Leaked schematics, financial results, firing talking heads, and more HomeKit devices — that’s what’s on the AWT News Update today:
- A well-known provider of good leaked info sent out a tweet today showing a new iPhone 8 schematic
- Twitter is apparently harvested a bumper crop of new users during its first quarter of 2017, most likely all parroting each other with stupid political comments
- ESPN will cut 100 “on-air talent” positions and bolster its digital content
- The HomeKit product page has been updated with some new products and a few no-shows have been eliminated
The text version of the podcast can be viewed below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Note to Apple News readers: you’ll need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
Text Version
This is Steve Sande for Apple World Today, and you’re listening to the AWT News Update for April 26th, 2017.
The world of Apple is buzzing about an alleged iPhone 8 schematic that showed up on Twitter today, posted by Steve Hemmerstoffer, who is well known for providing accurate leaks of upcoming devices from Apple suppliers. While the drawing shows the same vertically oriented twin camera that we’ve been seeing lately, it does NOT show the Touch ID pad on the back of the device. That’s good to hear, because that would have been a horrible move for Apple to make. The schematic also shows what appears to be a wireless charging pad on the back of the device.
Social network Twitter held its shareholders meeting this morning to announce Q1 2017 results, and the results were — for once — positive. The company says that they’re seeing less abuse reported on the service, which I would attribute to the fact that many people dumped those with a contrary opinion during the runup to the 2016 election and its aftermath. Twitter also saw growth in that first quarter, with 9 million new users. Twitter COO and CFO Anthony Noto said “There is also some evidence that we’ve benefitted from our new and resurrected users following more news and political accounts in Q1, particularly in the U.S.” Noto also said that Twitter hopes to become a source of always-on background video, something that you “focus on it when you hear something that’s of interest, but then maybe not be 100% focused on it when it’s not of interest.”
Speaking of content, ESPN announced today that it will be cutting 100 on-air talent positions and refocusing its content strategy. Part of that strategy is to bolster the ESPN apps for both iOS and Apple TV with a refreshed design and new livestream and on-demand content features. This has already been done with the Apple TV app, which was updated earlier this month. With more digital-only content both in the apps and on social networks, ESPN says that content will be “more live news video and enhanced video and audio streaming”
Apple’s HomeKit product page has been updated, adding the upcoming Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat to the list. There’s not much known about the new thermostat, other than it continues the HomeKit compatibility of the current device and it appears to have a glowing blue LED strip on the top of the case. Apple World Today has reviewed a number of HomeKit products from Koogeek, and those devices have been added to the list as well. Leviton Decora dimmer switch and iLuv Rainbow 8 smart bulbs also made the list. Several products that were shown as “coming soon” on earlier lists were taken off, including the ConnectSense Bluetooth Extender. That product would have allowed short-range Bluetooth Low Energy devices to connect to a Wi-Fi network, and there’s no explanation why the ConnectSense product was removed. In addition, the LightwaveRF Link 2 was removed — nobody was really sure what that device was supposed to do…
That’s all for today; I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon with another edition of the AWT News Update.
