MacRumors

Google today launched its new cloud storage pricing scheme under the moniker Google One, which replaces all paid storage plans under the Google Drive brand.

The new plans include 100GB storage for $1.99 a month, 200GB for $2.99 a month, and 2TB for $9.99 a month (down from $19.99). The free 15GB for non-paying users remains. There's also a new family option for divvying up a single storage plan amongst up to five members.

As a result of the changes, Google is removing its 1TB/$9.99 plan, but existing 1TB Drive plans will be upgraded to 2TB at no extra cost. Pricing for plans larger than 2TB will remain the same.

The new storage plans provide users with space for Google Drive, Gmail, and original quality photos and videos (including 4K) in Google Photos. The paid plans also come with live chat support, something that was previously limited to G Suite business account holders.

Apple's iCloud monthly storage plans aren't so different: they start with 5GB free storage for non-paying users, then offer 50GB for $0.99, 200GB for $2.99, and 2TB for $9.99.

On the face of it, Google One's new 100GB/$1.99 plan offers something of a middle ground between iCloud's 50GB and 200GB tiers, but that doesn't account for the practicalities of switching ecosystems that you'd need to factor in, not to mention differing privacy policies.

As of today, the new Google One plans are available to users in the United States, with existing Drive subscribers there having already been moved to the new plans. Google is promising availability for other regions soon.

Calendar subscriptions offer a convenient way for you to stay up to date with everything from national holidays to the match fixtures for your favorite sports team. In this article, we'll show you how to subscribe to a public calendar on your iPhone or iPad – all you need in advance is the web address of the calendar (ics) file.

Note that if you want a calendar subscription to sync across all devices signed into your iCloud account, you'll need to subscribe to it on your Mac. To do so, open the Calendar app in macOS and select File -> New Calendar Subscription, enter the URL of the calendar to subscribe to, and then select iCloud in the Location menu.

How to Subscribe to a Calendar in iOS 11

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Accounts & Passwords.
3. Under the Accounts section, tap Add Account.
   
   

4. Tap Other.
5. Under Calendars, tap Add Subscribed Calendar.
6. Type in your calendar link in the Server field; to paste in a copied link, tap and hold the field and select Paste.
   
   

7. Tap Next.
8. Use the Description field to give the calendar an easily recognizable name.
9. Enter a server username and password if required (most users will be able to skip this step).
10. Tap Save.

How to Remove a Calendar Subscription in iOS 11

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Accounts & Passwords.
3. Tap Subscribed Calendars.
   
   

4. Tap the calendar subscription you want to remove.
5. Tap Delete Account.

Apple recently updated its Maps app to expand the availability of transit directions to several new states.

Transit data is now available in areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Michigan. Apple previously offered transit directions in Detroit, Michigan, but availability has expanded across the state.

Transit directions are new in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Full transit lines are not yet being displayed in the Maps app, but the transit directions are active.

Apple has been rolling out transit directions to major cities across the United States and around the world, but in recent weeks has concentrated on expanding it further in various states.

Transit directions were first added to Apple Maps in 2015 with the launch of iOS 9 and were initially limited to a few cities, but Apple has been introducing the feature in new markets at a steady pace.

Transit information is now live in dozens of cities and countries around the world, with a full list available on Apple's iOS Feature Availability website.

(Thanks, Ram!)

Japan's Fair Trade Commission is investigating allegations that Apple pressured Yahoo Japan into pulling back from its Game Plus platform in the country, reports Nikkei.

Yahoo last fall submitted complaints about its Game Plus platform, a web-based service first launched in July 2017. Game Plus is designed to let users play games without needing to download a full app.

52 companies were participating in Games Plus at launch, according to Nikkei, including major game makers like Square Enix, and Yahoo initially planned to expand the platform into other areas, like business software.

Yahoo cut its Game Plus budget last year and pulled back on promotions for the service. According to Yahoo, it did so because of "pressure behind the scenes from Apple." Such a platform competes with the App Store, where Yahoo also offers apps for sale.

Japan's Fair Trade Commission is said to be gathering information on the situation, which it says "may constitute interference in Yahoo's business prohibited by the Anti-Monopoly Act."

Nikkei says it's unclear how the investigation will proceed, as Japanese investment company SoftBank, a major Yahoo shareholder has stepped in to mediate. Companies also often hesitate to work with authorities, according to an attorney that spoke to Nikkei, which can make it difficult to prove wrongdoing.

Ahead of upcoming Twitter changes set to be implemented tomorrow, Tapbots has released an updated version of its Tweetbot app for iOS devices, removing several features that have been present in the app for years.

Timeline streaming over Wi-Fi has been disabled, which means Twitter timelines will refresh every one to two minutes instead of as new tweets come in. We've been using the Tweetbot for iOS app in a beta capacity with these changes implemented, and while it's not a huge change, the delay is noticeable.

Push notifications for Mentions and Direct Messages are also delayed by a few minutes, and push notifications for likes, retweets, follows, and quotes have been disabled. Tapbots says it is, however, investigating re-adding some of these push notification options in the future.

The Activity and Stats tabs have been removed from the app, and because the Apple Watch app was heavily dependent on Activity data, it too has been eliminated.

Tapbots says that it is sorry that the changes had to be made, but Twitter has decided to eliminate certain features provided to third-party apps without offering alternatives.

On August 16th Twitter will disable parts of their public interface that we use in Tweetbot. Because Twitter has chosen not to provide alternatives to these interfaces we have been forced to disable or degrade certain features. We're sorry about this, but unfortunately this is totally out of our control.

Other third-party Twitter clients, such as Twitterrific, have also had to remove the same features that have been disabled in Tweetbot because of Twitter's new limitations on third-party apps.

Twitter is requiring Twitter clients to pay for Premium or Enterprise accounts to access certain features, and timeline streaming has been deprecated entirely.

Tapbots has not yet updated Tweetbot for Mac, but changes should be coming to the Mac app soon as well.

Tweetbot for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]

Update: Tweetbot 2 and Tweetbot 3 for Mac have also been updated to work with Twitter's new API changes. Features that have been changed or removed are listed below:

- Timeline streaming is now disabled. Your timelines will now refresh automatically every 1-2 minutes instead.
- Notifications for Mentions, Direct Messages, Follows, and Follower's Tweets will now be delayed by a few minutes.
- Notifications for Likes and Retweets have been disabled.
- Activity and Notification tabs have been removed.

T-Mobile held a press conference today announcing a new "Team of Experts" service, which is the company's next "Un-carrier" move that's taking aim at the poor customer service performance of rivals like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. During the hour-long conference, T-Mobile CEO John Legere and EVP of Customer Care Callie Field explained that customer service is "the biggest pain point" in the telecom industry today.

Team of Experts aims to nullify that customer frustration by introducing a tight-knit team that is dedicated solely to each individual user, and others in their city, with no robots or automated phone menus to navigate around. The company hopes to make Team of Experts feel more personal than traditional customer service, and even allows you to see a photo of your team in the T-Mobile iOS app.

When you call or message T-Mobile, the company will put you straight through to a member of your team. If you open an issue and have to contact T-Mobile again, the same team will still be covering the matter, making it easy to keep track of ongoing service requests and fixes.

“Team of Experts isn’t just better customer service. It’s an entirely new way of thinking about customers … one that puts your happiness at the center of everything we do,” said Callie Field, EVP of Customer Care at T-Mobile. “Some brands attempt to give high-dollar customers the kind of treatment we give everyone with Team of Experts. Because at T-Mobile, we think just being our customer makes you a rock star. Team of Experts is ‘one percenter’ treatment for the rest of us!”

Team of Experts will be available 24/7, and you can schedule calls to let the team know when you're available. In the future, T-Mobile will also support Alexa and Google Assistant prompts that can set up Team of Experts calls.

Team of Experts is live beginning today for T-Mobile postpaid customers as a free addition to their accounts. The company says that the best way to reach the team via phone call is to dial 611 from a T-Mobile phone.

The company also had a few music-related announcements, including the reveal that T-Mobile customers will get a free subscription to Pandora Plus for an entire year. Users will be able to get a code to unlock their free Pandora Plus subscription in the T-Mobile Tuesdays iOS and Android app on August 28.

T-Mobile is also partnering with Live Nation so that T-Mobile customers can get last-minute reserved tickets to sold out shows "at first day prices." On LiveNation.com, users will be able to look for a T-Mobile Reserved Seats icon starting 30 days before select shows, confirm their T-Mobile account, and get access to the event. Discounted tickets will also be available starting August 21 in the T-Mobile Tuesdays app for concerts including Charlie Puth, Wiz Khalifa, and more.

There was no mention of T-Mobile's upcoming OTT streaming television service during today's press conference, which is supposed to launch in 2018.

If you've ever wanted to snuggle with your Apple devices, Throwboy has a new Kickstarter project that may be of interest. The new Iconic Pillow Collection includes a selection of plushy pillows that have been designed to look like Apple products.

The collection includes five pillows meant to mimic the Apple II, released in 1977; the first Macintosh, released in 1984; the iMac G3, which was released in 1998 and also happens to be celebrating its 20th anniversary today; the iPod, released in 2001; and the iPhone, released in 2007.

Each of the five pillows features embroidery and design details to make it look like the product it's designed after. The 1984 pillow, for example, has a rainbow logo (not an Apple logo, for trademark reasons), a floppy disk drive, and vents at the sides.

The 2001 iPod pillow features the iPod's two-toned body, a click wheel, and a screen, while the iPhone includes a Home button, speaker, and the silver and black color scheme from the original device.

According to Throwboy, all of its pillows are made from ultra-soft 100 percent vegan fine grain plush, with careful embroidery, woven and silk screen labels, and a poly fiber filling. Each pillow measures approximately 13 x 5 x 13 inches and weighs just about a pound.

The first backers can get a single Iconic Pillow of their choice for $27, after which prices will go up to $33. Pricing on two pillows starts at $54 for early backers, while all five can be purchased by the first backers for $135.

Specific pricing for each tier is available on the Kickstarter project site, and pricing will vary after early bird rewards run out.

Throwboy plans to begin shipping the first of the pillows out in January 2019. While Kickstarter project shipping dates are often delayed, Throwboy is an established company that's been making quirky pillows for a decade, so it's likely that's a reasonable shipping timeline.

Update: Given the strong interest in the Iconic Pillow Collection, Throwboy has added a new pillow representing the well-known Mac beach ball, aka the spinning wheel of death. It can be purchased for $20 alongside any other Iconic pillow.

Nissan today announced that the 2019 Sentra, excluding the base Sentra S model, features standard CarPlay and Android Auto.

This is the first model year of the Sentra with CarPlay, following in the footsteps of the 2017 and newer Maxima, 2017 and newer Micra, 2017 and newer Murano, 2018 GT-R, 2018 Kicks, 2018 LEAF, 2018 Rogue, and 2019 Altima.

CarPlay enables iPhone users to access a range of apps from the NissanConnect infotainment system, including Messages, Apple Maps, Apple Music, Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, SiriusXM Radio, Pandora, WhatsApp, Downcast, Slacker Radio, Stitcher, and, starting with iOS 12, Google Maps and Waze.

The 2019 Sentra is on sale now at Nissan dealerships across the United States, with CarPlay-enabled packages starting at $19,090.

Apple Maps has been updated with indoor maps of at least 18 shopping malls in several Canadian cities and suburbs, including Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Dieppe, New Brunswick.

Nearly all of the shopping malls are Cadillac Fairview properties, with the sole exception being Square One in Mississauga:

• Galeries D'Anjou in Montréal
  

• Carrefour Laval in Laval
  

• Promenades St-Bruno in Saint-Bruno
  

• Fairview Pointe Claire in Pointe-Claire
  

• Rideau Centre in Ottawa
  

• Markville in Markham
  

• Shops at Don Mills in Toronto
  

• Fairview Mall in Toronto
  

• Sherway Gardens in Toronto
  

• Square One in Mississauga
  

• Lime Ridge in Hamilton
  

• Fairview Park in Kitchener
  

• Masonville Place in London
  

• Polo Park in Winnipeg
  

• Chinook Centre in Calgary
  

• Market Mall in Calgary
  

• Richmond Centre in Richmond
  

• Champlain Place in Dieppe, New Brunswick

Apple has yet to add indoor maps for the Eaton Centre in Toronto and the Pacific Centre in Vancouver, two of the biggest Cadillac Fairview malls. Two other notable exclusions are Yorkdale in Toronto and the Centre Eaton de Montréal.

Apple launched indoor maps at select airports and shopping malls in 2017, with a list of locations available on its iOS Feature Availability page. To view an indoor map, open the Apple Maps app on an iPhone or iPad running iOS 11 or later, search for a supported location, zoom in, and tap on "Look Inside" if necessary.

Indoor maps at shopping malls make it easier to find the exact location of stores, restaurants, and restrooms on each floor, in addition to guest services, parking, escalators, stairs, and so forth. Or, swipe up on the place card to browse by category, such as clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty, food, and drinks.

Likewise, at airports, Apple Maps users can zoom in to view terminals, boarding gates, security checkpoints, airline check-in desks, baggage claim carousels, information kiosks, restrooms, stores, restaurants, parking, and more.

Twitch, the platform known as a place to watch streamers play games like League of Legends, Fortnite, and Overwatch, is now looking into becoming a "broader video service" that would cater to lifestyle vloggers from rival company YouTube.

According to a report today by Bloomberg, Amazon-owned Twitch has decided to "aggressively broaden" the programming on the platform to directly compete with YouTube, and gain more advertising revenue in the process. Amazon and Twitch have reportedly pursued exclusive live-streaming deals with "dozens" of popular media companies and personalities who are currently on YouTube.

These deals are said to be worth "as much as a few million dollars a year," and include a share of future advertising sales and subscription revenue. "A few deals have closed," although some approached by Twitch have not agreed to the company's terms, including a minimum amount of hours required to livestream per week.

Despite Twitch's plans to add more non-gaming programming, the company is still focusing on live streaming video.

“There will be a steady drumbeat of lots of new content we’re bringing on,” says Michael Aragon, Twitch Interactive Inc.’s senior vice president of content. “We’re growing well, and that makes us an attractive destination for people looking to do new things in live, interactive entertainment.”

When Amazon bought Twitch in 2014, the live streaming service was exclusively focused on video games and didn't let anyone post videos that weren't related to gaming. In recent years, Amazon slightly expanded the scope of the platform with "Twitch Creative," encouraging non-gamers like chefs and artists to stream on Twitch. There have also been marathons of old Saturday Night Live episodes and some live sports.

Despite this introduction of new content, Twitch is still primarily video game-focused today. When browsing the Discover tab on iOS, popular live gaming streams, gaming channels, game clips, and more fill up the space. While Twitch will retain all of the live-streaming features and community of gamers it currently has, today's report suggests that users can expect to see more non-gaming streams in this area down the line.

This "broader video service" expansion appears to have gained even more momentum recently, as Twitch looks to bring people to its platform who might be more susceptible to advertising. As it stands, Twitch's target audience of young male gamers "tend to be resistant to ads." Justin Warden, CEO of e-sports marketing agency Ader Inc., explained that "few brands are excited about reaching an audience of hardcore gamers," but there is interest for "working with an influencer or personality."

YouTube has been losing favor in the creator community for a few years now, most recently causing controversy in May by testing a non-chronological video order in the user's subscription feed. In January, YouTube and Google announced new rules surrounding creator monetization and partnerships, particularly de-monetizing videos that have controversial or inappropriate content. This caused many YouTubers to consider lessening their focus on the platform and look into supplementing their income with other services like Twitch.

Feral has announced that the iPhone version of ROME: Total War will be released on August 23. The acclaimed historical strategy game made its way to iPad in November 2016, and has since been redesigned for an even more mobile experience.

ROME: Total War seamlessly blends conquest and politics on a massive scale as it challenges players to build and rule the ancient world’s greatest empire over three hundred years, from the late Roman Republic to the early Roman Empire. Players will deploy strategy and tactics in spectacular real-time battles, and use diplomacy, subterfuge and assassination to smooth the path to ultimate victory in huge turn-based campaigns.

The upcoming version includes a suite of features tailored specifically for iPhone, from a redesigned user interface to enhanced touch controls. Feral says the game will make full use of the latest version of Apple's Metal API for improved performance, enhanced graphics, and reduced battery usage.

• iPhone 8 plus
• iPhone 7 plus
• iPhone 6s plus
• iPhone 6 plus
• iPhone X
• iPhone 8
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 6
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone SE
• iPhone 5s
• iPod Touch (6th generation)

ROME: Total War for iPhone will be available from the App Store for $9.99 as a universal app. That means anyone who previously purchased the game on iPad will be able to install it on their iPhone at no additional cost, and transfer across any existing save files.