Illustrator Black Power Barbie on Creating Apple’s Hip-Hop 50 Animations
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Apple Announced ‘Apple Music Sing,’ A Song-Altering Karaoke Feature That Will Be Out Soon
After nearly two weeks of Spotify dominating social media’s media algorithm, thanks to their annual Wrapped reveal and the third-party Instafest mock concert lineups, streaming platform Apple Music is looking to snatch back users’ attention.
In an announcement, Apple unveiled a new feature that would be headed to the platform later this month: Apple Music users will experience karaoke re-imagined thanks to the new feature Apple Music Sing. For avid music lovers, the recent subscription uptick may finally be paying off. Apple Music Sing will allow users an immersive experience with their favorite songs’ lyrics and instrumentals across Apple devices. The volume of the song’s lyrics can even be adjusted.
Apple’s Vice President of Apple Music and Beats, Oliver Schusser, spoke about the new feature in a statement, saying, “Apple Music’s lyrics experience is consistently one of the most popular features on our service. We already know our users all over the world love to follow along to their favorite songs, so we wanted to evolve this offering even further to enable even more engagement around music through singing. It’s really a lot of fun, our customers are going to love it.”
Apple Music Sing will allow fans to take the lead or backup to their favorite song and perform duets with their friends. In addition, Apple Music will launch 50 curated playlists featuring the platform’s most popular songs, duets, choruses, and anthems.
Apple Unveils New Tech in Annual Product Launch
A little over fifteen years ago, Steve Jobs stood on stage and revealed the first iPhone in a reveal that would change the world as we know it (for nostalgia, the full video can be found here). On Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook continued the tradition of launch announcements to share some new features and updates to the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods.
The launch event was pre-recorded and delivered from Apple Park, the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Cook started sharing a montage of users who had used their Apple Watches in life-threatening situations and then shared some new features of the upcoming Apple Watch 7. The watch’s biggest change (in addition to a slightly new design and bigger screen) is that it is reportedly more durable and able to withstand more extreme conditions than previous models. The watch targets outdoor athletes with increased water resistance, increased durability, a compass, and a depth metric for scuba divers. The 7 series t also has a new “action” button for quick use while working out or wearing gloves. The 7 series has more health tracking capabilities and car crash detection technology, which can detect if the wearer was in a severe car crash and automatically call emergency services. The watch will also reportedly get up to 60 hours of battery life thanks to a new software rollout.
Cook unveiled the iPhone 14, which comes in two models: the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. The Plus will replace the “iPhone 13 mini” model with a bigger model with a 6.7-inch screen. One of the biggest changes is that digital eSIM technology will replace a physical SIM card. However, the 14’s biggest reveal was the phone’s capability to connect to satellites for emergency services in remote areas thanks to a partnership with Globalstar.
The third product reveal was a new generation of AirPods. An Apple H2 chip reportedly provides better sound quality and clarity. Other new features include an improved volume touch control button, longer battery life, a smaller XS ear tip, and an in-case speaker.
The new Apple Watch will cost at least $799 and will be available in stores on about Sept. 23. Preorders will be available next Wednesday. The iPhone 14 will start at $799 and the Plus will start at $899. Preorders start on Sept 9, but the Plus won’t ship until October. The new AirPods Pro cost $249 and will go on sale on Sept 23.
The full launch video can be seen here.
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Fabolous Shares Video of Son Freestyling to Drake’s “Champagne Poetry” Beat, Calls It ‘Apple Juice Poetry’
Apple to Discontinue Its Last iPod Model More Than 20 Years After Introducing Product
Apple Finally Discontinues The iPod Line More Than 20 Years After Introducing It
It’s the end of an era for an iconic line of Apple devices: Today, Apple announced they will no longer manufacture its only remaining model of iPod, as reported by Variety.
Although Apple had ceased the manufacturing of the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano back in 2017, the iPod Touch, which was first introduced in 2007, was announced to be discontinued today. The last of the iPod Touch models are available for purchase online.
When the original iPod was first introduced in October 2001, it was a different kind of audio file player — one that could play over 1,000 songs. Since its conception, various versions of the iPod have been manufactured, including the iPod Nano, a smaller version of the classic model which later evolved to play video, as well as the touchscreen multi-use iPod Touch, and the screenless iPod Shuffle.
U2 even had a red and black edition of the classic model, and commercials for the iPod popularized songs like Feist‘s “1,2,3,4” and Caesars’ “Jerk It Out.”
“Music has always been part of our core at Apple, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impacted more than just the music industry — it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to and shared,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing, in a statement.
Dr. Dre’s Billionaire Boasts Cost Him $200 Million When He Sold Beats To Apple
Dr. Dre famously said he became hip-hop’s first billionaire (a title actually held by Jay-Z) back in 2014 when he sold Beats Electronics to Apple, but his boasting about it caused an ungodly amount to get cut from the final sale price. According to HipHopDX via The New York Times reporter Tripp Mickle’s new book, After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul, when Dre talked about the deal in a video posted on social media, Apple took the sale down $200 million due to a confidentiality clause in the initial $3.2 billion agreement.
If you don’t remember, the video was posted to Facebook by Tyrese, who was hanging out in the studio with Dre, both apparently drunk. As they shouted out South Central Los Angeles (Tyrese is from Watts, Dre is from neighboring Compton), Tyrese boasted that “the Forbes list just changed,” referring to the publication’s annual lists of top earners in the world of hip-hop. Dre backed up the brag, touting himself as “the first billionaire in hip-hop.” Interscope founder Jimmy Iovine, Dre’s partner in Beats, found out about the video from Diddy, who called him in the middle of the night after the video went up, prompting him to panic as Dre and Jimmy were invited to Apple’s headquarters by CEO Tim Cook.
They worried that the deal would get the ax, but instead, Cook used the opportunity to save Apple some money, adjusting the sale price by $0.2 billion. Ultimately, the deal worked out; Dre got to keep his boast, and Apple got to keep Beats, which is still paying off to this day. And really, what can you buy with $3.2 billion that you can’t get with $3 billion (although I’m sure he’d have loved the extra $100 million to give to his ex-wife)?
Apple and Nike Come Together Again for 2021 Pride Apple Watch Loops
Every year Apple and Nike brand and design a new Pride Edition Apple Watch loop to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. Nike’s representation through the loop is with 6 colors of the original rainbow, made up with reflective yarn for improved visibility in the dark. But Apple took a slightly different […]
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