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☆ Tim Cook is bullish on India being the new China for Apple. These 3 charts show there's a long way to go.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

This first store comes 14 years after Apple first opened in China, and Cook has sometimes compared the two markets. And so I'm very, very bullish and very, very optimistic about India," Cook told investors on an earnings call in 2017. In the same year, Apple only took 6% of the market share in India compared to Android's 94%. Apple has increased iOS device sales over the years to claim 17% market share from rivals, per Counterpoint Research's data. For Cook, India could offer similar tantalizing growth.

☆ Apple declares 'resounding victory' after decision reached in Epic Games appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Apple CEO Tim Cook visits the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on September 16, 2022 in New York City. An appeals court on Monday mostly sided with Apple over its App Store rules in a suit with Epic Games. The decision signals that Apple's control over the App Store and the fees it charges likely won't significantly change as a result of an ongoing legal challenge by Epic Games. It culminated in a weekslong trial two years ago in California where Apple CEO Tim Cook and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney testified. "Apple prevailed at the 9th Circuit Court," Epic Games CEO Sweeney said in tweets sent after the decision.

☆ Porn on Amazon's Kindle app prompts warnings from Apple, Alphabet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Greg Bensinger | Thomson Reuters | Greg Bensinger Joined Reuters As A Technology Correspondent In Focusing On The World'S Largest Technology Companies. He Was Previously A Member Of The New York Times Editorial Board | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Reuters learned of the issue when two families told Reuters their pre-teen sons downloaded the explicit material via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service and viewed the full-color photographs on the Kindle iPhone app. Pornography also is available through Amazon's Kindle online store and viewable on versions of the Kindle app. The adult material at issue is primarily self-published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing arm. The Apple app store’s guidelines “prohibit apps dedicated to portraying overtly sexual or pornographic material,” the company said in a statement. As of Monday, adult materials were still accessible on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited via the iOS and Android apps.

☆ Here are Tuesday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Netflix, Amazon, Sunrun & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

This is relevant to Apple as we estimate that Google pays Apple ~$20bn for being the default search engine across iOS devices." Goldman Sachs reiterates Microsoft as buy Goldman says it's staying bullish heading into Microsoft earnings next week. Deutsche Bank reiterates Disney as buy Deutsche Bank says it sees an "attractive setup" heading into earnings in early May. HSBC upgrades Nvidia to buy from reduce HSBC said in its double upgrade of Nvidia that it's "all about AI." Deutsche Bank reiterates Amazon as buy Deutsche says it's standing by its buy rating on the e-commerce giant ahead of earnings later this month.

Apple has a new high-yield savings account from Goldman Sachs available for Apple Card users. The Apple Card Savings account pays a higher APY than the average savings account. The Apple Card Savings account is available for Apple Card users in the US. How the Apple Card Savings account worksThe Apple Card Savings account doesn't require a minimum opening deposit. Interest on the Apple Card Savings account is compounded daily and deposited into your account monthly.

☆ You can ask Elon Musk anything on Twitter if you pay him $4 a month with new 'Subscriptions' feature
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk announced a rebrand of a Twitter feature allowing users to subscribe to exclusive content. The Twitter owner said those who subscribe to him for $4 a month will be able to "ask-me-anything." Elon Musk announced the rebranding of the "Super Follows" feature on Thursday as "Subscriptions" that will allow users to subscribe to exclusive content. In his tweet, Musk said users will be able to charge followers for exclusive content, including long-form text, long-form videos, and subscriber-only Spaces. Musk has his own "Subscriptions" and said those who subscribe to him, for $4 a month according to his profile, will be able to "ask-me-anything" once every few weeks.

☆ Twitter now lets its paid subscribers tweet 10,000 characters
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter recently launched a new feature that lets its Blue subscribers tweet up to 10,000 characters in messages that will also support bold and italic formatting. The new features allow for much longer-form writing that's more similar to an essay than the short snippets of text that defined Twitter for years. Twitter Blue is the company's subscription product that offers more features than the free version, including a blue checkmark. Starting today, Twitter now supports Tweets up to 10,000 characters in length, with bold and italic text formatting," the Thursday announcement read. "Sign up for Twitter Blue to access these new features, and apply to enable Subscriptions on your account to earn income directly on Twitter.

☆ Twitter to let users offer content subscriptions in monetization push
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 13 (Reuters) - Twitter-owner Elon Musk said on Thursday users of the social media platform will be able to offer their followers subscriptions to content, including long-form text and hours-long video. loadingUsers offering the subscription, a feature they can access through the "Monetization" tab in settings, will get all the money subscribers pay apart from the charges platforms such as Android and iOS levy. "That's 70% for subscriptions on iOS & Android (they charge 30%) and ~92% on web (could be better, depending on payment processor)," Musk said in a tweet, adding Twitter will also help promote the creators' work and maximize earnings. Musk has been bringing in changes to boost revenue at Twitter after the social media platform saw advertising income drop last year in the run up to his on-again-off-again acquisition that closed in October. The social media firm was now "roughly breaking even", Musk said in a Twitter Spaces interview on Wednesday.

☆ Introducing Spelling Bee Buddy: Your Personalized Daily Bee Helper
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( The Upshot Staff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Play Spelling Bee, then visit Spelling Bee Buddy throughout the day to get its latest hints. Spelling Bee Buddy updates at 3 a.m. Eastern with the release of the latest puzzle. Among our test users, we’ve noticed some people enjoy having Spelling Bee Buddy open in another tab on their device, and switching between the game and the buddy as needed. Some prefer to keep Spelling Bee Buddy open in a different window or device, so that it’s always visible. Spelling Bee Buddy will never reveal words you haven’t found.

☆ To Make Phone Calls Clearer, Do This
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Cordilia James | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Babies babbling, drills drilling, horns honking. Tech companies are rolling out new noise-reduction tools to filter out cacophony on your calls—but you need to know how to find them. As part of its iOS 16.4 update last week, Apple added its Voice Isolation feature to cellular phone calls, bringing the caller’s voice to the forefront and blocking out ambient noise.

☆ How to Block Out Barking Dogs, Crying Babies and Other Background Noise During Calls
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Cordilia James | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Work looks different than it did 3 years ago. These tips can help your employees operate effectively in the 'virtual office.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Google Chrome Enterprise | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

From updating cloud management to improving browser security, here’s how IT managers can succeed in their roles. In 2022, the Chrome Browser Cloud Management team added capabilities for managing Chrome on Android and iOS, in addition to the existing support for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Chrome Browser Cloud Management enables IT teams to block potentially harmful extensions, force install necessary ones, and monitor versions, add-ons, plug-ins, URLs, and more. And to help employees avoid technical issues while they work, Chrome Browser Cloud Management allows you to set bookmarks, pre-install extensions, or respond to users' requests for extension installs. Learn more about how Google Chrome Browser Cloud Management can help you manage IT operations across your organization.

☆ Meta's job cuts are gutting customer service, leaving influencers and businesses with nobody to call
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

As part of the company's two rounds of layoffs, equaling roughly 21,000 job cuts, Meta gutted wide swaths of its customer service operation, leaving influencers and businesses with nobody to contact about their accounts. CNBC spoke with influencers, small businesses and Meta account managers as well as a half-dozen former contractors and former Meta employees about the deterioration in customer service at the company since the job cuts began in November. Holliday said it appears that the only people who get customer service are those who represent a company that's spending heavily on advertising. However, some influencers say Facebook has had such poor customer service that there's no reason to pay for it. After all the problems she's experienced, Karlova questions whether Meta will be able to provide better customer service.

☆ Apple’s Weather app briefly went down and rained on everyone’s morning
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Apple’s default Weather app briefly went down for many users on Tuesday morning, showing blank screens with no data. “The Apple Weather app has been down all morning and I never imagined how much disruption that would cause,” wrote one Twitter user. Another tweeted an apparent “Top Gun” reference: “Biggest storm of the season is about to hit Fargo and the Apple weather app is down. One CNN reporter saw only a handful of cities on the Weather app home screen load with full data, while most cities remained completely blank. The app was revamped as part of the iOS 16 release in September after Apple bought popular weather service Dark Sky in 2020 and fully integrated its features into the newest operating system.

Fitbit Versa 4 The Fitbit Versa 4 disappoints as a fourth-generation smartwatch as it lacks third-party app support, has issues with fitness tracking, and doesn’t allow for music storage. Fitbit Sense 2 vs. Fitbit Versa 4: Smartwatch performanceOne of the main nitpicks we have with these watches is their disappointing lack of smartwatch capability. Fitbit Sense 2 vs. Fitbit Versa 4: Health and fitness trackingRick Stella/InsiderThe biggest difference between the Versa 4 and the Sense 2 comes down to their individual health and fitness tracking performance. Fitbit Sense 2 vs. Fitbit Versa 4: Battery lifePerhaps the best feature native to both the Sense 2 and the Versa 4 is their battery life, which lasts roughly six days depending on how it's used. However, due to the Versa 4's shortcomings in both smarts and fitness tracking, it pales in comparison to the Sense 2.

☆ Newsletters are helping these companies save money and bring a personal touch into their marketing strategies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Erica Sweeney | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Small-business owners say email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach an audience. These growing companies share how they saved money and were able to make more personal connections through email marketing. According to eMarketer, 67% of marketing professionals are investing in email marketing, and 48% of millennial consumers prefer to receive deals from brands via email. It gives businesses a direct pipeline to their audienceCollecting customer information is one of the most valuable aspects of email marketing, McNair said. "If you're not doing email marketing, you're leaving really important money on the table."

☆ Why cloud-based browser management is the missing piece of your business' IT strategy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Google Chrome Enterprise | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Cloud-based browser management, like Google's Chrome Browser Cloud Management, can help effectively manage these variables and offer insights into your organization's browsers across the enterprise and down to the user level. How enterprise browser management worksChrome Browser Cloud Management helps support crucial web-based business processes in different user environments by shoring up security, supporting worker productivity, and enforcing unified policies. Getting Started with Chrome Browser Cloud ManagementWith a unified view across devices and operating systems, Chrome Browser Cloud Management can help IT administrators reduce time spent on browser management. Those who are new to Chrome Browser Cloud Management can start the short and no-charge enrollment process here. See how Chrome Browser Cloud Management can help you manage your enterprise's IT operations.

☆ TikTok wants its advertisers to know the 'myths vs. facts' after its CEO's day in Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Now, it seems, TikTok wants to clear up some facts that lawmakers may have gotten wrong. TikTok wants to clear up "Myth vs Fact." After the TikTok CEO's 5-hour hearing at Congress last Thursday, the company wants to reassure advertisers that it'll be fine. The document states: "TikTok does not permit any government to influence or change its recommendation model." Advertisers make up a large chunk of TikTok's user base, which the company says is now at 150 million monthly active users in the US.

☆ Here are all 31 new emoji you can use on your iPhone now with Apple's iOS 16.4 update, including a shaking face, a donkey, and a long-awaited pink heart
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A new slate of emoji is now at your fingertips thanks to Apple's release of iOS 16.4 on Monday. The 31 additions include a shaking head, a donkey, and hands that either express approval or disapproval, depending on how you look at them. Apple released the iOS 16.4 update on Monday, and with it comes a slate of 31 new emoji. Among them are a donkey, some maracas, and hands that could take on a few different meanings, depending on how you look at them. Here's a look at all 31 new emoji:

☆ TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew got his start in tech at Facebook—now his app is its biggest competitor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Prior to running the most popular social media app in the world, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was an intern for one of his largest competitors. On Thursday, Chew sat before Congress to defend TikTok against spying claims as Congress and President Biden weigh a potential U.S. ban. "We are committed to [being] very transparent with our users about what we collect," Chew told the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Today, Facebook has 2.9 billion active users, according to Meta's 2022 Q4 earnings presentation. "The potential security, privacy, content manipulation concerns raised about TikTok are really not unique to us.

☆ Twitter Blue's relaunch has been financially 'underwhelming' and embarrassed subscribers may soon be able to hide that they're a part of it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter Blue has been relaunched for three months, offering subscribers premium features for $11/mo. A new feature may soon be rolled out, allowing subscribers to hide their verification checkmark. A Twitter Blue subscription costs $8 per month if purchased through the website and $11 per month if purchased through an app for Android or iOS devices. The social platform has aimed to diversify its revenue streams since advertisers fled the platform in the wake of the billionaire's takeover last year. In an attempt to attract more users to Blue, subscribers may be able to toggle the visibility of their blue check marks, The Verge reported.

☆ Everyone in Washington is talking about a TikTok ban. But is it really a national security threat?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

However, more than two years after the Trump administration first issued a similar threat to TikTok, evidence remains unclear about whether the app is a national security threat. “Regarding privacy, we also did not see the TikTok app exhibiting any behaviors similar to malware.”TikTok has cited Lin’s research as part of its defense. He also repeatedly noted that TikTok does not collect more user data than most of its peers in the industry. TikTok later confirmed the incident and ByteDance fired several employees who had improperly accessed the TikTok data of two journalists. “And governments around the world are ignoring their duty to protect citizens’ private information, allowing big tech companies to exploit user information for gain.

Apple Watch Series 8 (41mm, GPS) The Apple Watch Series 8 now features a temperature sensor, car crash detection, and low-power mode, making it an even more powerful fitness tracker slash smartwatch. While the original Fitbit Sense had a small touch-sensitive haptic button on the left-hand side of the watch, Fitbit added a physical button to the Fitbit Sense 2, which is easier to operate, especially during workouts. Apple Watch Series 8 vs. Fitbit Sense 2: Smartwatch performanceThe Fitbit Sense 2 was clearly built with health and wellness in mind but beyond that, its smartwatch capabilities are limited. Apple Watch Series 8 vs. Fitbit Sense 2: Battery lifeAntonio Villas-Boas/Rick Stella/InsiderOne of the main reasons you'd want the Fitbit Sense 2 over the Series 8 is its battery life. The Apple Watch Series 8 costs $100 more than the Fitbit Sense 2 but you get a more full-featured smartwatch.

☆ Keith Rabois says Shopify brands have 'a lot of room' to grow, and his startup, OpenStore, just launched a new product to help with that
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Keith Rabois' startup, OpenStore, is launching a new service for Shopify merchants. Keith Rabois founded OpenStore in 2021 with the idea of scooping up Shopify stores and using economies of scale to supercharge their sales. OpenStore has acquired more than 40 Shopify stores so far, says Rabois, a venture capitalist who placed early bets on DoorDash, Affirm, Stripe, and Faire. That makes OpenStore the largest owner and operator of Shopify brands in the world, he told Insider in a recent interview. However, there's "a lot of room" to grow Shopify brands, he added.

☆ Senior Meta ads exec departs amid efficiency drive
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Katie Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"I made this decision slowly (over the last 2+ years) and then all of a sudden," he wrote. A Meta spokesperson confirmed Levy's departure and said business messaging would remain a strategic priority and area of investment for the company this year. The business messaging project he heads has been flagged by Zuckerberg for growth potential, although he was replaced last year as overall head of ad and business products. Previously, Levy ran Meta's ads and business products division, now called Monetization. Another ads VP on the sales side, Michelle Klein, also announced this week that she was leaving.

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