If you haven’t already, first read A tale of two QuickTimes, which we linked to a few weeks ago.
With that unhappiness with losing the old, but still incredibly useful version of QuickTime in mind, check out this post from Dan Moren, which is based on this gem of a find by David Chartier.
Do read both posts for the big picture. This is pretty cool.
Washington Post:
A California man who built a sizable business out of recycling electronic waste is headed to federal prison for 15 months after a federal appeals court in Miami rejected his claim that the “restore disks” he made to extend the lives of computers had no financial value, instead ruling that he had infringed Microsoft’s products to the tune of $700,000.
I recognize that there are two sides to every story, but this reads to me like this guy is going to jail specifically because judge and jury do not understand the technology.
Before he launched his company, IT Asset Partners, Lundgren lived in China, learning about the stream of e-waste and finding ways to send cheap parts to America to keep electronics running. One of his projects was to manufacture thousands of “restore disks,” usually supplied by computer-makers as a way for users to restore Windows to a hard drive if it crashes or must be wiped. The disks can be used only on a computer that already has a license for the Windows operating system, and the license transfers with the computer for its full life span. But computer owners often lose or throw out the disks, and though the operating system can be downloaded free on a licensed computer, Lundgren realized that many people didn’t feel competent to do that, and were simply throwing out their computers and buying new ones.
Lundgren made 28,000 Windows backup CDs, sold them for 25 cents apiece to computer refurbishers. The disks had no licenses, they could only be used to restore a computer with an existing license.
Key to this is the value of those disks. They determine the level of the crime (if this is even a crime):
Initially, federal prosecutors valued the disks at $299 each, the cost of a brand-new Windows operating system, and Lundgren’s indictment claimed he had cost Microsoft $8.3 million in lost sales. By the time of sentencing, a Microsoft letter to Hurley and a Microsoft expert witness had reduced the value of the disks to $25 apiece, stating that was what Microsoft charged refurbishers for such disks.
BUT:
Glenn Weadock, a former expert witness for the government in its antitrust case against Microsoft, was asked, “In your opinion, without a code, either product key or COA [Certificate of Authenticity], what is the value of these reinstallation disks?”
“Zero or near zero,” Weadock said.
The $25 value is for disks with a product key or COA. The disks Lundgren sold had neither. So with Weadock’s expert testimony, all is good, right?
[U.S. District Judge] Hurley decided Lundgren’s 28,000 restore disks had a value of $700,000, and that dollar amount qualified Lundgren for a 15-month term and a $50,000 fine. The judge said he disregarded Weadock’s testimony. “I don’t think anybody in that courtroom understood what a restore disk was,” Lundgren said.
Two sides to every story, and there is an element of harm to Microsoft, in that they do sell backup disks. But is sending this guy to prison what they were after here? Was this about setting a precedent?
Just one more thing, then I’m gonna’ let you go:
Lundgren, 33, has become a renowned innovator in the field of “e-waste,” using discarded parts to construct things such as an electric car, which far outdistanced a Tesla in a test on one charge. He built the first “electronic hybrid recycling” facility in the United States, which turns discarded cellphones and other electronics into functional devices, slowing the stream of harmful chemicals and metals into landfills and the environment. His California-based company processes more than 41 million pounds of e-waste each year and counts IBM, Motorola and Sprint among its clients.
Something seems wrong about this whole thing.
UPDATE: From this article in a local Washington state paper covering the story:
Lundgren argued that because he never ended up selling any discs, Microsoft did not lose any money. But the federal court found that the discs were worth $25 each and therefore Lundgren infringed on Microsoft’s property by $700,000. In addition, the court found that the discs had labels on them that “falsely said the discs contained authorized copies of copyrighted software,” according to court records.
That last bit did not come up in the Washington Post story.
Motherboard:
The startup is called Crowdfense and is based in the United Arab Emirates. In an unusual move in the normally secretive industry of so-called zero-days, Crowdfense sent out a press release to reporters on Tuesday, advertising what it calls a bug bounty.
And:
Crowdfense’s director Andrea Zapparoli Manzoni told me that he and his company are trying to join that market, purchasing zero-days from independent researchers and then selling them to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
And:
“When I think about government agencies I don’t think about the military part, I think about the civilian part, that works against crime, terrorism, and stuff like that,” Zapparoli told me in a phone interview. “We only focus on tools aimed at doing activities of law enforcement or intelligence, not aimed at destroying or deteriorating the functionality and effectiveness of the target systems—but only aimed at collecting intelligence.”
And:
The company has a budget of $10 million for this “bug bounty.” Its backers, for now, are also secret.
The mind reels. Unless I misread this piece, no part of their plan is to share any discovered vulnerabilities with Apple. This is straight, help us break the system, not make it better.
“Vetting customers is the most delicate part of our whole activity,” Zapparoli said.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that your customer list will remain a secret as well. This whole thing is chilling to me.
Michael Simon, Macworld:
The Spotify executives on stage never actually mentioned Apple Music by name, but it was impossible not to catch the vibe. Throughout the hour-long presentation, Spotify barely talked about its Premium service, which boasts some 70 million users to Apple Music’s 40 million. Instead, the focus was on Spotify’s other 90 million customers, the ones who don’t pay.
And:
As it stands, the only “free” tier of Apple Music involves listening to either Beats 1 or whatever songs are in your music library. Otherwise, you’re completely locked out.
Spotify sees things differently. While its Premium tier offers the same $10-a-month access to tens of millions of songs as Apple Music, Spotify also lets non-paying customers in the door, with restrictions on playback and interspliced ads. It’s a gateway to Premium for sure, but more importantly, it’s the main advantage Spotify has over Apple Music. And it just became irresistible to tens of millions of users.
And:
Spotify’s isn’t going after Apple Music users with a better premium offering, it’s basically offering a free sample that doesn’t have an expiration date.
There’s a subtle strategic difference between offering a free trial period and a free, ad-supported tier. Apple Music’s free trial period has no “lock in” in it. Once you reach the end, you’re either in (you find the service worth the money and you sign up) or you’re out (possibly heading over to Spotify). There’s no stickiness to keep you in the fold.
With Spotify’s focus on making their free tier more attractive, they’ve achieved “lock in”. If you hate the ads, pay the monthly fee and get an even better experience, ad free.
My two cents? I think Apple should copy this move, adopt a free tier. Of course, that will likely put a dent in their services revenue, but if this helps grow their user base, that should make up for any shortfall there.
One more thing:
The only real advantage Apple has with Apple Music (other than it being the default music app on hundreds of millions of iOS devices every year) is HomePod compatibility. I half expected Spotify to launch a competing speaker at its event, but as I listened to the executives talk about the new features, it became clear that hardware isn’t their game.
When people question Apple’s HomePod move, this has to be part of the discussion.
Titillating headline, but read on:
Authorities in Florida showed up to a funeral home and tried to unlock a dead man’s cell phone using his finger.
And:
Largo Police Lt. Randall Chaney told the Tampa Bay Times that the detectives were trying to gain access to and protect data relevant to their investigation into Phillip’s death, as well as another investigation Phillip was involved in related to drugs.
And:
There is no expectation of privacy after a person passes away, so the move to access the iPhone by detectives was legal, but not necessarily appropriate or ethical, Charles Rose, a professor at Stetson University College of Law, told the Tampa Bay Times.
“While the deceased person doesn’t have a vested interest in the remains of their body, the family sure does, so it really doesn’t pass the smell test,” he told the newspaper. Even though a deceased person can no longer claim their property for themselves under their Fourth Amendment rights, whoever inherits the property at stake, such as family, can exercise those rights, he said.
I’ve long wondered about the legality of physically forcing someone to unlock their iPhone using their finger or their face. Does that legal status change when someone dies?
And what about FaceID? Will it work on a dead person whose eyes are open? Can attention detection tell if someone is dead?
UPDATE: Couple of good comments from JLMoran. Sounds like neither TouchID nor FaceID will work on a dead person, at least not without some extra trickery.
Check the Emojipedia chart. Apple switched from a realistic gun to a water pistol in 2016. Two years later, we see the same move by Twitter, Samsung, and now Google.
A year after Apple made their move to a water gun, Facebook shifted to a more photo-realistic image.
And, interestingly, Microsoft went the opposite direction, moving from a sci-fi ray-gun to a hand gun.
So that leaves Facebook and Microsoft, sticking to their guns. But:
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Emojipedia that a toy squirt gun will now be replacing the gun emoji design on Facebook platforms.
Microsoft. Last gun standing.
UPDATE: From Microsoft:
We are in the process of evolving our emojis to reflect our values and the feedback we’ve received. Here’s a preview: pic.twitter.com/BlB3yYTSht
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) April 25, 2018
[H/T Adam Hunter]
Mashable:
Get the feeling you’re suddenly being bombarded with emails from companies about updated terms of service policies?
You are. And there’s a good reason: the European Union’s forthcoming efforts to protect our personal data.
Though the new internet regulations don’t go into effect until May 25, 2018, companies like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and more, are starting to prepare by updating their terms of services and privacy policies now.
These companies aren’t doing this voluntarily, either. They’re being forced to by these new European Union regulations.
Gmail received some new features and a new look—It’s still clearly Gmail, but it does look better. This became available on my personal Gmail account this morning.
Worst. Documentary. Ever. See more “True Facts” here.
Vox:
Sure, “summer movie” may scream loud, ’splodey blockbusters to some people, but there’s more variety to the season’s offerings than meets the eyes.
This summer’s premieres range from hotly anticipated comic book movies to political documentaries to long-awaited sequels (Incredibles, anyone?). There’s something for every taste, whether you want to see the scariest horror movies of the year, revel in a very weird social issues comedy, or bask in the glory of a bunch of kick-ass ladies rocking a heist.
There’s lots of movies I’m looking forward to this summer – Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Solo, The Incredibles 2, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, among others. I think having a “new” 12-year-old son helps ramp up my excitement level for some of them.
Last week, I tweeted about the process of grabbing multiple app icons, all in one stack, dragging them from one page to another.
Jeff Benjamin, 9to5Mac, did me one better, building an excellent how-to video that shows this technique, along with a bunch of related techniques. You might know most of these, but there’s this one bit you might not know. Check the recurring theme in Jeff’s video where he holds a stack with one hand, then uses the other hand to slide pages, rather than dragging the stack to the edge of the screen to force the page change. Jeff’s way is so much faster.
If nothing else, pass the link along to your iOS newbie friends.
Space.com:
The most-viewed eclipse in history had an unexpected witness: A Google Street View car drove right through the path of totality, offering a surprising celestial treat for visitors scoping out the event in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
The intrepid car captured the darkened sky, streetlamps flickering on and even skywatching pedestrians on the vehicle’s travels through the path of the 2017 total solar eclipse in August.
Follow the headline link and check out the images. Pretty cool. Funny to think of that driver making their way through the streets, either oblivious to the major even unfolding as they drove, or so committed to their job that they just kept going without stopping to take it all in.
Visual Capitalist:
In the past, marketers would make judgement calls on your likely income and family structure based on where you lived, and you’d receive “targeted” mail and calls from telemarketers. Loyalty programs and the emergence of web analytics pushed things a little further.
Today, the steady march of technological advancement has created a vast data collection empire that measures every aspect of your digital life and, increasingly, your offline life as well. Facebook alone uses nearly one hundred data points to target ads to you – everything from your marital status to whether you’ve been on vacation lately or not. Telecoms have access to extremely detailed information on your location. Apple has biometric data.
Also watching your every move are web trackers. “Cookie-syncing” is one of the sneaky ways advertisers can follow you around the internet. Basically, cookie-syncing allows third parties to share browsing information at such a large scale that even the NSA “piggybacks” off them for surveillance purposes.
And:
While web trackers and companies like Apple and Google are collecting a lot of personal and behavioral data, it’s the whales of the data ecosystem – data brokers – who are creating increasingly detailed profiles on almost everyone.
According to a recent Motley Fool review, the goal of data brokers, such as Experian or Acxiom, is to siphon up as much personal data as possible and apply it to profiles. This data comes from a wide variety of sources. Your purchases, financial history, internet activity, and even psychographic attributes are mixed with information from public records to create a robust dossier. Digital profiles are then sorted into one of thousands of categories to help optimize advertising efforts.
Spend a few minutes browsing through the chart at the top of the article to get a sense of the overall data flow at work here. Shadow profiles. Chilling stuff.
Motherboard:
Law enforcement agencies across the country are buying or have expressed interest in buying GrayKey, a device that can unlock up-to-date iPhones. But Grayshift, the company that makes the device, has attracted some other attention as well.
Last week, an unknown party quietly leaked portions of GrayKey code onto the internet, and demanded over $15,000 from Grayshift—ironically, the price of an entry-level GrayKey—in order to stop publishing the material. The code itself does not appear to be particularly sensitive, but Grayshift confirmed to Motherboard the brief data leak that led to the extortion attempt.
The mind reels. If some organization comes up with a golden key that unlocks all iPhones, that golden key will find its way into nefarious hands. This is living proof of that.
Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge:
Amazon announced today a new service that gives its couriers access to a person’s vehicle for the purpose of leaving package deliveries inside. But rather than use smart locks and a cloud-connected camera to gain entry, Amazon wants to use the connected technologies embedded in many modern vehicles today. The company is launching this new service in partnership with two major automakers — General Motors and Volvo — and will be rolling out in 37 cities in the US starting today.
Amazon creep, first through your front door, and now into your car. Interesting liability issue. If something goes wrong with an in-house delivery, presumably the Amazon camera would be theft deterrent, obvious evidence, and proof of delivery.
But that’s missing with an in-car delivery. You could minimize an issue by emptying your trunk first. But many cars give you access to the main car compartment once you can open the tailgate or trunk lid. And there’s no cloud-based camera to prove delivery catch theft.
It’ll be interesting to watch this unfold.
Side note: Audi and Amazon did a test-run of this back in 2015.
The first thing that struck me about Jean-Louis’ Amazon-centric Monday Note was this quote from Amazon’s shareholder letter, regarding memos:
“We don’t do PowerPoint (or any other slide-oriented) presentations at Amazon. Instead, we write narratively structured six-page memos. We silently read one at the beginning of each meeting in a kind of ‘study hall.’ Not surprisingly, the quality of these memos varies widely. Some have the clarity of angels singing. They are brilliant and thoughtful and set up the meeting for high-quality discussion. Sometimes they come in at the other end of the spectrum.”
Fascinating. OK, back to the topic at hand:
Amazon now has 100M Prime subscribers and is a respected, if not feared, supplier of video content, some of which is home-grown and recognized as world-class. Amazon has the means — and the need — to envelop its Prime subscribers in its Everything walled garden. An Amazon Fire TV set finishes the job the Alexa-powered Echo devices started. After a hard day’s work, you come home, ask your Amazon TV to turn the AC on, order dinner from the nearest Whole Foods store, and watch the latest Harry Bosch episode.
I do agree that Amazon’s focus on Fire TV sets is an important chess move and step toward their own walled garden. But, as I’ve said before, they are missing a critical element, a phone with wide adoption. If Amazon ever found a way to ship a phone that competed well with iPhone or, if it was Android-based, ate significantly into the Samsung/Google/etc. marketshare, that’d be trouble for Apple.
In addition, a Fire TV set solves the “Input 1” problem, the default connection that comes up when you turn the TV on. Not important? Think of the billion (or billions — some say three) that Google is rumored to pay Apple to be its default search engine on the iPhone.
Fascinating point. What comes on when you turn on your TV? For me (and, I’d argue for most folks), my TV defaults to whatever input I was watching last. But a TV that makes it super easy to watch Amazon video content with some frictionless combination of built-in seamless UX and tightly integrated remote? That’d have value, I think.
Apple TV is still a second class citizen for me. Or, at best, a peer to my cable package that requires me to keep two remotes handy and switch inputs regularly. I would love a more integrated solution.
Jean-Louis always keeps me thinking. Note his use of mutatis mutandis. Had to grab the dictionary for that one.
TechCrunch:
(Data Download) lets users export their photos, videos, archived Stories, profile, info, comments, and non-ephemeral messages, though it can take a few hours to days for your download to be ready.
An Instagram spokesperson now confirms to TechCrunch that “the Data Download tool is currently accessible to everyone on the web, but access via iOS and Android is still rolling out.”
The tool’s launch is necessary for Instagram to comply with the data portability rule in European Union’s GDPR privacy law that goes into effect on May 25th. But it’s also a reasonable concession. Instagram has become the dominant image sharing social network with over 800 million users. It shouldn’t need to lock up users’ data in order to keep them around.
I’ve gone and requested my Instagram data. I’m not leaving the service just yet but I want my own backups of what I’ve posted to Instagram.
MobileReviews:
In the past few months, we have used 8 iPhone Qi-Chargers. During those months of testing, thereʼs only one that weʼd actually recommend people on getting.
Our pick is the Anker Powerwave. We like it not because of the fast charge capability but because of the physical design.
But Anker Powerwave is not actually the fastest Qi-charger despite our liking to it. Pictek Fast Wireless Charger is actually the fastest among the bunch.
Even though I have an iPhone X, I have yet to bother with any kind of “wireless” charger. But if you’re in the market for one, this review may help.
I’ve never seen the movie in theaters and only once or twice on a TV screen. Whether it was because of that or my young age at viewing, I never understood the movie. I liked its visuals but I remember being confused by this “difficult, ambiguous, modernist landmark”. I’d love to be able to see it as an adult and see if I understand it any better now. Probably not.
TechCrunch:
Today at the Gramercy Theater in NYC, Spotify’s Chief R&D Officer Gustav Söderström announced a brand new free version of the Spotify mobile app.
By leveraging their investment in machine learning, Spotify’s new free tier recommends music to users on the fly. That said, the free tier has always limited users to shuffle. With the new version, users can listen on-demand to whatever song they want, as many times as they want, as long as those songs appear on one of the 15 personalized discovery playlists like Daily Mix, Discover Weekly, Release Radar or Today’s Top Hits.
My wife prefers Spotify over Apple Music (Apple Music’s selection of her favourite tunes is woefully inadequate) so this news will make her happy.
I’ve spoken with countless people over the years about how I use Apple Music, and how I get the most from the service. One thing I noticed is that many of these people stopped using the service and only listened to songs they had downloaded on their iPhone. I believe the reason they do that is they feel overwhelmed.
Having access to 40 million songs is a beautiful thing, but it can also be daunting. One common thread from the people I talked to is how they tried to use Apple Music.
For the most part, people would think of bands that they liked and try to add all of those albums to their Library. After days of searching and adding music, remembering bands and adding them, Apple Music became more of a chore than an enjoyable app for them to open.
So, I set out to find a way to help these people enjoy Apple Music, build up their Library, and make their For You section customized, so they could instantly listen to Playlist and albums recommended by Apple Music.
There are two main things I came up with to make this happen:
• Apple Music should be something you listen to, not work on all the time. In other words, you shouldn’t have to continually search and add music for the service to work correctly.
• You have to give Apple Music feedback. They say that feedback is a gift—in this case, it’s true. Apple Music will reward you for your efforts.
One of the friends I tried this approach with likes the same type of music that I do—Hard Rock, Metal, Classic Metal, and Classic Rock. I could see and evaluate his results because I knew the music. I also tried it with other people—they used different genres, and it worked just as well.
What I told them to do is very simple: Stop worrying about adding music to your library and listen. I recommended listening to the Apple Music Radio stations for the music genres they liked. As they heard songs they enjoyed, Love them. If they truly loved a song or album, add it to their Library.
This approach did a few things for them. It allowed them to get away from the drudgery of just searching and adding music to their Library, and let them enjoy music again. It also increased the chances that their For You section was giving them music that would want to listen to, from new and recommended albums, to daily Playlists.
Each one of them is building up their Library organically now, instead of trying to do it all at once. They also don’t have to think about what they want to play because Apple Music Radio does all of the thinking for them.
In my opinion, the Apple Music Radio genre stations are the best in the business, and they have changed the way I listen to music. I have a great mix of classic songs and new music that keeps me interested and listening every single day.
This approach is a straightforward way to enjoy Apple Music, but it’s one that has worked for quite a few people.
Taking away that feeling of being overwhelmed by 40 million songs and having people listen to, and enjoy, the music feels like a triumph. That is, after all, what Apple Music is all about—listening.
Canada’s very own “Most Interesting Man in the World” debunks space myths.
An appeal by Apple and Ireland against a European Union ruling for the U.S. firm to pay 13 billion euros ($16 billion) in disputed taxes is likely to be heard before the end of the year, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on Tuesday.
Apple and Ireland both say the company paid all the taxes that were due, but I can’t see the court reversing the EU decision.
Online streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music have become the recording industry’s single biggest revenue source, overtaking physical sales of CDs and digital downloads for the first time, a trade group said on Tuesday.
This, of course, comes as no big surprise. I still buy albums from iTunes for the bands I really love, but streaming on Apple Music is now the norm. What’s still unclear to me is how the musicians are doing financially with the rise of streaming services.
Christian Zibreg, iDownloadBlog:
Downloading watchOS software to your Apple Watch is a tremendously slow process.
It can take anywhere between half an hour to an hour or more to send a watchOS software update to your wrist. Because it’s such a sluggish experience, I try to update my watch only when I’m positive I won’t be using it for a few hours, like right before I’m about to hit the bed.
And:
I’ll let you in on a secret: sliding the Bluetooth toggle to the OFF position in Settings → Bluetooth on your iPhone will speed up watchOS software updates dramatically.
But timing matters here. Follow the link for the details. This is an interesting tip. Of course, you can just let the update happen overnight. But personally, I find the details fascinating, worth the read.
This is from 2014, but just came across it yesterday. A fascinating stroll through Apple’s advertising history. Check out the address on that first ad:
Apple Computer Company
770 Welch Road, Suite 154
Palo Alto, California 94304
Popped that address into Apple Maps and I see that it is now the Palo Alto Endoscopy Center. It’s a block away from the Stanford Apple Store on some prime Stanford real estate.
The first ad pushes the speed and elegance of the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X Portrait Lighting. Android is not mentioned by name, but pretty sure that’s what’s meant by “your phone” (all lower case).
The second ad is about security against malware, this time comparing “your store” (all lower case) with the App Store. The exploding malware nose icon was a pretty good bit.
Washington Post:
On Amazon, customer comments can help a product surge in popularity. The online retail giant says that more than 99 percent of its reviews are legitimate because they are written by real shoppers who aren’t paid for them.
But a Washington Post examination found that for some popular product categories, such as Bluetooth headphones and speakers, the vast majority of reviews appear to violate Amazon’s prohibition on paid reviews. Such reviews have certain characteristics, such as repetitive wording that people probably cut and paste in.
OK, this is pretty old news. Terrible news, but fake reviews have been around for some time. But:
Many of these fraudulent reviews originate on Facebook, where sellers seek shoppers on dozens of networks, including Amazon Review Club and Amazon Reviewers Group, to give glowing feedback in exchange for money or other compensation. The practice artificially inflates the ranking of thousands of products, experts say, misleading consumers.
Amazon does periodic purges to wipe out those reviewers, but:
But the ban, sellers and experts say, merely pushed an activity that used to take place openly into dispersed and harder-to-track online communities.
There, an economy of paid reviews has flourished. Merchants pledge to drop reimbursements into a reviewer’s PayPal account within minutes of posting comments for items such as kitchen knives, rain ponchos or shower caddies, often sweetening the deal with a $5 commission or a $10 Amazon gift card. Facebook this month deleted more than a dozen of the groups where sellers and buyers matched after being contacted by The Post. Amazon kicked a five-star seller off its site after an inquiry from The Post.
And:
Suspicious or fraudulent reviews are crowding out authentic ones in some categories, The Post found using ReviewMeta data. ReviewMeta examines red flags, such as an unusually large number of reviews that spike over a short period of time or “sock puppet” reviewers who appear to have cut and pasted stock language.
For example, of the 47,846 total reviews for the first 10 products listed in an Amazon search for “bluetooth speakers,” two-thirds were problematic, based on calculations using the ReviewMeta tool. So were more than half of the 32,435 reviews for the top 10 Bluetooth headphones listed.
Nice work by the Washington Post here. Just another example of everything is broken. Sigh.
Deadline:
Apple just won an auction for world screen rights to Songwriter, the Murray Cummings-directed documentary that shows singer Ed Sheeran as he finds the handle on writing and performing his distinctive songs. Deal is low to mid-seven figures for world rights, and Apple will make it an event release that includes a theatrical component along with release on Apple’s multiple platforms. The film made its world premiere in Berlin, and tonight the docu is making its North American premiere in the Tribeca Film Festival.
I read that as $1-$5 million. Another brick on the content pile. It will be interesting to see the platform Apple is planning to turn this investment into revenue. Will this content be a draw to extend Apple Music? Will they build a separate Apple Video platform? When will the curtain be pulled back on all this investment?
Google owner Alphabet Inc reported first-quarter sales and profit Monday that topped financial analysts’ estimates due to strong ad sales and a change in accounting for investments in startups, sending its shares up about 1 percent after hours.
Overall, Alphabet posted a $9.4 billion profit on sales of $31.1 billion.