It’s tough to keep track of time in the middle of a global pandemic, but apparently three months has passed since Apple’s last quarterly earnings report. So here we are again, with Apple executives reporting record revenues almost sheepishly while going to great lengths to praise their co-workers and customers for their resilience during trying times.
As usual, in Apple’s hourly conference call with financial analysts, there are a few interesting things that stick out of the talk of OpEx and OI&E and other financial industry buzzwords. Here are some of them.
For some customers, today is iPhone 12 launch day.
What you need to know
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are launching in more countries.
Countries in the October 30 launch include India and South Korea.
The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will go on preorder on November 6.
It's October 30 in some places in the world already, and that means it's iPhone 12 launch day.
Reported by MacRumors, the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are beginning to launch in more countries around the world. Now, customers in countries like India and South Korea can purchase the new iPhones.
iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are now available in additional countries and regions, including India and South Korea, where the calendar has already turned to October 30 launch day. The devices can be purchased from select retailers, including the Apple Store in South Korea, while online orders are set to begin arriving to customers.
The report notes that the new iPhones will launch in about fifteen more countries on Friday, October 30.
The full list of countries where the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro are launching includes Andorra, Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Greenland, Iceland, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macau, Malta, South Korea, and Ukraine. Carrier Ooredoo has also started accepting pre-orders in the Maldives, with shipments to begin in November.
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro launched in the United States, as well as thirty other countries, on October 23. The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available to preorder on November 6 with a launch date of November 13.
iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro | From $699 at Apple
Pre-orders are now open for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro at Apple. Devices will begin shipping on October 23.
Brydge is launching its holiday sale early this year.
What you need to know
Brydge has launched its holiday sale.
The sale offers savings of up to $70 off its products.
Items in the sale include keyboards, docks, and hubs.
Brydge, the company behind a number of popular keyboards for the iPad lineup and other Mac accessories, has launched an early holiday sale on a ton of its products. Customers can save as much as $70 off one of the iPad keyboards and enjoy other savings on their MacBook docks and hubs as well.
The Brydge iPad keyboards are a popular alternative to Apple's own iPad keyboard lineup, offering an almost MacBook-like experience for the iPad. The keyboards can even sport up to three months of battery life and support firmware updates through an app.
You can check out the full list of what is on sale below:
iPad
Brydge 7.9: $89.99 ($10 off)
For iPad mini (4th & 5th Gen)
Brydge 9.7: $59.99 ($40 off)
For iPad (5th Gen), iPad Pro 9.7-inch, iPad Air 2 & iPad
Brydge 9.7: $59.99 ($40 off)
For iPad 6th Gen
Brydge 10.2: $99.99 ($30 off)
For iPad (8th & 7th Gen)
Brydge 10.5 SII: $59.99 ($70 off)
For iPad Air (3rd Gen)
Brydge 10.5: $59.99 ($70 off)
For iPad Pro 10.5-inch
Brydge 11.0 Pro: $129.99 ($30 off)
For iPad Pro (2020 & 2018) and iPad Air 4
Brydge 12.9 Pro: $129.99 ($40 off)
For iPad Pro (2020 & 2018)
Brydge 11 Pro+: $159.99 ($40 off)
For iPad Pro (2020 & 2018) and iPad Air 4
Brydge 12.9 Pro+: $179.99 ($50 off)
For iPad Pro (2020 & 2018)
Vertical docks
13-inch MacBook Pro Vertical Dock: $149.99 ($20 off)
For 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
15-inch MacBook Pro Vertical Dock: $149.99 ($20 off)
For 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
Multiport desktop hubs
Stone Pro: $199.99 ($50 off)
For all Thunderbolt™ 3 devices
You can check out and purchase any of the items on sale now directly through Brydge.
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What does a hologram-obsessed entrepreneur do for a second act after setting up a virtual Ronald Reagan in the Reagan Memorial Library, or beaming Jimmy Kimmel all the way from Hollywood to the Country Music Awards in Nashville?
If that entrepreneur is David Nussbaum, the founder of PORTL Hologram, the next logical step is to build a machine that can bring the joy of hologram-based communication to the masses.
That’s the goal thanks to a new $3 million round that Nussbaum’s company raised from famed venture investor Tim Draper, former Electronic Arts executive Doug Barry and longtime awards-show producer Joe Lewis.
Barry is not only backing the company, he’s also coming on board as its first chief operating officer.
Much of this interest can be traced back to the hologram performance given posthumously by Tupac Shakur back at Coachella about eight years ago.
Nussbaum turned the excitement generated by that event into a business. He bought the patents that powered Tupac’s beyond-the-grave performance, and used the technology to beam Julian Assange out of the Ecuadoran embassy he had been holed up in during his years in London and making dead stars live (and tour) again.
Those visual feats were basically just an updated version of the Pepper’s Ghost technique that stage illusionists and moviemakers have been using since it was invented by John Pepper in the 19th century.
The PORTL is a significant upgrade, according to Nussbaum.
The projector can transmit images any time of the day or night, and using PORTL’s capture studio-in-a-box means that anyone with $60,000 to spend and a white background can beam themselves into any portal anywhere in the world.
The company has sold a hundred devices and already delivered several dozen to shopping malls, airports and movie theater lobbies. “We’ve manufactured and delivered several dozen,” Nussbaum said.
Part of the selling point, beyond just the gimmick of the hologram’s next-level verisimilitude, is its interactivity. Through the studio rig and PORTL hardware, users can hear what people standing around the PORTL are saying and then respond.
For its next trick, PORTL is looking to build a miniaturized version of its system that would be about the size of a desktop computer and could be used to both record and distribute the holograms to anyone with a PORTL device.
“The minis will have all of the features to capture your content and rotoscope you out of our background and have the studio effects that is important in displaying your realistic volumetric like effect and they will beam you to any other device,” Nussbaum said.
To build out the business, the PORTL minis will have more than just communications capabilities, but recorded entertainment as well, Nussbaum said.
“The minis will be bundled with content like Peloton and Mirror bundled with very specific types of content. We are in conversations with a number of extremely well-known content creators where we would bundle a portal but will also have dedicated and exclusive content… [and] bundle that for $39 to $49 per month.”
It’s a vision that Nussbaum admits is far more expansive than his intentions — and the person he has to thank for the more ambitious vision of the business is none other than Draper.
“When I started this I thought it was going to be a novelty company,” he said. “When the pandemic hit he knew we needed to do much more than that.”
Remember Quibi, short-lived media company and purveyor of bizarre shows like Murder House Flip and a horror anthology featuring a golden arm? It’s only been a little over a week since the mobile-first, shortform streamer announced it was shuttering, but already the first of its unreleased shows has found a new home: Lil Yachty’s dramedy, Public Figures, is headed to HBO Max. It seems pieces of Quibi might live on — whether you watched it or not.
There are any number of VPN services you can use to help protect your privacy and security with an encrypted internet connection, and now Google has its own. Well, technically, it already did, but only for Google Fi cellular subscribers on Android smartphones. Now, the company’s announcing it’ll throw in an Android-based VPN free of charge to any 2TB Google One cloud storage subscriber in the US — and will expand to iOS, Windows and Mac and other countries “in the coming months.”
As you can see in the image above, you’ll need to be on the 2TB Google One plan which costs $9.99 a month or $99 per year, so it’s not exactly a free VPN. But if you’re interested, this Google GIF shows you how to turn it on:
The closures are in response to the country returning to a national lockdown.
France intends to stay in lockdown until November 1.
Reported by 9to5Mac, Apple is temporarily closing a number of its retail stores in France as the country prepares to re-enter a nationwide lockdown due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. The lockdown is set to go into place tomorrow, October 30.
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced new lockdown measures set to begin on Friday and last through December 1. Nonessential businesses, restaurants, and cafes will be closed in an effort to slow a recent uptick in COVID-19 infections. The restrictions also impact Apple Stores.
Apple has recently launched an "Express" format for some of its retail stores, which allow customers to pick up orders from a window at the front of the store. Apple retrofitted the stores this way to be able to continue to serve customers while ensuring safety for employees and customers alike.
Thanks to Express storefronts, a temporary service model Apple recently rolled out for safe and efficient product pickups, several Apple Stores in France will be able to serve customers in a limited capacity. Three stores in the country already transformed into Express storefronts in October. These locations do not accept walk-ins or offer Genius Support without an appointment. Customers with online orders or Genius Support appointments made before October 29 will be able to pick up their products.
9to5Mac currently lists the following stores in France as featuring Express storefronts:
Apple Opéra
Apple Les Quatre Temps
Apple Rosny 2
It is currently unclear when Apple will reopen the stores in France if, as planned, France's national lockdown lifts on November 1.
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
