It’s Tuesday – be sure to watch AWT TV tonight live at 6:30 PM PT / 9:30 PM ET on https://youtube.com/c/appleworldtoday as Steve Sande and Marty Edwards bring you an hour of iOS and macOS tips! Here’s some news for you while you wait:
- AirPlay 2 disappears from the latest betas of iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3
- Samsung announces a new line of SSDs for enterprise, one of which has a 30.72 TB capacity
- Samsung’s also seen its smartphone market share drop in the company’s home country of South Korea, where Apple and LG keep increasing their share
- A Pennsylvania woman credits her Apple Watch with possibly saving her life after a drunk driver hit her car, temporarily blinding her
- That news about Apple filing for a new trademark for the rainbow logo? It’s a nothingburger.
Text Version
This is Steve Sande for Apple World Today, and you’re listening to the AWT News Update podcast for Tuesday, February 20, 2018.
AirPlay2 has been anxiously anticipated by a lot of iOS and tvOS users. It will provide HomePod, Apple TV and supported third-party speakers with the ability to work together, let AirPlay 2 control all the different speakers and devices throughout a home, and of course run more than one HomePod. Well, we thought that iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 were going to bring AirPlay 2 to life, but the latest betas of those operating systems — which came out today, by the way — show no signs of AirPlay 2. In the previous betas, you could use AirPlay 2 to stream music to multiple devices at the same time and Apple TVs showed up in the Home app. In the latest beta, the feature has been removed. AirPlay 2 was quite buggy in the previous betas, which could be why they were removed. There’s no word on whether or not AirPlay 2 will re-appear in later iOS and tvOS betas, or if Apple has decided to pull it until it’s working properly.
Samsung today announced a new line of solid state drives (or SSDs) for enterprise systems with a capacity of 30.72 TB per drive. Not only does the new PM1643 offer double the storage, but it’s also nearly twice as fast as the previous version released in 2016. While these big drives aren’t being built for consumer use, it does point to a future where large capacity SSDs will be much more commonplace. There’s no word on what one of the 30TB SSDs would cost, by the way.
Speaking of Samsung, you’ve gotta love it — the iPhone’s market share in the company’s home country of South Korea climbed 3.3 percent year-over-year to 28.3 percent. LG, also based in South Korea, saw its market share double in the same period from 8.3 percent to 15.7 percent. The company that received the brunt of the loss in market share? Samsung.
If you have been watching the PyeongChang Olympics coverage in the US, you’re probably familiar with the Apple Watch ads showing just how the device has positively affected the lives of a number of people. You can add one more person to the list. 24 year old Kacie Anderson of Hannover, PA was stopped at a red light with her 9-month-old baby when an alleged drunk driver hit her car. Anderson’s face hit the car’s steering wheel, the headrest, the steering wheel again, and then the car’s window. She blacked out for a minute or so, then came to but couldn’t see. She felt around for her phone, but couldn’t find it. However, she had her Apple Watch on and remembered the SOS command, then used it to call 911. To do so, a user just needs to press and hold the side button until an alert sounds, or can drag a slider on the watch screen to have it call 911. Anderson’s son was fine, by the way, but Anderson had a severe concussion that caused dizziness and confusion for several weeks, a swollen brain, two rupture muscles in her neck, and two spinal disks that are still bulging. She credits the Apple Watch for getting fast emergency response that may have saved her life.
Finally, don’t excited over the news that Apple filed for a new trademark for the iconic rainbow logo. It’s required to do that by the US Patent and Trademark Office every decade, and its just a paperwork requirement. It does not mean that the company is going to start using the six-color logo again, nor does it mean that it’s going to come out with a line of clothing — both rumors that have been going around since someone first saw the trademark filing.
That’s all the news for today – join me tomorrow afternoon for another edition of the AWT News Update.
