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You can now play Apple Music on Xbox consoles, thanks to the addition of a new app. Spotify already had an app on the gaming platform. Assuming it works in the same way as Spotify, you’ll be able to play Apple Music tracks in the background while playing a game, using a slider to set your preferred balance of game audio and music … The launch of Apple’s streaming music service on Xbox was spotted by Tom Warren, who shows a brief video clip (below)....

Apple is officially reinstating its mask requirement at most of its retail stores in the United States. According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple has sent a memo to retail employees informing them that masks will be required for shoppers and employees beginning tomorrow, July 29, regardless of vaccination status. Apple had already started requiring masks for employees at certain stores, but today’s announcement extends that policy to more locations and makes masks mandatory for shoppers as well....

Apple has officially set a date for when it will require corporate employees in the United States to return to offices. As first reported by Bloomberg, Apple has announced that corporate employees will be required to return to the office on April 11. This is not the first time Apple has announced its plans to return to in-person work. The company has announced and subsequently delayed its timeline four times so far, each time due to pushback from employees as well as changes in COVID-19 case numbers....

Apple today announced a new docuseries on basketball’s up-and-coming star Makur Maker will debut on Friday, April 22nd exclusively on Apple TV+. The Makur Maker docuseries is entitled ‘The Long Game: Bigger Than Basketball’ and all five parts will debut on April 22nd. That is the same premiere date as Apple’s four-part upcoming docuseries on Magic Johnson, They Call Me Magic, giving subscribers a double bill for basketball fans on that date....

Aqara Matter support has been added to two of its existing hubs, which upgrades them to the HomeKit-compatible connectivity standard for smart home devices. Updating the hubs will provide Matter connectivity to much of the company’s product range, including sensors, switches, and plugs. The company says that Matter compatibility is coming first to two hubs, the Aqara M1S and M2 … Background Matter is an open-source secure connectivity standard for smart home devices....

Long before Ben Affleck suited up to play the Dark Knight, Armie Hammer reveals that he stole a script from George Miller’s cancelled Justice League: Mortal. Tipped to be the first big comic book movie team up, Mortal was due to include actors like Hammer as Batman, D.J. Cortona as Superman, model Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, and The OC’s Adam Brody as the Flash. The movie was due to air alongside Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, however, it became a short-lived affair in 2008 and was canned before any footage was actually shot....

For fans of the CW’s Arrowverse, it’s hard not to get excited for the next big crossover between all the shows. Not only will we get to see our favorite characters interact, but it’ll be a chance for the shows to pull in new characters from the comics. Of course, in the meantime, the individual series are pretty good about reinventing heroes and villains from the page and bringing them into the world of the shows....

[This is a review of the Arrow season 4 finale. There will be SPOILERS.] - During the early part of season 4, Arrow put considerable emphasis on Oliver Queen using his mutable nature to approach his role as the Green Arrow from a new perspective. This gave the first few episodes a strong through line that didn’t just afford the writers a chance to use the word “darkness” as much as possible, but it also suggested the show was serious about accepting and dealing with many of the recent criticisms leveled against it in the wake of a somber third season....

Sponsored by Kolide: With Kolide, you can make your team into your biggest allies for endpoint security. Solve problems, right within Slack. Learn more here. Stories discussed in this episode: Apple to begin paying out $95 million AppleCare class action settlement this month Apple Music 4 for Android in beta w/ iOS 16 features – 9to5Google iPhone 12/Pro Max/mini see cert. refurb Woot discounts to second-best prices from $370 Apple’s latest 10....

Batman is willing to die. While most superheroes are venerated for their acts of valor, few are willing to go down with the ship like Gotham’s greatest hero. Though he is often celebrated for his epic victories, the Caped Crusader has a long and fairly unknown history of dying in the line of fire. Outside the world of comics, his near-death experience at the end of The Dark Knight Rises is perhaps the most popular example....

Warning: SPOILERS for Alien: Covenant ahead - A sure sign that we’re in the final stretch of the Alien: Covenant marketing blitz came to SXSW with last night’s screening of Alien. Even the shot-in-Austin opening night premiere of Song to Song, which played prior at the fest’s showcase Paramount Theatre, was soon no match for a 40 year old classic that still has teeth - two sets of teeth, to be exact....

After his detour into motion-capture animation during the 2000s, Robert Zemeckis has returned to live-action filmmaking this decade to strong results. In 2012, his drama Flight was a critical and commercial success, grossing $161.7 million worldwide and earning a Best Actor nomination for Denzel Washington. Last year, Zemeckis’ The Walk couldn’t repeat those box office figures, but still was well-received and another illustration of his strong technical prowess behind the camera....

AnTuTu iPhone 14 Pro benchmarks show dramatic performance improvements in tests designed to mimic real-life usage of the devices. The improvements found are markedly better than expected following earlier benchmarks run in Geekbench 5 … Background This year, only the two Pro model iPhones get the latest Apple chip – in this case, the A16 Bionic, while the base models keep the same A15 chip from last year’s phones. Geekbench scores are intended to measure raw power, and the results from Geekbench 5 suggest the improvement in performance over last year’s models was relatively limited....

Apple’s request for a delay in App Store changes required by the Epic Games vs Apple ruling has been granted. This comes after Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied Apple’s request for a delay last month, but Apple immediately announced plans to appeal to the Ninth Circuit court. The original ruling from Judge Rogers required that Apple adjust its App Store guidelines to allow developers to link out to third-party payment options....

A union representing some UK retail store staff says that Apple pay raises awarded recently actually amount to a pay cut after inflation is factored in. The union noted that Apple’s revenue and profit both rose dramatically last year and also pointed to the increase in Tim Cook’s compensation. Background We first learned of retail staff plans to unionize back in February, when groups at two stores were reportedly preparing paperwork to file with the National Labor Relations Board, with about six more locations at earlier stages of planning....

Apple Store iPhone 14 lines seen earlier were reminiscent of pre-pandemic days, as customers waited to collect the latest phone or Apple Watch. Apple has now shared some official photos of customers getting their hands on the new devices. The company has so far shown Apple Store photos from Singapore and China, and typically adds photos from stores in other time zones as they open … Apple optimistically says that people can shop for the new devices at their local Apple Store....

The company behind the popular Astropad Studio professional drawing software and Luna Display is launching a brand-new product. Meticulously designed for artists, Astropad’s Darkboard is an ultralight and ergonomic drawing surface for iPad Pro and Air that is lightweight, secure, and comfortable. After previously teasing Darkboard as coming this year, Astropad officially announced the product and launched a Kickstarter campaign today to bring it to market. “We know that creatives use iPad for work because it’s powerful and versatile....

After a lengthy wait, FX finally offers up a good look at Atlanta: Robbin’ Season, which brings about the return of the award-winning series from creator and star Donald Glover. After making a splash with the series premiere in 2016, it was announced that although a second season had indeed been green-lit, the show wouldn’t return until almost a year later, due mostly to Glover’s busy schedule, which included gloriously rocking a fur coat in a galaxy far, far away as the young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story....

Yesterday, Facebook/Meta reported its first-ever quarterly revenue drop. While the company highlighted challenges faced by US companies as well as worries of recession, Wall Street analysts believe TikTok’s competition and Apple’s privacy changes are a concern for the company in the near term. According to Reuters, “many analysts expect Meta/Facebook could return to stronger growth in 2023, but noted the sputtering start to its metaverse dream, as regulators clamp down on big tech firms....

Considering that it’s the finale of the main arc of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has been set up since 2008, it is safe to say that a lot will change during the events of Avengers: Endgame. Phase 3 of the MCU has done a decent job of setting up new characters that will take the spotlight in Phase 4, while also paving the way for a number of its original heroes to go out with a bang....