Monday, February 5, 2018

Apple Watch, AirPods drive Wearables rev 70%, outpacing size, growth of Amazon ads, Google Cloud, Alphabet Other Bets

Apple Watch, AirPods drive Wearables rev 70%, outpacing size, growth of Amazon ads, Google Cloud, Alphabet Other Bets - Article Image

Apple is criticized for making much of its revenues from one hit product: iPhone. However, its newest foray into Wearables has not only become its fastest-growing revenue source behind iPhone, but is also larger and growing more rapidly than other top tech firms' hyped future growth segments, such as Amazon's ads business, Google's Cloud and Alphabet's Other Bets.

(Via AppleInsider.)

Apple offers special badge, iMessage stickers for Apple Watch owners during Heart Month

Apple offers special badge, iMessage stickers for Apple Watch owners during Heart Month - Article Image

To mark American Heart Month, which promotes cardiovascular health, Apple is launching a special Activity Challenge for the Apple Watch, which comes with a badge and three animated iMessage stickers for whoever completes it.

(Via AppleInsider.)

Google Releases YouTube TV App for Apple TV (and Roku)

Google Releases YouTube TV App for Apple TV (and Roku) -

A lot of people are looking at HomePod’s exclusive first-class support for Apple Music and see selfish intent. Apple isn’t working with Spotify or other services because they want everyone to use Apple’s media ecosystem for everything, is the thinking. Maybe! But maybe HomePod only works with Apple Music for now. I don’t know, and Apple isn’t going to tell anyone.

But look at Apple TV. There’s still no “skinny bundle” from Apple itself but now you use Apple TV to watch YouTube’s TV package, Playstation’s, and I’m sure others. There’s certainly no lock-in to the Apple media ecosystem on Apple TV. I think a lot of this is just a big complicated mess behind the scenes.

(To be clear, because I see a lot of misinformation on this front: You can play Spotify or anything else on HomePod, but only over AirPlay, not just by talking to the device like you can with Apple Music and iTunes Store music.)

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Video: How to permanently disable macOS High Sierra upgrade notifications

Video: How to permanently disable macOS High Sierra upgrade notifications -

Every time you boot a Mac running an older version of macOS, you'll likely see at least one pop-up notification urging you to download and install the latest macOS High Sierra operating system.

(Via AppleInsider.)

Apple begins wide collection of Apple Watch data for Heart Study

Apple begins wide collection of Apple Watch data for Heart Study - Article Image

Apple this week began collecting heart rate data from a wide number of Apple Watch owners who signed up to participate in a heart study being conducted in cooperation with Stanford Health.

(Via AppleInsider.)

Apple Music poised to overtake Spotify in US, possibly this summer

Apple Music poised to overtake Spotify in US, possibly this summer - Article Image

Assuming current subscriber growth rates hold steady, Apple Music should surpass Spotify -- if only in the U.S. -- sometime this summer, a report claimed on Sunday.

(Via AppleInsider.)

A tiny NASA satellite mapped Earth’s atmospheric ice

A tiny NASA satellite mapped Earth’s atmospheric ice - Last May, NASA launched a small, bread loaf-sized satellite into orbit around Earth. Dubbed IceCube, the satellite's mission was to measure cloud ice in our planet's atmosphere -- a challenging task that researchers have previously only been able to...

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)