MacRumors

Apple today announced on Twitter that it was the official digital music partner of the 2018 BRIT Awards, which is celebrated each year with a major awards ceremony in London.

The 2018 BRIT Awards, which just wrapped up, featured performances from artists like Justin Timberlake, Stormzy, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Liam Payne and Rita Ora, Dua Lipa, and Foo Fighters.

To celebrate the BRIT Awards, Apple has a dedicated section in iTunes and the Apple Music app under "Browse" that highlights music from BRIT Award nominees and winners along with exclusive playlists and album compilations. An exclusive live performance from Rag'n'Bone Man is also included in the Apple Music app.

Dua Lipa was named British Breakthrough, and the Critics' Choice Award went to Jorja Smith. British Single of the Year was Rag'n'Bone Man's "Human," Lorde was named International Female Solo Artist, and Kendrick Lamar was named International Male Solo Artist. Billboard has a full list of winners.

The full Apple Music section dedicated to the BRIT Awards is worth checking out if you're looking for a curated selection of playlists and albums from BRIT Award winners.

Starting today, all of Netgear's existing Arlo Baby smart monitoring cameras are compatible with Apple HomeKit following the release of a HomeKit update for the Arlo app.

To connect the Arlo Baby camera to a HomeKit setup, Arlo Baby owners will need to download the update and then toggle on the HomeKit option in the Settings section of the Arlo app.

With HomeKit compatibility, Arlo Baby cameras can be viewed in the Home app on iOS devices right alongside other HomeKit-compatible cameras.

Using the Home app, parents can also view a live stream, access two-way audio controls, view the most recent screenshot recorded by the Arlo Baby, open up the camera live stream via Siri, and access live video remotely with an iPad, Apple TV, or HomePod as a home hub.

Netgear first announced HomeKit compatibility for Arlo Baby at CES in 2018, launching a new line of HomeKit-compatible Arlo Baby cameras. At the time, Netgear also promised to bring HomeKit to existing cameras, a promise that was fulfilled with today's update.

The Arlo Baby cameras will also continue to work with the Arlo app, which can be used for specific features like accessing footage stored in the cloud, tweaking settings, controlling the light, and more.

If you're unfamiliar with the Arlo Baby line, it's a camera that's designed to be used in an infant's room. It offers 1080p video recording and seven days of free cloud storage, along with infrared recording at night, ambient air quality sensors, a music player, and a built-in dimmable night light that can be set to one of several colors.

Netgear sells several Arlo Baby accessories to personalize the camera to fit into a child's room, such as bunny, kitten, and puppy suits. Arlo Baby can be purchased from Amazon.com for $200.

T-Mobile today announced a new iPhone offer for customers thinking about purchasing one of Apple's latest smartphones. Following a BOGO deal from January, T-Mobile is now offering customers the chance to get a $200 rebate when purchasing the iPhone X, 8, 8 Plus, 7, or 7 Plus on a 24-month Equipment Installment Plan, received in the form of a prepaid MasterCard card. That's in addition to the value of an eligible smartphone that users can trade in to T-Mobile.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with T-Mobile. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The company said that customers can combine this deal with its current free line offer from Valentine's Day, letting them add a line to any T-Mobile ONE family plan and get another for free. T-Mobile's new offer will go live this Friday, February 23, and customers who purchase an eligible iPhone should see their rebate card arrive in the mail within eight weeks. Full details on the new deal can be found on T-Mobile's website, and the carrier is still running its BOGO iPhone sale as well.

Additionally, another deal is launching this Friday at T-Mobile, this one focusing on the Apple Watch Series 3. Anyone who purchases a model of Apple's latest smartwatch will be able to get another one for 50 percent off (up to $215, according to T-Mobile). The company didn't release any more details about the Apple Watch sale yet, so it's unclear which models and collections will be available for the BOGO deal. Once the sale goes live this Friday, we'll update this post with more information.

Head over to our full Deals Roundup for more on the latest deals happening right now, today including an Amazon sale on certified refurbished 12-inch MacBooks from early 2015.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.3 update to its public beta testing group, one day after providing the third beta to developers and two weeks after releasing the second tvOS 11.3 public beta.

The new tvOS 11.3 public beta can be downloaded by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under "System." "Get Public Beta Updates" will need to be toggled on, and once it is, the Apple TV will download the beta software.

Earlier versions of tvOS 11.3 introduced support for AirPlay 2, allowing the Apple TV to be added to the Home app as part of a HomeKit setup and enabling multi-room audio across multiple Apple TVs.

In tvOS and iOS 11.3 beta 3, all AirPlay 2 functionality has been removed. It is not yet clear if Apple plans to re-add these features to the beta, so it remains to be seen if AirPlay 2 will be coming in iOS 11.3.

Other new features in tvOS 11.3 include enhancements to Match Content support, automatic frame rate switching on the fourth-generation Apple TV (a feature that was added to Apple TV 4K in a past update), and automatic mode switching for AirPlay video sessions.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second beta and two days after releasing watchOS 4.2.3, a minor update focusing on bug fixes.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it has to be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone it's paired to.

watchOS 4.3 introduces support for Nightstand mode in portrait orientation, a feature that was previously only available when the watch was placed in landscape orientation. There's also a new charging animation when the Apple Watch is placed on the charger, and your Activity data is now displayed on the Siri watch face.

In watchOS 4.3 beta 3, the Apple Watch's battery complication more accurately reports battery life. In the release notes, Apple says the battery complication "no longer reports remaining battery percentage in increments of 5."

Apple plans to release watchOS 4.3 to the public in the spring, and until then, it will be limited to developers. Apple offers public betas of tvOS, iOS, and macOS, but watchOS betas are not available for public beta testers.

Dish Network today reported official numbers for its streaming television service Sling TV, which marks the first time that the company disclosed the service's subscriber numbers separately from its traditional pay TV numbers. According to Dish, Sling TV had 2.212 million subscribers as of the end of 2017, aligning with previous estimates that the service had well over 2 million subscribers (via TechCrunch).

Sling TV was one of the first streaming TV bundles to launch, so its continued high ranking in regards to subscriber numbers makes sense. Following Sling TV remain services like DirecTV Now (1 million subscribers as of December 2017), PlayStation Vue (455,000 as of December 2017), Hulu with Live TV (450,000 as of January 2018), and YouTube TV (300,000 as of January 2018). Sling TV and PlayStation Vue launched in 2015, DirecTV Now launched in 2016, and Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV each debuted in 2017.

Dish further detailed Sling TV's subscriber growth in its 10-K filing this week, stating the service had 623,000 subscribers in its first year on the market, then grew to 1.5 million by 2016, and 2.21 million by the end of 2017. More users switching from traditional TV bundles to streaming services are believed to be impacting Dish's revenue, however, with its total 2017 revenue at $14.39 billion, down year-over-year from $15.21 billion. In total, 1.1 million users were reported as having dropped Dish's pay TV bundles in 2017.

Like other streaming TV services, Sling TV allows users to choose between various tiers, with prices that start at $20/month for a small amount of channels and then increase in price as more channels are added. Sling TV is one of the cheapest services to enter with this price, while rivals like YouTube TV cost $35/month, and Hulu with Live TV and PlayStation Vue start at $39.99/month. DirecTV Now also starts at $35/month, and has an ongoing deal where new subscribers can pay for three months of service at $105 and get a 32GB Apple TV 4K for free.

Although Sling TV has been out for longer and subsequently has more robust features, some of the newer services are still in beta and testing updates that have yet to launch to a wide audience. These include DirecTV Now's beta test of a Cloud DVR, which is now said to be coming this spring, as well as Hulu's decision to add a more traditional channel guide for its users. Earlier in February, YouTube TV launched an app for Apple TV after delaying the initial launch from 2017.

In December 2016, Facebook Messenger rolled out the ability for users to create group video chats with up to six members participating, and today the company has further streamlined the feature. Before today's update, if users were already in a one-on-one video or audio call they had to hang up, start a new conversation, and choose every member to invite to the new group chat.

Now, while in a video chat or voice call, there will be a new "add person" icon so that users can simply scrub through a list of their Facebook Messenger friends, tap who to invite, and wait for them to join -- all without leaving the original call.

With the ability to add more people seamlessly to your calls, you can continue your conversation in the moment, just like if you were together in real life. Never again worry about skipping a beat when sharing your BFF’s spontaneous karaoke performance on Messenger. Sharing moments like these is now a few quick taps away.

Otherwise, the feature remains the same with six total users able to video chat at once and various filters and effects still supported. After the call ends, Facebook Messenger also creates a group chat automatically in each user's inbox, so that members can keep texting one another.

Facebook's refinement to group video chats in Messenger comes as a similar feature has yet to debut in Apple's FaceTime app. The long-requested, multi-person FaceTime call update is now being rumored for a potential launch within iOS 12 later this year, but Bloomberg has stated that it may not be ready for a debut in 2018.

If group video calls don't make it into iOS 12, other improvements to FaceTime are rumored to be coming in the update this fall. Mainly, Apple is planning to integrate Animoji into FaceTime, allowing people to use the animated emoji characters when making a video call.

For Facebook, the company said that the new Messenger update will be available today on iOS and Android devices worldwide.

Popular to-do app Things reached version 3.4 today and gained a trio of additional features made possible by the introduction of all-new Things URL links. Basically, the app now supports a special kind of link that starts with "things:" and enables users to send a variety of commands to the app.

For example, it's now possible to link to your Today list, as well as the contents of your Upcoming and Logbook lists, from anywhere, such as in another app or within Things itself. In addition, links can be tied to specific to-dos within lists.

On Mac, links can be generated within Things by right-clicking on any to-do or list in the sidebar and selecting Share -> Copy Link. On iOS, the same option can be found in the Share menu, accessed via the chevron button in the upper right corner of a list. Some examples of the new links users can generate include:

• Show Today: things:///show?id=today
  

• Show Upcoming: things:///show?id=upcoming

• Show Logbook: things:///show?id=logbook

• Show your “Vacation in Rome” project: things:///show?query=Vacation%20in%20Rome (This works if the project has that name).

Apart from simple navigation, more advanced users can use Things URLs to execute powerful commands from outside of the app – to create to-dos, show tag filters, perform searches, and so on – while other apps will soon be able to use the URLs to send data to Things. For example, MindNode now lets users brainstorm on an empty canvas and then "hand it over" to Things as a project via a link.

The popular Drafts app is planning support for Things URL links in its next version, and with the publication of Things' open source Swift library, more are likely to follow suit.

Things 3.4 can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $49.99 and from the iOS App Store. The iPad version is priced at $19.99 [Direct Link] while the iPhone version (which includes Apple watch support) is priced at $9.99. [Direct Link] A 15-day trial of Things for Mac is available on the Cultured Code website.

It's been just over one year since Fire Emblem Heroes launched on the iOS App Store in the United States, Japan, and over 30 other countries, and this week new data researched by Sensor Tower has titled the app as Nintendo and DeNA's "most successful mobile game to date." Over the course of its first year, Fire Emblem Heroes earned an estimated $295 million in player spending worldwide, helped by the game's free-to-play structure that includes in-app purchases of various items like game-boosting "Orbs."

The other Nintendo/DeNA apps include the soon-to-be-discontinued Miitomo, Super Mario Run, and the most recent game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which has earned about $20 million across the iOS App Store and Google Play Store in the two months since release. In comparison, Fire Emblem Heroes earned $86 million in its first two months after launch, following an initial slow start in the first few days.

Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes is the Kyoto-based gaming giant’s most successful mobile game to date, earning an estimated $295 million in worldwide player spend during its first year of availability, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data.

With players worldwide continuing to spend more than $10 million per month on “luck of the draw” character draws, Fire Emblem Heroes is a clearly a financial success for Nintendo and DeNA. The question now is whether the publisher-developer duo can progress to the next echelon of mobile gaming revenue with future titles, including the recently announced Mario Kart Tour.

In terms of worldwide mobile game revenue, Sensor Tower reported that Fire Emblem Heroes ranked at No. 34 in January on the iOS App Store, while Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp sat at No. 190. Furthermore, Fire Emblem Heroes is said to have been successful both in the U.S. and Japan, with 30 percent of the game's first year revenue coming from the former country and 60 percent from the latter. For Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, 13 percent of its revenue so far has been made in the U.S., and more than 82 percent comes from Japan.

Although the games support different payment structures, Sensor Tower compared Fire Emblem Heroes with Super Mario Run, which earned $56 million across its first year in worldwide revenue. Super Mario Run was a bigger hit initially as many players downloaded the game in the first few weeks of launch -- earning $8.4 million on its first day -- but slacked off in subsequent months. The game is free-to-download so that users can play the first few levels, but a $9.99 payment is required to unlock everything.

While Fire Emblem Heroes has been successful for Nintendo and DeNA, it's still lagging behind the breakout hits on the iOS App Store, like Clash Royale ($967 million in first year worldwide revenue) and Niantic's Pokémon Go ($1.1 billion). Nintendo's next mobile game Mario Kart Tour will be free-to-start, which is terminology that Nintendo has used to describe the in-app purchase model of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Previous rumors have also stated the company could be working on a smartphone game set in The Legend of Zelda universe.

Earlier in February, developer Snowman announced that "Alto's Odyssey" would be launching on iOS and tvOS Thursday, February 22, but the game has appeared one day early on both App Stores and is available to download right now for $4.99 [Direct Link] (via TouchArcade). Alto's Odyssey isn't featured yet on the United States App Store, but a search for it on both iOS and tvOS should surface the correct game.

Originally set to debut in summer 2017, Alto's Odyssey is the sequel to the original 2015 game "Alto's Adventure" and keeps the endless runner gameplay that the original was known for while introducing new features, controls, and a new desert location. Both games feature a "one-touch trick system" that players use to control the main character to chain together combos and complete various goals.

If anyone has yet to play the original, Snowman said that Alto's Odyssey is a standalone experience and doesn't require knowledge of Alto's Adventure. Other features of Alto's Odyssey include:

- Explore Biomes. From the dunes, to the canyons, to the temples, explore a rich and diverse landscape, with each area boasting unique visuals and gameplay.
- Newfound heights. Discover secrets in the sky with hot-air balloons, moving grind rails, and wall riding.
- Meet Alto and friends. Unlock six unique characters, each with their own attributes and abilities.
- Zen Mode. Complete with its own serene soundtrack, this relaxing mode distills Odyssey down to its purest elements: no scores, no coins, and no power-ups. Just you and the endless desert.
- Photo Mode. From the pause screen, get behind the lens and take stunning photos of your trip through the desert. Pinch, swipe, pan and zoom to frame the ideal shot, and share them with friends and family.

Alto's Odyssey is a universal app with iCloud support, so users can play the game on iPhone or iPad and have their progress synced across devices, even Apple TV. The game also supports a "purchase once, play forever" promise on its App Store description, and Snowman states that it has no ads or in-app purchases anywhere within the game. Those interested can purchase Alto's Odyssey for $4.99 starting today [Direct Link].

Apple is in talks to purchase long-term supplies of cobalt directly from miners to ensure a steady supply of the key battery ingredient amid industry fears of a shortage, according to a report by Bloomberg today.

The companies that make batteries for Apple's iPads and iPhones depend heavily on the availability of cobalt, but Apple is said to have taken the issue into its own hands, prompted by fears that the electric vehicle boom could see supply of the raw material dwindle.

Apple is seeking contracts to secure several thousand metric tons of cobalt a year for five years or longer, according to one of the people, declining to be named as the discussions are confidential. Apple's first discussions on cobalt deals with miners were over a year ago, and it may end up deciding not to go ahead with any deal, another person said.

About a quarter of global cobalt production is used in smartphones that use lithium-ion batteries, according to Bloomberg. Smartphones are said to use around eight grams of refined cobalt, but the battery for an electric car requires over 1,000 times more. That means Apple will be in fierce competition with carmakers like BMW and Volkswagen as well as battery producers like Samsung as the firms seek to secure supplies into the future.

With two thirds of all supplies sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has a history of political instability and child labor, the price of cobalt has more than tripled in the past 18 months and now trades more than $80,000 a metric ton.

In recent years, Apple has responded to criticism from human rights groups for its metal supply chain, which in the past has bought cobalt from mines that use child labor. Last year the tech giant published a list of companies that supply the cobalt used in its batteries for the first time, and said it would not allow cobalt from smaller Congo mines into its supply chain unless they could prove that "appropriate protections" to safeguard against child labor were in place.