More than a decade after Apple disrupted the music industry and Amazon upended retail, the tech heavyweights have set their sights on a new arena ripe for change: live sports.
Emboldened by their deep pockets and eager to boost viewership of their streaming-subscription services, Apple and Amazon have thrust themselves into negotiations for media rights held by the National Football League, Major League Baseball, Formula One racing and college conferences.
Earlier this week, Amazon announced a major redesign of Prime Video, and the overwhelming response was “finally.” Prime Video had become a relic frozen in time, with an ugly, laggy interface that seemed stuck in 2010. Amazon’s streaming competitors, meanwhile, have routinely switched up and refined the user experience.
And it seems like Prime Video’s designers noticed. Because another thing that stuck out about the app’s makeover is just how closely Amazon’s video service now resembles Netflix. Column of navigation icons on the left side? Check. Top 10 list with big numbers? Yep, it’s there on the home screen. And Prime Video has even added “super carousels” of poster-style artwork that expand to landscape and start auto-playing a trailer when you hover over them — just like Netflix.
When I bought an iPhone 13 Pro a few weeks after its release, I decided to go all in. Since then, I’ve been on an overseas business trip, traveled for the Thanksgiving holidays, gone on a Christmas weekend getaway, socialized (cautiously!) in the Bay Area, and taken photos for work. And I did all of it with my new iPhone as my only digital camera.
It’s been more than nine months since I took a photo with the X-T30. Herewith, some of the things I’ve learned—interspersed with images from my iPhone 13 Pro.
Apple is using the iPhone's popularity to push itself into the auto industry. Automakers are a little unsure how they feel about this.
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The auto industry faces an unappealing choice: Offer CarPlay and give up potential revenue and the chance to ride a major industry shift, or spend heavily to develop their own infotainment software and cater to an increasing audience of car buyers who won't purchase a new vehicle without CarPlay.
Walk The Distance is the type of app that’ll motivate a very specific type of person to get off the couch and get some exercise. Instead of having you walk to escape zombies or catch Pokémon, it lets you virtually walk long-distance routes like the Appalachian Trail (AT) and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) — perfect for those of us who don’t mind our local walking paths but wish for something a little more scenic.
I don't think Apple is making money on Apple TV+, and I don't think Apple is going to make much money with sports programming either. Does Apple has a target date for its television service business to be profitable, I wonder.
(And then, there's the iCar.)
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Thanks for reading.