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Apple may acquire live event VR firm

According to 9to5Mac Apple may be in the process of acquiring NextVR

The firm has deals in place with the NBA, Fox Sports, Wimbledon, and other live music and sporting event partners.

They produce content creating live event viewing experiences for VR headsets

The company hold over 40 technology patents. Including one for upscaling video streams.

The deal is estimated at around $100 million and Apple is thought to be hiring most of the engineers who develop the product.

The "next" MacBook Pro update

We have the 16-inch, we just got the MacBook Air update, care to guess what speculators think will be next?

We're hearing that the 13-inch MacBook Pro will get the "scissor" keyboard treatment next and could get a screen bump in the process

The source is YouTuber and leaker Jon Prosser

Latest rumors say the next version could come with a 14-inch display along with updated 10th generation Intel Ice Lake processors

In past reports Ming-Chi Kuo mentioned the possibility of a 14.1-inch Mini LED display coming in 2020

The belief is we could see Apple announce the updated model in the next month, so likely in May.

Apple releasing new Macs could offer a boost it might need.

Latest numbers from Canalsys for the first quarter of 2020 show that PC shipments are down (not unusual), but that Apple has taken a pretty big hit

Overall worldwide PC shipments are down 8 percent year over year with an estimated 53.7 million units shipped.

They estimate that Apple shipped just 3.2 million Macs in the first quarter of 2020 down 20 percent for the 4.07 million Macs they shipped in the first quarter of 2019

Apple and others to stream 'One World: Together At Home'

Global Citizen and the World Health Organization have teams up with Lady Gaga for a benefit special to support the fight against COVID-19

The benefit will be on Saturday, April 18 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time/8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC, NBC, and CBS, plus it will be streamed by Apple, Amazon Prime Video, Alibaba, Facebook, Instagram, LiveXLive, Tencent, Tencent Music Entertainment Group, TIDAL, TuneIn, Twitch, Twitter, Yahoo, and YouTube.

In addition to Lady Gaga other artists like Billy Eilish, Elton John, Eddie Vedder, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and others are set to make appearances.

The event is being hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Steven Colbert

Apple also made a $10 million dollar donation to the cause.

Apple TV+ this week also made several of their popular TV shows completely free to stream without and Apple TV+ subscription

The Elephant Queen (documentary), Little America, Servant, Dickinson, and For All Mankind

They're also offer the family friendly shows Helpsters, Ghostwriter, and Snoopy in Space

I really recommend the last two with For All Mankind probably being my favorites Apple TV+ show followed closely by Amazing Stories.

You can also currently get access to the Epix movie channel in Apple TV+ without a subscription along with access to some HBO, Hulu, and their content

Apple could pick-up Martin Scorsese's next film project for Apple TV+

He has been working on a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Nero called ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ based on a book of the same name

The project was with Paramount but is rumored to be costing more than $200 million and Paramount wants out.

Now Scorsese is rumored to be in talks with Apple and Netflix to pick up the film.

Part of the deal would be compensating Paramount for the resources they have already invested in the project.

It could also be possible that Apple works with Paramount to see the film to completion. With Apple picking up the costs, but Paramount handling a theatrical release before the film come exclusively to Apple TV+.

Rumors of "Widgets" coming to iOS 14

The source is a twitter leaker, so a couple grains of salt here

An image showing what looks like home screen widgets.

Would take up the space of 2 or 4 icons on the home screen.

The widgets also look like the would be able to be positioned by the user on the screen, like the icons.

They also show what seems to be about a 1/3 smaller "notch", which might indicate the iPhone 12 has a smaller notch profile.

There is also a another image supposedly indicating the presence of a LiDAR camera system on the rear-facing cameras.

Apple released an iOS and iPad OS 13.4.1 update

The update addressed a FaceTime bug when trying to make FaceTime call with older devices running iOS 9 or earlier and macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or earlier

It also fixed a bug in Settings that could cause choosing Bluetooth from the quick actions menu on the Home screen to fail.

On iPad OS there was also a fix for the flashlight not tuning on from the lock screen on new iPad pro models

Apple also release a watchOS 6.2.1 update that addressed a FaceTime audio bug.

Apple over-the-ear headphones soon?

The same source for the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro rumors is claiming we could see new Apple-branded over the ear headphones at WWDC

To be honest the rumors is not new, only the new possible release date.

The latest leak claims that the headphones are codenamed B515 and will be prices at USD $350

9to5Mac also has notice new "headphone" icons in builds of iOS 14

He also claimed in his tweet that the "end goal" was to phase out Beats

This seems unlikely to me just based on the power the Beats brand has established

He also says Apple is planning AirPods X priced around USD $200, which would be a set of sports/running AirPods similar to the Beats X design and coming in fall around the iPhone 12 launch.

Apple seems to be shipping out AirPods replacements with a newer-than-released firmware 2D3

Seems to be happening more with AirPods 2 replacements and with the right earbud

Apple is telling affected customers they will have to wait for the new update to be released before their replacement buds will work.

Of course they can't say when that will be.

2020 iPad Pro doesn't have U1 chip

Or at least not one that iFixit could find in their tear down

John Gruber also double check with his sources who would be "in the know" and they say there's no U1 chip either

It's not surprising given the face that U1 is not mentioned in the tech specs, in Apple's press release, nor in any signs of software support in iOS

Still, given all the rumors of Air tags coming and the fact that ALL iPhone 11 models DO feature the ultra-wideband chip it is a little odd.

In iFixit's tear down they note that inside the 2020 model looks "nearly" identical to the 2018 including using the same logic board layout

If there was a U1 then the design would likely have needed to be different.

We also discussed last time how the A12Z processor seems to be the exact same as the A12X with just and extra GPU core activated.

It's possible that a U1 supported iPad Pro model would happen when Apple bumps up to a A13X chip.

Another possible reason for the absence of the U1 in the iPad is it's all aluminum enclosure making antenna designs and radio transparency less practical than the "mostly all glass" iPhone designs.

There are some who still believe Apple could do an all new iPad Pro refresh in the fall bringing the A14X chips and mini-LED displays to the line-up.

Amazon's UK store may have tipped the release date for Apple's new iPad Pro magic Keyboards

The site is listing "pre-orders" for the new accessory and a release date of May 30th.

More teens have iPhones than ever

The investment firm Piper Sandler runs a long standing semiannual survey of US teens and their smartphone preferences

Apple has been at the top of the popularity list for years, but the recent numbers show that 85 percent of US teens own an iPhone and that 88 percent expect an iPhone to be the next phone they buy.

The survey also asked about AirPods usage. 52 percent of teens said that they own a set of ‌AirPods‌, and of those that don't own ‌AirPods‌, 18 percent plan to purchase them within a year.

25 percent of US teens also said they owned an Apple Watch, that number was up 20 percent from the fall survey data.

It is worth noting that the survey is skewed to teens with slightly more spending money. They surveyed 5,200 respondents with self-reported spending of $2,300 for the year, and average annual household income of $65,000.

iOS has also seen the most US activations it's ever seen since 2016 according to a new Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report

According to their numbers iOS accounted for 44 percent of US smartphone activation in the first quarter of 2020

iPhone SE soon?

While we still are hearing reports that the iPhone 12 launch could be in jeopardy of being pushed out. The rumors of an iPhone SE update soon remain strong.

Latest is that the next iPhone could be here in the next few weeks

We're expecting the update to be a new version of the iPhone 8 with an "SE" branding and the iPhone 8's form factor and design

It will retain the 4.7-inch display and Touch ID home button

But will gain the latest A13 processor and 3GB of RAM

A dual lens rear camera system with the new wide-angle lens from the iPhone 11

It will also offer more storage with options up to 256GB and a rumored starting price of USD $399

As for the iPhone 12.

the latest is that "Engineering Verification Testing" has been extended until late April for the 5.4-inch model and 6.1-inch models, and to mid-May for the 6.7-inch model.

That could mean the release date for the larger 6.7-inch model could be later than that of the 5.4-inch and 6.1-inch models.

The good news is, according to Ming Chi-Kuo, Apple's iPhone 12 models will feature some of the best wireless and other tech

He says all will feature Qualcomm's X55 5G modem chip. Offering a theoretical maximum of 7Gb/s peak download speeds and 3Gb/s upload speeds supporting both mmWave and sub-6GHz networks

OLED displays possibly with Pro-motion

The LiDAR 3D camera scanner that Apple introduced in this years iPad Pros

Linode

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They just opened their newest datacenter in Mumbai, India.

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They are giving all new Maccast customers a $20 credit.

More than just hosting. With Linode you have all the options and choices to build a server with the services and features you need

Whatever your requirements you can build it on Linode - Dedicated CPU, distributed applications, hosted services, websites, and Continuous integration and continuous delivery environments.

Featuring native SSD storage, a 40 Gbit network, with industry leading processors

Pick from any of their 10 worldwide data centers

Pricing is simple with no surprise fees. Your pay just for what you use with hourly billing across all of their plans and add-on services

Their new cloud manager features an improved user interface which makes managing your Linodes and upgrading your plan even easier.

Visit: linode.com/maccast to set up your first Linode and get a $20 credit.

Beware of iOS "Fleeceware"

A new report from security firm Sophos found 32 apps on the iOS app store that they are calling "fleeceware"

The apps found across many categories from image editors, to QR scanners and face filter apps.

What they have in common though is they all are "free" apps that then attempt to trick customers into signing up for an expensive in-app subscription.

They will often use misleading and confusing pop-up to get you to sign up.

Another common thread in "fleeceware" apps is they will default to an overly pricey "weekly" subscription.

Often they do offer a much more "affordable" yearly option (notice I say "affordable" in air-quotes) Typically the annual subscription costs fall in the USD $50 to $100 price range

They also often have VERY short free trial period. 3 days vs seven or 30.

Apple has made it much easier in recent years to check the status and costs of your iTunes subscriptions

On your iOS device

1. Open Settings.

2. Tap on your name at the top.

3. Tap Subscriptions

4. Scroll trough to see your active and expired subscriptions

You can tap a subscription to get details, renew, change terms, re-subscribe, or cancel a subscription.

What I'm playing on Apple Arcade

Just started playing Butter Royale

Oh my gosh is this fun

We have a couple of controllers. Nimbus Steel Series and PS 4 controller

It's a 30 player battle royale, like fortnite, but a lot less serious and less competitive.

You can play against AI (offline), Solo, or Squad (team of 4)

Pick a zone to start in.

Gather weapons, armor, ammo, etc. (no building element)

Butter comes flowing in an pushes all players to a central area

Games are quick. You can earn loot and rewards to get new skins, flags, footprints, and mêlée weapons

Oceanhorn 2

Great RPG game

Solo play

Really like it on Apple TV with a game controller

Has a fun pirate / seafarer theme with a sci-fi twist

Great combat system and puzzle elements

Two-Factor authentication questions

Play message from Graeme

You'll want to have the backup codes if you have no other way to get a two-factor code

I recommend always putting those 2-factor backup codes into your password manager

I do it as an attachment to the record or right inside the notes for the record

You can have the Authenticator app on multiple devices and scan the QR code on each device so they all have the same "seed"

If you had not set this up originally then you'll have to likely go back to each account and disable and re-enable 2FA

This is one area where using the 2FA scanner built into 1Password is better because 1Password can sync your passwords and 2FA across ALL your devices.

It's also worth noting that for Apple IDs and iCloud 2FA that ALL your devices are set up to get the codes and you can even manually get a code from ANY device if you need it

Open Settings

Tap your account name at the top

Tap Password & Security

Tap "Get Verification Code"

To change from one authenticator program to another you will have to visit each site and disable 2FA and re-enable it using the new scanner to set up a new "seed"

The "lose my phone" concern is always a big one for folks when they first start using 2FA, but it really doesn't have to be a big deal if you just save the backup codes and store them in a secure location. Setting up 2FA support for multiple devices just makes it even less scary.

Another thing to remember is that if you lose a device you will want to make sure to go and remove it from your accounts as a connected device

This is when having all your info, passwords, 2FA codes, backup codes, etc. in a single centralized password manager, like 1Password, will come in really handy

Thing of the Moment: Anker 10 Port 60W Data Hub

I had a 10-port Satachi that had been acting up, so I looked for a replacement

Anker is one of my favorite brands.

With 7 USB 3.0 Ports and 3 PowerIQ Charging Ports

Three charging ports offer up to 2.1 amps per port or 10 amps overall

Very small size

My only disappointment is the external power supply is larger than the hub itself.

Model A7515. USD $42.99 on Amazon

[Anker 10 Port 60W Data Hub](https://www.anker.com/products/variant/anker-10-port-60w-data-hub/A7515111)

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