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Re/wind: Apple’s New Toys, the Big Cable Unbundling and More
Apple gave us a bunch more stuff to talk about, and HBO and CBS are ready to make their content available to non-cable subscribers.
Anthony Quintano for Re/code
If you missed the big headlines from this week, no problem! Re/code’s got you covered:
- At an event on Thursday, Apple unveiled new, slimmer iPads and iPad minis and a 27-inch iMac with 5K retina display and announced an October 20 launch date for the Apple Pay mobile payments service. The new iPads, which you can buy now online, support multiple carriers on the same device. The new iMac, which is already available in-store, might be foreshadowing an Apple TV announcement. If you’re looking for info on the new Yosemite operating system, which was also made available on Thursday, read this to find out how it might work with your computer. And if you want to know more about the event itself, here’s our live coverage. Also, after a lot of fighting between the two companies, Apple kicked Bose products out of both the online and brick-and-mortar Apple stores. Oh, and Apple also excised Fitbit devices from its stores. Okay, that’s about all the Apple news, and yes, there will be a quiz next week.
- The Great Unbundling is upon us: both HBO and CBS announced plans to make their Web streaming services available as standalone products. The main differences between the two are that you can technically get CBS programming for free with a broadcast antenna, and CBS’s service is available today while HBO Go will be available to non-cable subscribers in 2015. This article reveals more about Time Warner and HBO’s long-term strategy.
- Facebook added an emergency check-in service for users during natural disasters. People affected by a tsunami or an earthquake can use the new feature to “check in” and let friends and family know they are safe.
- Fwd.us, the high-profile and tech-funded DC political lobby, failed spectacularly at getting the one thing it wanted — immigration reform — passed by Congress. With millions of dollars spent on a wasted effort and the resignation of its president (who was Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard roommate), what happened, exactly? Find out here.
- The enterprise software company Salesforce is the second-largest employer in the city of San Francisco (after the city government) and is one of the most important and least discussed companies in Silicon Valley. We chatted with its new second-in-command, Keith Block, about the company’s new direction after a top-level management shake-up.
- Re/code Co-Executive Editor Kara Swisher sat down with Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson for a video interview to discuss his new book “The Innovators,” and why great technological innovations are only made possible by collaboration. And yes, this includes the work of Steve Jobs.
- There are lots of new “smart” home products like thermostats and stereo speakers. And now, there are “smart” locks that mean you’ll never again lock yourself out of your house. Watch Walt Mossberg’s video review of the uber-simple and fancy-looking August Smart Lock.
- Google may be leading a $500 million funding round for the secretive “cinematic reality” company Magic Leap. Andreessen Horowitz also seems to be in on the round, although reps from all three companies declined to comment.
- BuzzFeed’s data whiz Dao Nguyen, the woman perhaps most responsible for the viral content giant’s whopping growth over the last couple years, has been promoted to publisher. You can read more about her (and the detailed internal memo from BuzzFeed) here.
- Hey! Motorola did something right! Good for them! Reviewer Katie Boehret reviewed Motorola’s new discreet and functional Bluetooth headset, the Moto Hint. The video’s here.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
