The AWT News Update is on hiatus while my compadre, Steve, takes a trip. In its place, I’ll offer a text-only (no podcast) summary of breaking stories with a tip o’ my hat to my former website, Apple Daily Report.
Target this week instructed its stores to return a number of iPhone SE models to Apple by today, March 1, according to a company memo obtained by MacRumors. iPhone SE devices that are to be returned include six unlocked 16GB and 64GB models in Gold, Silver, Rose Gold, and Space Gray, and two Sprint models.
Apple has implemented carrier billing in Italy, Austria, and Singapore, allowing some people in those countries to charge iTunes, iBooks, App Store, or Apple Music expenses to their phone bill instead of a credit card.
Facebook has launched Facebook Video, a tvOS app that allows fourth-generation Apple TV owners to view pre-recorded video content, including live streams, on the big screen.
The founder of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, who waged a years-long battle against regulators and rivals for control of Sharp Corp., said he is “very serious” about bidding for Toshiba Corp.’s memory chip business. Toshiba plans to sell some or all of the operation to shore up its balance sheet and is soliciting bids from financial and strategic investors.
Annoying pauses in your streaming movies are going to become less common, thanks to a new trick Netflix is rolling out. It’s using artificial intelligence techniques to analyze each shot in a video and compress it without affecting the image quality, thus reducing the amount of data it uses. The new encoding method is aimed at the growing contingent of viewers in emerging economies who watch video on phones and tablets.
