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The Drive-Up-Prices Edition Friday, March 31, 2023

Apple Joins The ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Lending Trend. Do You Know About The Downsides?, by Jessica Roy, Los Angeles Times

The BNPL model doesn’t charge customers interest or fees up front. Lenders instead make money by charging the vendor four payment processing fees instead of one. That can drive up prices for everyone, including non-BNPL shoppers.

[...]

The idea that the loan is “no interest, no fees” is true only to an extent. If you don’t pay the loan back on time, you could be subject to all sorts of fees — which, again, the lender doesn’t have to tell you up front, because they aren’t subject to the Truth in Lending Act.

Apple Updates iWork Apps With Apple Pencil Hover, Better Collaboration, More, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Following the release of iOS 16.4, macOS 13.3, and more earlier this week, Apple is now rolling out updates to its suite of iWork apps. Updates to Keynote, Pages, and Numbers are now available with new Apple Pencil features, improved collaboration, and more.

iOS 16.4 Expands 5G Support To New Regions, Plus Google Fi Users, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

In addition to enabling 5G in Macau and Turkey, iOS 16.4 also apparently enables 5G support for Google Fi users for the first time.

Stuff

Sequel 2.0: An iPhone And iPad Media Tracker That Strikes An Elegant Balance Between Form And Function, by John Voorhees, MacStories

Sequel 2.0 is an easy-to-use media wishlist and tracking app for the iPhone and iPad that pulls off tracking five types of media elegantly. The app works with movies, TV shows, videogames, books, and audiobooks and starts with a single view that collects each of the media categories you’re tracking, integrates a unique search field, and has a single button for adding new items.

Doppler HiFi Music Player For iPhone Gets Library Customization, Album Collections, New Tab Bar, byMichael Potuck, 9to5Mac

Doppler for iPhone and Mac is the popular music player designed for those who prefer to buy and own their library – with hi-res support. Now for iOS, Doppler 3 has arrived with a number of improvements like Library customization, Album Collections, Queue Grouping, a simplified tab bar with new icons, and more.

Netflix's Ad-supported Tier Finally Works With Apple TV Set-top Box, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

The Netflix “Basic with Ads” plan costs $6.99 per month, a saving of $3 compared to the ad-free Basic plan. Only a subset of the Netflix content catalog is available to stream on the ads tier though, due to licensing rights issues.

Notes

Apple Wins U.S. Appeal Over Patents In $502 Mln VirnetX Verdict, by Blake Brittain, Reuters

Apple Inc persuaded a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to uphold a patent tribunal's ruling that could imperil a $502 million verdict for patent licensing company VirnetX Inc in the companies' long-running fight over privacy-software technology.

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I've just listened "Monster Mash" on Apple Music Classical. :-)

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Thanks for reading.