Apple is loosening its App Store restrictions and opening the marketplace up to retro game emulators. In an update on Friday, Apple announced that game emulators can come to the App Store globally and offer downloadable games. Apple says those games must comply with “all applicable laws,” though — an indication it will ban apps that provide pirated titles.
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Alongside the new rules on emulators, Apple also updated its rules around super apps, such as WeChat. It now says that mini-games and mini-apps within these apps must use HTML5, clarifying that they can’t be native apps and games.
A majority of U.S. consumers aren’t immediately likely to buy a Vision Pro, Apple’s mixed reality headset released in early February. But for those few who do want the device — as well as among general consumers — video entertainment is their biggest interest.
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While it’s still early days, the arrival of Vision Pro signals the era of mixed reality entertainment is here. For Hollywood and other creative industries, the moment has come to pay attention to what Vision Pro could mean for the next wave of content innovation.
Apple says that the new episode of Prehistoric Planet will be six minutes long and offer an immersive look at inside Triceratops Forest. “Deep in the woods, a curious baby triceratops learns about family bonds,” Apple says. This marks the second new Immersive Video release since Vision Pro’s launch.
So much of the internet is dominated by a few massive would-be monopolists who force you to use their applications in order to access the things you want. Podcasting could have easily gone the same way. The phrase "wherever you get your podcasts" is a monument to the fact that it didn't—a rare success for the open web.
Apple announced measures on Friday to make it easier for music streaming apps on its App Store in the European Economic Area to inform users of other ways to purchase digital services, as it looks to comply with a European Union mandate.
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Apple, however, said the Commission's decision does not address its ability to charge a commission for all the tools, technologies and ongoing services it provides.
Apple told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the U.S. International Trade Commission's decision was based on a "series of substantively defective patent rulings," and that Masimo failed to show it had invested in making competing U.S. products that would justify the order.
The ITC is an agency similar to a court that often deals with imported “articles” that may or may not violate intellectual property law. The word “article” matters more than you’d think, since the statute that created the ITC specifies that it has jurisdiction over “articles.”
Not to get too into the weeds, but a good chunk of Apple’s appeal argues: what domestic industry? And what articles? The appeal brief claims that not only was Masimo primarily known for clinical pulse oximeters, it didn’t even have an actual smartwatch when the complaint was filed.
Apple has a strong argument that a patent holder with a hypothetical product should not have access to the ITC just based on the argument that at some point it would actually practice the patent claims at issue. That would mean the implementation of the claimed inventions couldn’t even be analyzed. The latter is what Apple says: the ITC didn’t have direct evidence of Masimo practicing those patent claims.
Taylor Swift has debuted five curated playlists on Apple Music, dubbed covering each of the five stages of grief and heartbreak. The new playlists are exclusively available on Apple Music, and they come ahead of the release of Swift’s new The Tortured Poets Department album on April 19.
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced a new partnership with Apple Music Classical, beginning with an exclusive release of Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6 in spatial audio.
The partnership between Apple and the orchestra will highlight "exclusive releases, curated playlists and editorial features" on the Apple Music Classical streaming app.
Starting on July 1, 2024, it will no longer be possible to spend an Apple ID balance in Singapore, according to an Apple support document spotted by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. Apple did not provide an explanation for this decision, but it appears to relate to new regulations introduced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In general, gift cards are frequently involved in scams that defraud people.
Apple this week shared an introductory video for its new Apple Developer channel on YouTube, where developers will be able to watch WWDC 2024 sessions in June.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook this week sold 196,410 shares of the company's stock, which had a total value of approximately $33.2 million based on the average sale price of the transactions, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. After taxes, Cook netted nearly $16.4 million from the sales.
On the other hand, there seems to be a dearth of new podcast players lately, and some old podcast players seems to be hanging on life support.
In particular, there isn't a good podcast player that gives me really smart playlists that I can customize.
(Yes, I am missing iTunes and its AppleScript support.)
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Thanks for reading.