CultCast #283 - WWDC hardware expectations! đź•ş

The CultCast - A podcast by America's favorite Apple Podcast - Fridays

Categories:

Technology

This week: 
  • It’s official, the WWDC keynote takes place June 5th, so here are our hardware expectations đź•ş
  • Apple quietly acquires one of the world’s best sleep tracking technologies
  • Why Amazon’s Prime video app may FINALLY be coming to your Apple TV
  • Our first impressions of the Amazon Echo Show, and the features we hope Apple steals from it
  • And stick around for a completely weird, totally tribal What We’re Into, the segment where we reveal the all the non-tech stuff we’re currently enjoying.
 
This episode supported by
 
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We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
 
On the show this week
@erfon / @bst3r / @lkahney
 
Apple Sends Out Press Invites for WWDC Keynote on June 5
  • The invites are out!  The WWDC keynote you’ve been waiting for us coming in three weeks, on June 5 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
 
Apple acquires sleep-tracking startup Beddit
  • Apple recently purchased Beddit, a sleep monitoring system that pairs a pliable under-sheet sleep sensor with an app, all of which is designed to help users analyze and improve their sleeping habits.
  • Apple's Beddit purchase came to light because Beddit updated its privacy policy to both highlight the acquisition and implement Apple's privacy rules. "Your personal data will be collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Apple Privacy Policy," reads the site.
 
Amazon Prime Video may come to Apple TV this summer
  • Apple and Amazon, the tech giants, are close to an agreement to bring an Amazon video app to Apple’s Apple TV set-top box, according to people familiar with the two companies.
  • Amazon employees expect the app to show up on Apple’s hardware in the third quarter of the year.
  • That move would allow Amazon Prime Video subscribers to easily watch TV shows and movies from the service using Apple TV.
  • It’s unclear what got the two companies to reach an agreement, though some industry observers suggest that any pact would have been worked out, at a high level, by CEOs Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos.
 
Amazon Echo Show brings video to smart-speaker party
  • Amazon’’s new Echo Show is just like Echo, but with Video.  You’re gonna just love video.  It’s like a audio  but for your eyes!
  • With Echo Show Watch video flash briefings and YouTube, see music lyrics, security cameras, photos, weather forecasts, to-do and shopping lists, and more. All hands-free—just ask.
  • Introducing a new way to be together. Make hands-free video calls to friends and family who have an Echo Show or the Alexa App, and make voice calls to anyone who has an Echo or Echo Dot.
  • See lyrics on-screen with Amazon Music. Just ask to play a song, artist or genre, and stream over Wi-Fi. Also, stream music on Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and more.
  • Powerful, room-filling speakers with Dolby processing for crisp vocals and extended bass response
  • Ask Alexa to show you the front door or monitor the baby's room with compatible cameras from Ring and Arlo. Turn on lights, control thermostats and more with WeMo, Philips Hue, ecobee, and other compatible smart home devices.