Netflix begins streaming in AV1 on Android

Netflix announced this week that it has started to stream titles in AV1 on Android in what could significantly help the two-year-old media codec gain wider adoption.

The world’s biggest streaming giant said on Wednesday that by switching from Google’s VP9 — which it previously used on Android — to AV1, its compression efficiency has gone up by 20%.

At the moment, only “select titles” are available to stream in AV1 for subscribers “who wish to reduce their cellular data usage by enabling the ‘Save Data’ feature,” the American firm said.

Netflix hasn’t shared much about the benefit AV1 will provide to customers, but the new media codec’s acceptance nonetheless sends a message by itself.

Tech giants, including Google, have spent years developing and improving media codecs as consumption of data skyrocketed and low-cost devices began to sell like hotcakes. But they just can’t seem to settle on one media codec and universally support it.

Think of Safari and YouTube, for instance. You can’t stream YouTube videos in 4K resolution on Safari, because Apple’s browser does not support Google’s VP9. And Google does not support HEVC for 4K videos on YouTube.

AV1 is supposed to be the savior media codec that gets universal support. It’s royalty-free and it works atop of open-source dav1d decoder that has been built by VideoLAN, best known for its widely popular media player VLC and FFmpeg communities. It is sponsored by the Alliance for Open Media.

Who are the members of Alliance for Open Media? Nearly all the big guys: Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Nvidia, ARM, Facebook, Microsoft, Mozilla, Samsung and Tencent, among others.

But that’s not to say there aren’t roadblocks in the adoption of AV1. Compared to HEVC — the format that AV1 is supposed to replace in popularity — encoding in AV1 was noticeably slower a year ago, as per some benchmark tests.

Adoption of AV1 by various browsers, according to analytics firm StatCounter. Safari is yet to support it.

Netflix’s announcement suggests that things have improved. The streaming giant said its goal is to support AV1 on all of its platforms. “In the spirit of making AV1 widely available, we are sponsoring an open-source effort to optimize 10-bit performance further and make these gains available to all,” it said in a blog post.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/376cBZ8

Netflix begins streaming in AV1 on Android

Netflix announced this week that it has started to stream titles in AV1 on Android in what could significantly help the two-year-old media codec gain wider adoption.

The world’s biggest streaming giant said on Wednesday that by switching from Google’s VP9 — which it previously used on Android — to AV1, its compression efficiency has gone up by 20%.

At the moment, only “select titles” are available to stream in AV1 for subscribers “who wish to reduce their cellular data usage by enabling the ‘Save Data’ feature,” the American firm said.

Netflix hasn’t shared much about the benefit AV1 will provide to customers, but the new media codec’s acceptance nonetheless sends a message by itself.

Tech giants, including Google, have spent years developing and improving media codecs as consumption of data skyrocketed and low-cost devices began to sell like hotcakes. But they just can’t seem to settle on one media codec and universally support it.

Think of Safari and YouTube, for instance. You can’t stream YouTube videos in 4K resolution on Safari, because Apple’s browser does not support Google’s VP9. And Google does not support HEVC for 4K videos on YouTube.

AV1 is supposed to be the savior media codec that gets universal support. It’s royalty-free and it works atop of open-source dav1d decoder that has been built by VideoLAN, best known for its widely popular media player VLC and FFmpeg communities. It is sponsored by the Alliance for Open Media.

Who are the members of Alliance for Open Media? Nearly all the big guys: Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Nvidia, ARM, Facebook, Microsoft, Mozilla, Samsung and Tencent, among others.

But that’s not to say there aren’t roadblocks in the adoption of AV1. Compared to HEVC — the format that AV1 is supposed to replace in popularity — encoding in AV1 was noticeably slower a year ago, as per some benchmark tests.

Adoption of AV1 by various browsers, according to analytics firm StatCounter. Safari is yet to support it.

Netflix’s announcement suggests that things have improved. The streaming giant said its goal is to support AV1 on all of its platforms. “In the spirit of making AV1 widely available, we are sponsoring an open-source effort to optimize 10-bit performance further and make these gains available to all,” it said in a blog post.

from Android – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/376cBZ8
via IFTTT

Apple unifies its app stores by extending the universal purchase option to Mac apps

Apple surprised its app developer community today with the official announcement that they’ll soon be able to sell their cross-platform apps as one universal purchase, including, for the time, apps that run on macOS. For consumers, a universal purchase option allows them to just pay once for an app that works across devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and/or Mac. Developers, meanwhile, will be able to entice customers to buy their Mac and iOS app together, or other combinations of apps. They’ll also be able to more easily sync customers’ in-app purchases and subscriptions across platforms.

Apple says support for universal purchase will roll out in March 2020.

In preparation for the changes, the App Store categories will be unified across the iOS App Store and Mac App Store, to make apps more “discoverable,” Apple says.

Apple’s App Store categories are rarely updated, so this too is a notable change that will impact all developers — including those without a universal app bundle to sell. By listing their app in a new category, developers may have a better shot at ranking higher on the list of Top apps, compared with competing in an existing category alongside far more apps.

On iOS, developers will be able to list their app in two new categories: “Developer Tools” and “Graphics & Design.”

The Mac App Store is gaining several other categories coming from iOS, including “Books,” “Food & Drink,” “Magazines & Newspapers,” “Navigation” and “Shopping.”

In addition, the “Photography” and “Video” categories on the Mac App Store will be combined into “Photo & Video,” to better sync up with iOS. And “Kids” will no longer be a subcategory within “Games” on the Mac App Store.

Apple says developers can choose to either create a new app for these platforms using a single app record in App Store Connect, or they can add platforms to an existing app record to take advantage of the new universal purchase option. The feature will be enabled by default for Mac Catalyst apps and made available to non-Catalyst apps, too.

Developers can download the Xcode 11.4 beta update released today to get started, but the option doesn’t go live for the public until the March launch date.

This isn’t the first time that developers have been able to distribute their apps together as one purchase, to be clear. If you’ve ever bought an iPhone app and gained the iPad or Apple Watch app alongside it, for example, you are already familiar with this universal purchase option. What’s new is that Apple is now bringing this same functionality to Mac apps for the first time.

Of course, a universal purchase doesn’t make sense for all apps, so developers will need to weigh the pros and cons for themselves, based on how they want to do business. But the option does represent a significant step in unifying the separate app ecosystems Apple offers, which could spur more Mac app development in years to come.

The Xcode beta was released today alongside other macOS and iOS betas, which together are bringing new features like screen time communication limits on Mac, head pointer tech for Mac, new Memoji stickers, CarPlay updates and iCloud folder sharing.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2vatbtG

Russia’s push back against big tech has major consequences for Apple

Josh Nadeau Contributor

Josh Nadeau is a Canadian journalist based in St. Petersburg who covers the intersection of Russia, technology and culture. He has written for The Economist, Atlas Obscura and The Outline.

Last month, Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize Apple for not unlocking two iPhones belonging to the Pensacola shooter, another volley in the struggle between big tech and the world’s governing bodies. But even the White House’s censure pales in comparison to the Kremlin’s ongoing plans. Apple, as the timing would have it, also happens to be in Vladimir Putin’s sights.

The company’s long-running policy of not preloading third-party software onto its devices is coming up against a new piece of Russian legislation requiring every smart device to be sold with certain applications already installed, many of which are produced by the government. Inside the country, the policy has even been called the zakon protiv Apple, or the “law against Apple,” for how it disproportionately affects the tech giant. While the law was passed last November, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service released the full list of apps only last week.

These regulations form the latest move in what’s turning out to be one of the largest national campaigns for digital control outside of Asia. These laws have been steadily accumulating since 2014 and are described as a way of consolidating sovereignty over the digital space — threatening to push companies out of the country if they fail to comply. Apple, for instance, will have to choose by July 1 whether maintaining access to the Russian market is worth making a revolutionary change in their policy. The same choice is given to any company wishing to do business in the country.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2UtdEQ3

Russia’s push back against Big Tech has major consequences for Apple

Josh Nadeau Contributor

Josh Nadeau is a Canadian journalist based in St. Petersburg who covers the intersection of Russia, technology and culture. He has written for The Economist, Atlas Obscura and The Outline.

Last month, Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize Apple for not unlocking two iPhones belonging to the Pensacola shooter, another volley in the struggle between big tech and the world’s governing bodies. But even the White House’s censure pales in comparison to the Kremlin’s ongoing plans. Apple, as the timing would have it, also happens to be in Vladimir Putin’s sights.

The company’s long-running policy of not preloading third-party software onto its devices is coming up against a new piece of Russian legislation requiring every smart device to be sold with certain applications already installed, many of which are produced by the government. Inside the country, the policy has even been called the zakon protiv Apple, or the “law against Apple,” for how it disproportionately affects the tech giant. While the law was passed last November, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service released the full list of apps only last week.

These regulations form the latest move in what’s turning out to be one of the largest national campaigns for digital control outside of Asia. These laws have been steadily accumulating since 2014 and are described as a way of consolidating sovereignty over the digital space — threatening to push companies out of the country if they fail to comply. Apple, for instance, will have to choose by July 1 whether maintaining access to the Russian market is worth making a revolutionary change in their policy. The same choice is given to any company wishing to do business in the country.

from Android – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2UtdEQ3
via IFTTT

Apple News adds coverage of 2020 US presidential election, including guides to candidates, issues & news literacy

As it has done in previous election years, Apple today has added special coverage of the 2020 US presidential election to its Apple News app. The coverage includes curated news, information, and data related to the election from ABC News, CBS News, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Fox News, NBC News, ProPublica, Reuters, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, USA Today and others.

The Apple News editorial team has also put together a series of curated guides, special features and other resources for readers from both sides of the political spectrum, Apple says. The app will be updated with election information throughout the year and will track major election moments, including the debates, Super Tuesday, Democratic and Republican conventions, election night, and the 2021 presidential inauguration in real-time.

Apple had announced in December it was working in close partnership with ABC News on 2020 presidential election coverage within the Apple News app, which it said would begin on Feb. 7, 2020, with a live stream of the Democratic primary debate. It also said it would feature ABC News videos, live streams, and FiveThirtyEight polling data, infographics, and analysis during key moments of the 2020 election. It wasn’t clear at the time if Apple was working exclusively with ABC for this year’s election coverage, but today’s announcement indicates it is not.

Apple confirms today that ABC’s coverage will begin on Feb. 7, as promised, with live-streaming video, starting with the debate, plus FiveThirtyEight’s analysis, and real-time updates from various outlets. The Feb. 7 debate will also be live-streamed through the Apple TV app, available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and select Samsung and LG smart TVs.

In the Apple News app starting today, users will be able to track real-time election results from the Associated Press for each state primary, giving county-by-county results, a national map tracking candidate wins by state, and a delegate tracker that shows candidates’ progress toward securing the nomination.

As before, Apple News offers a guide to each presidential candidate, which includes their biography, experience, notable moments and quotes, and their current position on key issues. These guides will also include photos, videos and links to recent media coverage.

In addition, the Apple News team has put together dedicated guides to important topics and issues, including foreign affairs, income inequality, trade, immigration, education, health care and others, as well as a news literacy guide that help readers identify misinformation online. This guide, developed in partnership with the News Literacy Project, will provide tips about how to seek out accurate and reliable information.

Apple has been developing guides to U.S. elections for several years now. The company began to push its own election coverage after the 2016 election controversies that saw large tech companies, including Google, Twitter and Facebook, facing congressional inquiries and investigations regarding Russian interference with elections that took place across their networks. Since then, Apple News rolled out its own guide to the U.S. midterms, followed by a real-time election results hub on November 6, 2018. It also added a guide to the 2020 Democratic candidates and debates.

[gallery ids="1940892,1940893,1940894,1940895,1940896"]

 

To access the new 2020 election coverage available via the Today tab in Apple News in the U.S., users will need to update to iOS 13.3, iPadOS 13.3 or macOS 10.15.2.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/36U0zls

BlackBerry and TCL will end their handset partnership in August 2020

Big changes are ahead for BlackBerry and TCL as the smartphone market continues to see slowing growth. The pair announced today that they would end their four-year brand licensing and tech support partnership in August 2020, with TCL ceasing to make new models of BlackBerry handsets after then. TCL — which has only a 1% share of the whole smartphone market today — will continue to support models that are already in the market until August 31, 2022.

“We… regret to share… that as of August 31, 2020, TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry-branded mobile devices,” says the note, posted BlackBerry’s Twitter account. “TCL has no further rights to design, manufacturers or sell any new BlackBerry mobile devices.”

The company has yet to follow up with any more details about what this means for new BlackBerry handsets after that point. (We have asked directly but have not heard back. People asking on Twitter are also not getting any responses.)

The announcement caps off what has been a tough four years for the two companies.

BlackBerry, making devices using its own operating system, was once a market leader and trailblazer in the world of smartphones, with its small, full-qwerty keyboard gaining a loyal following among professional users, “prosumers” and other early adopters. That popularity lead to the Canada-founded company controlling some 50% of the smartphone market in the US and some 20% globally at its peak.

That was, however, before the rise of the touchscreen. After the launch of Apple’s iPhone and a slew of Android-powered handsets, Research In Motion (as the company was called then) gradually saw its share start to decline as it failed to produce compelling enough handsets to fit changing tastes.

RIM/BlackBerry appeared to be ready to leave the smartphone market altogether to focus instead on security, enterprise services and systems for other kinds of “hardware” like connected cars, until TCL came along.

TCL’s announcement in December of 2016 that it would take over making handsets, with BlackBerry to provide security and apps, but not the operating system, which would be Android — not unlike the partnership that another once-huge but now ageing handset brand, Nokia, struck up with HMD, just months before that, to make smartphones built on Android — looked like a new lease of life for BB.

But the change may have been too little, too late. The last few years have seen a general slowing down of smartphone growth, in large part due to market penetration in many countries: meaning, it’s much harder to shift devices than it used to be. And on top of that, there have been an army of new handset makers out of Asia, and also building on Android, that are dominating sales, led by Huawei but also including the likes of Xiaomi and Oppo, making the sales funnel even more challenging.

The end result has been that TCL and BlackBerry have struggled to break through with significant sales — falling instead into the large, and largely fragmented, “other” category in smartphone market share reports.

StrategyAnalytics tells me that TCL has only a 1% share of the global smartphone market covering both its BlackBerry and Alcatel brands (the latter is another legacy mobile handset brand that TCL resuscitated).

More recently, TCL has been wading into the market with its own-branded devices alongside its efforts with BlackBerry and Alcate), and so the writing was, perhaps, already on the touchscreen, so to speak.

We’ve reached out to BlackBerry to find out if it can tell us any more on its plans for handsets going forward, of if this is really it. BlackBerry has inked some licensing partnerships in specific markets, such as this handset deal in Indonesia, so there may be yet more to come.

from Android – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2ShvcMa
via IFTTT