A lot of Apple rumors
AR glasses, new redesigned MacBook, an Apple car...
👋 Welcome to FWIW by David Tvrdon, your weekly tech, media & audio digest.
🌐 Online version. 👉 Be sure to subscribe, if you were sent this newsletter.
This week The Fix published two pieces by me:
an interview with Telex.hu editor-in-chief Veronika Munk: Hungarian startup Telex crowdfunded almost €1 million to launch, now it’s looking to sustainability
my take on having a general news site in Europe: Why the pan-European news site idea is so intriguing and the reality so impossible
P.S.: Hello to all the new subscribers and sorry for the late edition of this newsletter, had a super busy week, will do better next week. Usually, I try to send this newsletter Thursday morning, so fingers crossed.
In this edition
👓 Apple’s secret AR project details
🔍 Why is Google threatening to pull search in Australia
💬 Other tech, media, audio & podcasting news
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In other news
TECH
🍏 Apple news
AR glasses: Apple’s next big thing. We have already heard Apple is working on a “secret” big project, possibly the biggest since the launch of the iPhone. It will be glasses for augmented reality, though the first step coming possibly in 2022 will be a virtual reality headset. The VR market is at the moment dominated by Facebook (~40%), followed by Sony (~20%). [Bloomberg]
Apple plans upgraded MacBook Pros. And here is the big news: supposedly, bringing back the magnetic charging (MagSafe), 14-inch and 16-inch versions are due to come out, Apple will include multiple USB-C ports and remove the Touch Bar. [Bloomberg]
A redesigned iMac is on the way. It will be the first redesign of the iMac series in 10 years and should have the new Arm-based chip. [Bloomberg]
Foldable iPhones? The company is testing foldable screens, with no launch plans yet. Also, Apple is testing an in-screen fingerprint scanner. [Bloomberg]
A how would you feel about an Apple car? The company has been making moves, already testing a few vehicles with self-driving technology in California. “The only thing we do actually know with certainty is that they have been developing and testing automated driving systems,” says Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights told Axios. [Axios]
🤖 Google AI Research: Looking Back at 2020, and Forward to 2021. [Google Blog]
🇺🇸 The Biden administration wants the government to have up to date websites. An ex-Googler is tasked with making sure all the websites are on the industry-standard level. The WhiteHouse.gov website has several new accessibility features, including dark mode, a large text mode, and the website’s contact form now also allows the user to input their preferred pronouns. [The Verge]
MEDIA
💬 Telegram is a convenient tool for extremists. As the app grows in popularity (surpassed 500M active users globally and added 25 million new users in just 72 hours), so will increase the scrutiny of the media, and perhaps soon the regulators will be looking at it. [Vox]
🧑⚖️ Facebook’s Oversight Board accepts a case on former US President Trump’s indefinite suspension from Facebook and Instagram. In a twist of events, still, not surprisingly, Facebook vowed that the company will restore Trump’s accounts if the Oversight Board decides that in its ruling. [Oversight Board]
📩 Forbes launches a massive expansion of paid newsletters. <insert Substack joke> I keep telling everyone newsletters are the future, especially for publishers with a digital subscription/membership program. [Axios]
📺 Netflix had a really good year. Netflix Q4 earnings were reported and the streaming giant now has more than 203 million subscribers and says it won’t have to borrow any more money. [Bloomberg]
📱 Kids’ screen time is up 50% during the pandemic. [Axios]
🔍 Google signs deal to provide payments to French publishers. After several months of negotiations, a deal towards offering digital copyright payments was signed. [DW]
RELATED: Google threatens to disable its search engine in Australia it’s forced to pay local publishers for news. [Bloomberg]
🤦♂️ Maybe 2021 will be marked as the year VCs from Silicon Valley start their own news sites. VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is expanding its tech and business-related content publication to include opinion pieces from contributors. [The Information]
RELATED: A look at a16z’s communication efforts over the years, as the firm expands its own media operations and has largely stopped cooperating with reporters [Newcomer]
AUDIO & PODCASTING
🎙️ The Ezra Klein Show has a new home with an old host. The popular podcast has moved with the host from Vox to The New York Times and now new episodes will drop twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday starting January 26. [NY Times]
⏩ Apple is discussing launching a new subscription service that would charge people to listen to podcasts. An additional subscription to beef up Apple One would make sense for Apple, although it might also mean that podcasting is getting more closed. [The Information]
🏦 Pocket Casts is for sale, anyone? The popular podcast app is up for sale again.[Current]
💸 Anchor’s podcast sponsor project might be a bubble. The promise was that through the feature smaller podcasters could get paid if they joined Anchor’s sponsor project.But it seems the only advertiser who cares for such an audience is Spotify and it is advertising Anchor.[The Verge]
🎧 Podcasting is 20 years old. Wednesday marked podcasting’s 20th birthday [Podnews]
OTHER
👔 9 trends that will shape work in 2021 and beyond. [Harvard Business Review]
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