Bragi, a company known for making some of the first wire-free headphones to compete with the AirPods, has exited the wearables market, reports Wareable.
Bragi says that its product business has been sold to a third-party buyer and that while it will continue to license its IP and artificial intelligence, it will no longer be making new devices.
From the company's CEO:
"Bragi's technology suite is applied beyond our own products to partners and headphone brands. The Dash Pro featured groundbreaking ultra efficient AI and software that could be updated with new features such as Amazon Alexa, language translation and personalised hearing. With the sale of our product business, Bragi has completed its transformation into a software, AI and IP licensing company."
The first wire-free headphones from Bragi, The Dash, debuted on Kickstarter in 2014. The company raised millions, and ahead of when the AirPods launched, Bragi announced an AirPods competitor, "The Headphone."
The Headphone was a cheaper version of The Dash designed specifically to compete with the AirPods, but Apple's AirPods were a major hit with Apple customers and we heard little else from Bragi after the launch of the Headphone and a follow up to the Dash called the Dash Pro. Bragi's products were decent, but were never quite able to measure up to the AirPods.
All products were out of stock on Bragi's website as of January 2019, though Bragi's CEO did not initially admit to the imminent closure of the company.
Bragi did not unveil who purchased the rights to its headphones products, but said Bragi customers who own Bragi devices will continue to be able to access support.
Apple was desperate to secure deals with The Washington Post or The New York Times for its recently announced Apple News+ service but was ultimately unable to persuade them to sign up despite a "vigorous courtship," according to a new report from Vanity Fair.
Shortly after Apple's Texture deal last spring, Apple began discussions with the two news sites, putting a "tremendous" amount of pressure on them and promising to significantly increase their readership.
"Eddy Cue was in and out of their offices really trying to woo them." Cue's elevator pitch, according to people familiar with the discussions, was, "We'll make you the most-read newspaper in the world."
Apple was aiming for access to the full content from the two newspapers, rather than a pared down offering or a selection of stories on a specific set of topics. Apple is said to have not wanted "limitations in terms of content."
Neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post could be convinced to join Apple News+. Both publications have successful online subscription offerings already. The New York Times charges $15 per month for a basic digital subscription, while The Washington Post charges $10. The newspapers get to keep 100 percent of the revenue brought in by those subscriptions.
Apple wanted to include full access to the content from the news sites for the $9.99 per month asking price of Apple News+. According to prior reports, Apple keeps 50 percent of the subscription revenue for Apple News+ and splits the other 50 percent among publishers based on how much time is spent consuming their content.
If The New York Times and The Washington Post joined Apple News+, their existing subscribers would have little reason to keep paying them $10 to $15 per month instead of paying the $9.99 subscription to Apple News+, which would also include other news content and magazines. Apple believes its huge subscriber base would ultimately bring more readers to the news sites, but neither newspaper was swayed by that argument.
Meredith Kopit Levin, the chief operating officer for The New York Times, told Vanity Fair that the newspaper wants to have a direct relationship with its readers.
"We've been pretty deliberate about saying that the best place you can experience journalism is through a relationship with a news provider. So far for us, that has meant a direct relationship with users. The more we have a relationship with users, the better we think our business will be, and the better the experience that we can provide to them."
A spokesperson for The Washington Post said that the paper's focus is on growing its own subscription base, which meant joining Apple News+ "just did not make sense" at the current time.
While Apple was not able to secure deals with either The Washington Post nor The New York Times, it did ink a deal with The Wall Street Journal. The full content from The Wall Street Journal is unlocked for Apple News+ subscribers even though a standard subscription starts at $19.49 per month for the first year, after which it goes up to $38.99.
There are caveats, though. A limited selection of general news and opinion pieces are promoted through Apple News+, and other content from The Wall Street Journal must be manually searched for. Apple News+ also only provides three days worth of archives from The Wall Street Journal.
According to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal has less to lose than other news sites. Its main subscriber base consists of corporate accounts and "high net-worth individuals" interested in business and finance news rather than the more general news content that will be promoted via Apple News+.
Apple has also secured deals with hundreds of magazines, and much of Apple News+ comprises access to magazines like National Geographic, Vogue, The New Yorker, and other high profile titles. Magazines also have less to lose than digital sites already offering subscriptions as most don't have established digital subscription businesses.
Publications that do not have large audiences paying for digital access each month have the potential to be more successful with Apple News, but for sites like The New York Times and The Washington Post, there's a real risk that joining would cannibalize existing subscribers.
It's not yet clear if Apple News+ will ultimately be successful for Apple's media partners, and it's possible that if it is, news sites that have declined joining will do so in the future.
Apple's 2019 iPhones are going to have a two-way wireless charging feature that will allow the iPhone to charge other devices like the AirPods, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo again confirmed in a report sent out to investors today.
Kuo previously mentioned the feature briefly in a February note, and today he goes into a bit more depth about the suppliers who will benefit from the feature.
Two-way wireless charging as demonstrated in the Galaxy S10+
Two-way wireless charging, or bilateral charging, will let the Qi-based iPhones coming in 2019 charge another iPhone or the new AirPods with Wireless Charging Case. You'll essentially be able to charge any Qi-based device with your iPhone, as it will work as a wireless charger itself.
This is a feature that Samsung has already debuted in its 2019 Galaxy smartphones, and in those devices, it's known as Wireless PowerShare.
Apple has lowered the prices of several products in China this week, including the latest iPhones, iPads, and AirPods.
As noted by CNBC, the iPhone XR now starts at 6199 RMB on Apple's online store in China, nearly five percent lower than its previous 6499 RMB price tag. The higher-end iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models each received a 500 RMB price cut as well and now start at 8,199 RMB and 9,099 RMB respectively.
Likewise, the second-generation AirPods with the standard Lightning charging case now start at 1,246 RMB, down slightly from 1,279 RMB, and the 11-inch iPad Pro has been discounted to 6,331 RMB from 6,499 RMB previously.
The price cuts appear to be due in part to a reduction in China's value-added tax (VAT) that went into effect today to help boost the economy there, but regardless of the reason, any price cut could be good news for Apple as it seeks to bolster sales in China.
Last quarter, Apple issued its first revenue warning in 16 years due to "fewer iPhone upgrades" than it anticipated and "significantly greater" than expected economic weakness in the Greater China region. Apple already discounted iPhone prices at third-party resellers in China to improve results.
It's been ten months since DirecTV Now ended its last Apple TV offer, and today the company has debuted a new version of the deal to coincide with its recently-launched subscription bundles. This time around, if new subscribers prepay for four months of DirecTV Now's cheapest subscription tier (now $50/month, due to price hikes), they'll get a 32GB Apple TV 4K at no extra cost.
In the end, you'll be paying around $200 for four months of DirecTV Now and a brand new Apple TV 4K, which would traditionally total to $380. As with the previous deals, you can cancel your DirecTV Now subscription after you receive the Apple TV 4K, and still gain access to the service for the remainder of the first four months.
AT&T's resurfaced deal isn't as good as its previous incarnation, which required users to prepay for 3 months of DirecTV Now (previously priced at $35/month at its cheapest) to receive the 32GB Apple TV 4K at no cost, with the total price reaching $105. This meant you were getting the $179 Apple TV 4K discounted in addition to a few months of DirecTV Now.
The new $200 deal is more expensive than the $179 MSRP of a 32GB Apple TV 4K, so you'll need to be interested in DirecTV Now to get the most out of the offer. During its fourth quarter earnings report for 2018, DirecTV Now reported that it lost 267,000 subscribers. This was attributed to the closure of discount bundles like the original Apple TV 4K offer, so it appears the company is trying out a new version to entice new subscribers into signing up.
Those interested can head to DirecTV Now's website to find more information and place their order before the sale expires on April 30, 2019.
The calendar has once again turned over to the first of April, and that means that April Fools' Day pranks will be running rampant online for the next day or so. With that in mind, as you browse the internet today you should be very wary of everything you read, particularly regarding any stories or announcements by major brands.
As a point of comparison, last year companies teased their customers with tennis shoes that had smartphone features (T-Mobile), socks that could control your TV (Roku), and beer that made you fluent in another language (Duolingo). This year you can expect the usual companies to join in on the pranks, potentially including Google, Netflix, T-Mobile, and more.
April 1, 2019 is also the 43rd anniversary of Apple, founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. Apple products and services are usually targets of April Fools' Day pranks, but the company itself doesn't typically go all out for the event, besides a few humorous jokes sometimes added to Siri.
Check out the highlights from this year's April Fools' Day hoaxes in the list below.
T-Mobile Phone BoothE
T-Mobile is again fighting one of the so-called pain points of the wireless industry with the launch of the Phone BoothE, a completely sound-proof and high-tech phone booth that lets T-Mobile customers escape from noisy areas to make their phone calls. Inside the Phone BoothE you can charge your devices, connect to a smart screen called "Magenta Pages" to mirror your smartphone display, and adjust the lighting to take great selfies.
In regards to the name, T-Mobile is taking a shot at AT&T's misleading 5GE label: "The Phone BoothE is an evolution towards the new world of mobility. Like many in the tech and wireless industry today, we decided that by adding an "E" to the name, you would know it's a real technology evolution."
“It’s 2019 and people are walking around with a finger in their ear, trying to have a conversation! The T-Mobile Phone BoothE solves this problem,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile.
“The whole point of having a mobile phone is so you can converse on the go, but there are certain conversations that call for privacy. This is a major evolution in how we think about mobility – now the busiest street corner can be your cellular sanctuary.”
Although this is an April Fools' Day joke, T-Mobile has actually built the Phone BoothE and deployed them in select locations around New York City, Seattle, and Washington, DC, where anyone will be able to use them. The company on Monday also revealed the T-Mobile Phone BoothE Mobile EditionE, which is more in line with a straightforward April Fools' Day hoax, as it's "literally a magenta cardboard box with a hole in it."
It's not unprecedented for T-Mobile to follow through on its April Fools' Day prank with a real product. Last year, the company rebooted the T-Mobile Sidekick in the form of a shoe that could make calls and communicate with nearby Sidekicks with "toe tap" technology. Of course, the version T-Mobile actually sold to customers for $65 was just a basic lookalike shoe that lacked any connected features.
HyperDrive Ultimate Ultimate Hub
Hyper has revealed a new USB-C hub for users frustrated with the lack of port diversity on modern Apple notebooks, which goes above and beyond any USB hub ever built and includes 40 total ports. This hub features 9 USB-A ports, 9 USB-C ports, 2 microSD ports, 2 SD ports, one audio jack, one HDMI port, and one Ethernet port.
That's not all, because the HyperDrive Ultimate Ultimate Hub also features a 3.5" floppy disk drive, a built-in airline-safe battery, a 2-in-1 speaker and space heater, one VGA port, and much more. Hyper says that the hub is regularly offered at a price of $9,999.99, but for a limited time it's on sale for $99.99.
Nanoleaf Light Panes
Nanoleaf, the company behind the HomeKit-connected Aurora wall panels, has announced its latest lighting product: the Nanoleaf Light Panes. The solar-powered Light Panes use the company's SunSync technology and LOYW (Look Out Your Window) software architecture to provide a hyper-realistic representation of the sun's glow based on your location, resulting in a high-tech version of a basic window.
The Light Panes are modular and come in squares, hexagons, and triangles, which the company says will fit into any home decor. The new product also has a companion accessory called the Nanoleaf Curtain, which lets you customize colors, brightness levels, and provides real-time scheduling. Nanoleaf says the Light Panes are launching in winter 2019 and will be priced at $299.99.
Duolingo Push
Duolingo is addressing a problem for subscribers this month with a new push notification update called Duolingo Push. Instead of sending basic iOS push notifications that users can easily ignore, the company has a new premium feature that causes its owl mascot, Duo, to show up wherever you are in an effort to encourage you to complete your language lesson for the day.
Duo reminders include "Disappointed Duo" at $100/month, "Passive Aggressive Duo" at $50/month, and "Encouraging Duo" at $25/month. The company says that with any of these tiers, Duo is guaranteed to show up anywhere you're located, be it at work, at the gym, or at home.
Shutterstock's Brick-and-Mortar Library
Shutterstock has revealed plans to build its first brick-and-mortar stock image library to house all of the content that you can find on the company's traditional website. This includes over 250 million volumes of imagery, a full floor that will showcase over 14 million reels of film, and a listening bay where visitors can enjoy over 20,000 songs, all of which will include Shutterstock's well-known visual and audio watermarks.
Shutterstock says image collections that you can browse at the library include "Happy Millenials Holding Sparklers," "Tube Sock Vectors: An Anthology," and "Portraits of Disgruntled Ostriches." The library will be run by a group of AI robots called Cyanotypes, and construction on the Brooklyn location is expected to begin in 2020. The tagline for the Shutterstock physical library is: "Because sometimes innovation means moving backwards."
Microsoft Bans April Fools' Day Pranks
In a bit of counter-programming, Microsoft this year has completely banned its employees from taking part in any public-facing April Fools' Day stunts that can be connected to the company.
In a letter circulated inside Microsoft and seen by The Verge, Microsoft marketing chief Chris Capossela explained the strategy:
Hey everyone,
It’s that time of year when tech companies try to show their creativity with April Fools’ Day stunts. Sometimes the outcomes are amusing and sometimes they’re not. Either way, data tells us these stunts have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles.
Considering the headwinds the tech industry is facing today, I’m asking all teams at Microsoft to not do any public-facing April Fools’ Day stunts. I appreciate that people may have devoted time and resources to these activities, but I believe we have more to lose than gain by attempting to be funny on this one day.
Please forward to your teams and internal partners to ensure people are aware of the ask to stand down on external April Fools’ Day activities.
It appears that Microsoft is hoping to lead the way in changing the tide of April Fools' Day pranks within the tech industry, but as of this year many of the usual suspects have still performed their expected pranks.
Parody Apple Ad: "The Sound Gardener"
Filmmakers Ryan Westra and Ben Fischinger have created a cute faux Apple ad called "The Sound Gardener," which reveals the behind-the-scenes process that Apple goes through to produce AirPods at one of its ultra-secret facilities.
In the commercial, it's revealed that AirPods are grown in a lush garden environment by sound gardener and botanist Ken Yamamoto. The botanist waters and studies the AirPods as they grow, and then plucks them from various fauna when they're ready.
LEGO "Find my Brick" iOS App
LEGO has taken inspiration from Apple's Find my iPhone app with its April Fools' Day joke this year, dubbed "Find my Brick." With the app, you can select the brick style and color you're looking for and use your iPhone's camera to automatically find it, even among a giant pile of bricks.
The LEGO Twitter account notes that the app is "coming soon," but LEGO enthusiasts shouldn't get their hopes up because this is just the company's April Fools' Day prank for 2019.
Discord deletes light theme - Because so many users often ask for dark mode support, Discord has gone the extra mile and deleted its light theme completely.
The calendar has once again turned over to the first of April, and that means that April Fools' Day pranks will be running rampant online for the next day or so. With that in mind, as you browse the internet today you should be very wary of everything you read, particularly regarding any stories or announcements by major brands.
In a bit of counter-programming, Microsoft this year has completely banned its employees from taking part in any public-facing April Fools' Day stunts that can be connected to the company.
