratic Design Day in Sweden last summer, the furniture company said that the Symfonisk system will fully integrate with other Sonos products as well as IKEA's Trådfris smart home line of lights and switches. Other prototype ideas suggested that a Symfonisk speaker will be compatible with many of IKEA's furniture products thanks to a bracket system, turning the speaker into a free-standing wall shelf or allowing customers to place it under a Metod kitchen cabinet.
In other IKEA-related news, the company today announced that it's delaying the release of its smart blinds until later in 2019. The smart blinds were originally set to launch in the United States on April 1, but IKEA decided to push back the release because it found "an opportunity for improved functionality," and the blinds need to have their firmware updated before the launch.
For the Symfonisk speakers, users can expect to hear more details about the IKEA and Sonos partnership sometime during the Milan Furniture Fair, which takes place April 9 through April 14 this year.
Find MyiPhone, iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, iCloud Keychain, iCloud Mail, iCloud Notes, iWork for iCloud, Photos, News, and more are all unavailable for an unspecified number of users.
The outage has been going on since approximately 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, so if you've been experiencing problems with iCloud services, this is why.
It's not clear when the issue will be resolved, but Apple often addresses these problems quickly. We'll update this post when all of the iCloud services have been restored to working order.
Update: According to Apple's System Status page, the iCloud outage has been fixed.
Dropbox users who have a free Dropbox account are now limited to using that account on a total of three devices, according to new information added to the Dropbox website and spotted on Twitter (via The Verge).
Dropbox says that as of March 2019, "Basic" users, which is the free tier, can add their account to three devices. Dropbox users who already have their account attached to more than three devices can keep them linked, but there will be no way to link additional devices when over the three device limit.
There has long been a free tier for Dropbox users, with no restrictions other than available storage space. The new three device limit will make Dropbox's free service less appealing to users, though it could spur upgrades.
To get unlimited device syncing, Dropbox users will now have to upgrade to a "Plus" or "Professional" Dropbox account. Plus is priced at $9.99 per month for 1TB of storage, while Professional costs $19.99 per month for 2TB of storage. There are discounts available when purchasing a yearly plan, however.
Shazam this week updated to version 12.10, introducing a new feature that adds time and date information for every Shazam you take in the My Shazam section of the app. With this small change, you can scroll back through your history of Shazams and see when exactly you listened to each song, as far back as the release of iOS 7 in 2013.
To see the new feature, make sure your Shazam app is updated, open it, and swipe left-to-right to go to My Shazam. This section shows your most recent Shazam and the new discovery date. If you scroll down to the "Recently Shazamed" section and tap "See All," the app provides the date and timestamp for every song that you found through it over the past few years.
If you scrub on the right side of the screen, you can quickly jump to any specific month over the past few years to see what you were listening to at that time. Tapping on these songs brings up their main page, which have links so you can jump into Apple Music and add them to your library.
Apple completed its acquisition of Shazam last year, turning the app ad-free afterwards and aligning user account data with Apple's privacy policy. It's expected that Apple will incorporate Shazam more directly into Apple Music in the future, but as of now the company has not changed the music recognition app in any way, besides small tweaks and updates as seen this week.
Apple today announced that its 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will begin on Monday, June 3 and last through Friday, June 7, with the conference set to be held at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
Developers are able to register to attend starting this morning. As Apple has done for many years, WWDC attendees will be selected using a lottery system because of the popularity of the conference.
Apple is pricing tickets at $1,599, and only developers who win the aforementioned ticket lottery will be able to purchase a ticket to attend.
To enter the lottery, developers must have been a member of the Apple Developer Program or the Apple Developer Enterprise Program as of March 14, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Registration will be open until March 20, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, and developers who win a ticket will be notified by March 21 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
"WWDC is Apple's biggest event of the year. It brings thousands of the most creative and dedicated developers from around the world together with over a thousand Apple engineers to learn about our latest platform innovations and to connect as a community," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Our developers are incredibly passionate about creating the next generation of mind-blowing experiences for the world through apps. We can't wait to get together with them and share what's next."
Developers who are chosen through the WWDC ticket lottery will be notified later in March. Apple is also making up to 350 WWDC Student Scholarships available to students and members of STEM organizations. Scholarships include a free WWDC ticket, free lodging, and a free one-year membership to the Apple Developer Program. Those who want to win a scholarship will need to create an interactive Swift Playground that can be experienced within three minutes. Apple is taking applications until Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. PDT, with scholarship winners to be notified by Monday, April 15.
Apple's WWDC keynote is used to introduce new software, to debut new hardware products, and to allow the company to network with developers from around the world. This year, we are expecting Apple to introduce iOS 13, macOS 10.15, tvOS 13, and watchOS 6.
The keynote event will be held on June 3, which is when we'll get our first look at the new operating systems. Right now, it's not known if new hardware will make a debut, but we are waiting on news about Apple's upcoming high-end modular Mac Pro. Additional details about what we can expect to see will undoubtedly surface as the June conference date approaches.
Apple has been holding its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose since 2017, and the event always takes place right around the same time in June.
Developers who are not chosen to attend the conference will be able to live stream it through the Apple Developer website or the dedicated WWDC app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.
Fibaro has been making smart home devices and HomeKit-compatible products for a few years now, and the company has several sensors that work with HomeKit, including the Flood Sensor.
Fibaro's Flood Sensor is designed to detect water, which sounds super basic, but it's something that has the potential to save you a lot of money because if you've ever had a flood or a water leak, you know the kind of damage that water can cause to your home.
Design
When I saw the Fibaro Flood Sensor online it looked like a rather sizable device, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's actually small, unobtrusive, and able to go anywhere.
The Flood Sensor, made from a white plastic material, fits in the palm of my hand. It's round in shape with three corrosion resistant gold feet at the bottom that are designed to detect liquid. The feet are retractable at the ends which makes sure the sensor's feet are in contact with the ground even if the surface is a bit uneven.
"Flood Sensor" is written on one side of the device, and there's a Fibaro logo at the top. Inside the Fibaro Flood Sensor, there's a CR123A battery, which can be accessed by twisting the top of the cover counter-clockwise. This is also where the serial number is located.
You can put the Flood Sensor just about anywhere it will fit. It's just about an inch thick at its widest point, so you can tuck it into some tight spots. I have it located underneath a shelf in my living room, a spot where rain water has come in during heavy rains when the gutters outside of my apartment get full.
The feet on the Flood Sensor are small enough that it can detect even a small amount of water right away, which is useful for catching a leak before it gets too bad. If there is a lot of water though, it does float.
Last month, a post from the GDC 2019 scheduling website hinted that Microsoft was preparing to launch a new software development kit that would sync your Xbox Live data to any compatible iOS app. This week, Microsoft confirmed the launch of the cross-platform mobile SDK, enabling developers to build achievements, Gamerscore, friend lists, clubs, and more into iOS and Android apps (via The Verge).
Game developers will be able to "pick and choose" the parts of Xbox Live they want to integrate into their apps, and all of the features will be enabled on the consumer side through a single sign-in to their Microsoft account. The company is using Minecraft as a template for what other developers can do in this space.
“We believe so strongly in community, and Xbox Live really being at the heart of our gaming community,” explains Kareem Choudhry, Microsoft’s gaming cloud chief in a media briefing this week.
“If you watch what we’ve done, especially with Minecraft, over the past few years we’ve taken Xbox Live to as many platforms as Minecraft is on as possible. Really uniting all those communities together with a consistent singular experience for those gamers.”
The new SDK is part of the "Microsoft Game Stack" initiative, which has the goal of bringing together Microsoft's tools and services to help both indie and AAA developers create games.
At the moment, there are a few iOS games with Xbox Live features like achievements, but they're only available in games that were released by Microsoft Studios. With the new SDK, these features will greatly expand to any developer willing to implement them into their iOS and Android apps, and progress made on mobile (like the player's gamerscore) will sync back to Xbox consoles.
Earlier news suggested the same abilities would be coming to Nintendo Switch, but at this time Microsoft said that it doesn't have "any specific announcements as it relates to Switch today." With the new SDK, Microsoft will have a chance to greatly expand its reach in the smartphone gaming market, which has boomed in recent years thanks to games like Fortnite and a renewed interest in mobile gaming from companies like Nintendo.
Spotify has accused Apple of unfairly applying its 30 percent App Store commission. While a 70-30 revenue split applies to most apps, including Spotify, others like Uber and Deliveroo are exempt since Apple's commission does not apply to "goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app."
Ek doubled down on this issue, referring to Apple's commission as a "competitor tax":
Let's call this 30% revenue-share exactly what it is – a competitor tax. Importantly, Apple's posture towards Spotify became increasingly hostile after Apple acquired a rival music streaming service and launched Apple Music. But until now, we felt like we didn't have much of a choice.
Spotify Premium normally costs $9.99 per month, the same price as Apple Music, but if Spotify were to offer that price on the App Store, it would only receive $6.99 of that amount after Apple's cut.
Spotify did experiment with offering Premium for $12.99 per month through its iOS app starting in 2014, netting it $9.09 per subscriber after Apple's cut, but this put it at a competitive disadvantage since Apple Music is $9.99 per month. Spotify has since stopped allowing upgrading to Premium through its iOS app.
As we all know, iOS and the App Store is the only way to offer our service to anyone with an iPhone or iPad. That's over a billion people around the world. So not being on their platform is just not an option for us — or really for any competing internet service in this day and age. Apple knows this.
If we wish to use Apple's payment system to allow our customers to upgrade to our Premium service, we must pay that 30% tax. This means we cannot be price competitive because we are forced to increase our cost to consumers … while Apple avoids the tax all together and can offer Apple Music at a much lower, more attractive rate. This is especially damaging to a company like ours who already pays out a significant portion of our revenues to record labels and music publishers.
The issue doesn't end there, as Apple's App Store review guidelines prevent Spotify from letting users know that they can subscribe to Premium for $9.99 per month on the web or other platforms. The guidelines also prevent Spotify from advertising discounts and other promotions in its iOS app.
We are essentially faced with a "gag order" that prevents us from communicating with our own users about our service. From dictating how we communicate with our own customers to imposing an unjustified tax, Apple isn't playing fair. Let me be clear: we have no desire to step into the spotlight on this issue. But we also believe we have no other choice.
Ek concluded with a ping-pong metaphor:
It's like inviting you to a match on our ping-pong table and then forcing you to play blindfolded while we change the rules throughout the game.
On a new website titled Time to Play Fair, Spotify also says it is not allowed to be on the HomePod or Siri, along with other accusations.
Spotify is aiming for all apps to be subject to the same fair set of rules, including Apple Music. Spotify also believes consumers should not be "forced to use systems with discriminatory tariffs such as Apple's" and that Apple should not be able to place "unfair restrictions" on marketing and promotions.
Best Buy kicked off a new Apple shopping event today, including a few notable sales on Apple devices like the 9.7-inch iPad and Apple Watch Series 3. At the same time, Best Buy is offering a flash sale on the 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar (8GB RAM, 128GB SSD), priced at $999.99, down from $1,299.99 ($300 off).
There are three total configurations of this MacBook Pro on sale today only, including the 256GB SSD model and a custom configuration 512GB SSD model. These MacBook Pros lack a Touch Bar and instead have a traditional row of function keys atop the butterfly keyboard.
Each regular configuration on sale today represents the lowest-ever sale price for that MacBook Pro model. Note that the discounts only last today, March 14, and will expire later tonight.
To see the rest of the items on sale in Best Buy's Apple shopping event, head to our Deals Roundup.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Apple has given a formal series order for "Pachinko," a drama based on the bestselling novel of the same name, according to 
Valve today announced an expansion of its game-streaming app Steam Link, now named Steam Link Anywhere (via 
