Month: May 2022

Apple has been upgrading its Podcasts platform as the iOS 15.5 RC revealed a new option to limit episodes stored on your devices as well as changes arriving to help podcasters better present the value of annual subscriptions. Now Apple Podcasts has announced its new “Delegated Delivery” service that will allow creators to “upload, manage, and distribute their premium audio through participating third-party hosting providers.”

Apple announced the news in a press release today sharing details on the new option for podcasters along with a launch date of this fall.

The big picture is that Delegated Delivery should trim down operational tasks for dealing with podcast subscriptions “so that creators can focus on making and marketing their work.”

Compatible with seven hosting providers to start, the new Apple Podcasts service will allow creators to submit both free and premium shows.

Here’s the initial list of supported hosts:

• Acast
• ART19
• Blubrry
• Buzzsprout
• Libsyn
• Omny Studio
• RSS.com

Apple says that more hosts will be added after the fall launch and that it will share more information and resources for creators on how to use Delegated Delivery before the launch.

You can check out the full details in Apple’s blog post and here’s a useful FAQs with more specifics:

FAQs for creators

How do I know if my hosting provider offers Delegated Delivery?

Check the Hosting Providers page to see if and when Delegated Delivery will be supported by your hosting provider.

My hosting provider has committed to offering Delegated Delivery. When will it be available?

Delegated Delivery will be available beginning this fall. Check the Hosting Providers page for updates.

How do I give my hosting provider access to my account to deliver shows and episodes to Apple Podcasts?

More information will be shared before launch this fall.

If I use Delegated Delivery, do I still need to upload premium audio directly through Apple Podcasts Connect?

With Delegated Delivery enabled, you are no longer required to upload subscriber audio through Apple Podcasts Connect, but you will be able to do so if you choose. You can use Apple Podcasts Connect to check that your premium content has been successfully published and you will continue to use Apple Podcasts Connect to create new channels, manage subscriptions, view listening analytics, export subscription reports, and more.

Can I use Delegated Delivery with multiple hosting providers?

Yes, you can enable multiple hosting providers to deliver new episodes with Delegated Delivery.

Do I need to be a member of the Apple Podcasters Program to use Delegated Delivery?

You can use Delegated Delivery without a membership to the Apple Podcasters Program to enable hosting providers to publish free shows. A membership is required to publish premium shows and episodes.

Is there an additional cost to use Delegated Delivery?

Delegated Delivery will be available to all creators through Apple Podcasts Connect at no additional cost.

If I change hosting providers, can I still use Delegated Delivery?

If your new hosting provider supports Delegated Delivery, you can still use this feature once authorizing them. Contact your hosting providers for more information about how to migrate your show and get started with Delegated Delivery.

If I give my hosting provider access via Delegated Delivery, can they see my analytics in Apple Podcasts Connect?

No. Your analytics are only available to you and anyone with the Analyst role in Apple Podcasts Connect. Delegated Delivery does not give your hosting provider permission to see your analytics.

If you have any other questions, please contact us.

Apex Legends Mobile is a completely separate game, its designers say. That does not mean it’s a completely different game.

Respawn Entertainment hopes players will find enough familiarity in the action on smaller Android and iOS screens, but Apex Legends Mobile will not share the progression, seasons, inventory, or anything else with the flagship console version.

The studio already announced, back in April, that there would be no cross-play among Apex Legends’ mobile and console/PC populations. But in a preview showcase two weeks ago, Mike Hoff, senior product director for Apex Legends Mobile, emphasized this version has been built specifically for smaller-screen devices, which if nothing else gives experienced players a chance to start all over in the Apex Games.

“This means we’ll have a different patch cadence, different themes and events, changes to ranked [play] and a myriad of new features,” Hoff said.

Importantly, controller support on mobile devices is “something that’s super important for us,” Hoff said, but it’s still not complete as of Apex Legends Mobile’s launch on May 17. “While we are actively exploring it, it is one [feature] that we haven’t quite got right just yet,” Hoff said. “We are continuing to develop against it, and players can expect to see it in the very near future. We were really hoping to get it in there right away, but [we] aren’t quite happy with the level of polish and testing that we’ve knocked out on it.”

The biggest feature exclusive to Apex Legends Mobile is what fans had sussed out ever since the game’s limited regional launch kicked off in early March: There’s a new legend, Fade, and you’ll play them only in Apex Legends Mobile.

Image: Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts

Fade was purpose-built for mobile gameplay, said Jordan Patz, the game’s design director. “We took the learnings that we built from bringing PC Legends to mobile and we used them to create a Legend that leans into what we see as being the best parts of mobile gameplay,” Patz said.

Fade is a variation on Wraith, one of the game’s most popular Legends since its launch in 2019 (and also available in Apex Legends Mobile). “He’s an extremely aggressive mobility fighter that wields a suit based on the same technology as Wraith,” Patz said.

Fade’s passive, tactical, and ultimate skills lean into a fast-paced playing style that Respawn thinks will suit the mobile version of their game. The passive ability Slipstream allows Fade to move more quickly for a brief period after he performs a slide. “It gives players a way to experiment with the advanced movement of Apex slide-jumping, and that’s a key skill we want to teach in all Mobile players,” Patz said.

The tactical ability, called Flashback, lets Fade “reset himself back to a point some number of steps earlier in the encounter,” Patz said. “This ability is created to give lower-skilled players an emergency ripcord out of bad situations, and to be more forgiving of risky play.” Higher skilled players, Patz said, will likely use Flashback to contrive ways to “bamboozle enemies, disorienting them, and even setting up an ambush.”

The Ultimate ability, Phase Chamber, can be both an offensive and defensive tactic, Patz said. Fade tosses a throwable, it explodes, and anyone in the blast radius is pushed into a phase space, where they are unable to deal — or receive — damage. “This ability is designed to help protect against bad situations by allowing Fade to avoid third-party [PvP] scenarios, or to isolate a single squad member temporarily, to pick apart teams,” Patz said. Fade “can also use it on his own team to drop them out of danger for a moment.” Fade gains a movement speed bonus while he is affected by the bomb’s phase-space burst.

Grid View

Apex Legends Mobile players have nine other Legends (out of 21 total) from the main game’s roster to play at launch: Bangalore, Bloodhound, Caustic, Gibraltar, Lifeline, Mirage, Octane, Pathfinder, and Wraith. Newcastle, the newest legend who arrived with Season 13’s launch on May 10, is not among them.

In the preview event, Respawn’s designers referred to Fade as a “mobile-first legend” — with the implication there would be others — which means the character may show up in the console and PC game later. “Playing on our phones is a little bit different than playing on a console or a PC,” Hoff said. “Having mobile Legends is important for us, because it allows us to create stuff that’s unique to our players, and really highlights how they engage with the game that might be different.”

Patz said the new mobile-vs-HD Legend delineation allows Respawn to “surprise and delight players coming into our game. If we are just continuously bringing in HD legends, then it becomes which one we’re gonna do next,” he reasoned. “We want to get players excited about what new content is coming around the horizon, not just which [existing] thing are we going to choose to bring in.”

Apex Legends Mobile will feature the standard Battle Royale mode, involving squads of three and player counts of up to 60; and Arenas, the smaller, round-based 3-on-3 games introduced one year ago with season 9 in the main game. It will also feature a mobile exclusive, 6v6 Team Deathmatch mode with two variants, Clash and Deathmatch, which determine where downed players respawn. In Deathmatch, killed players respawn at random points near their teammates. In Clash, they spawn at their home base.

Battle Royale is playable on the World’s Edge map; Arenas are playable on Thermal Station, Artillery, and Overflow. Team Deathmatch is playable on Thermal Station, Artillery, and Skull Town (which was destroyed in season 5 of the main game), with Clash playable on Artillery, Overflow, and Market.

Apex Legends Mobile season 1 begins Tuesday, May 17, for Android and iOS devices and is available through the Google Play and iOS App Store marketplaces.

Apple has long been expected to transition to fully portless iPhones at some point, and for most users that makes perfect sense. But we’re seeing growing reports that the iPhone maker is first going to switch from Lightning to USB-C, and that raises a key question.

Is USB-C just a brief interim stage before iPhones go fully wireless, or do USB-C iPhones have a longer future … ?

Recent reports

Two recent reports suggest that Apple plans to switch to a USB-C iPhone port next year. Ming-Chi Kuo made the initial report, before Bloomberg corroborated.

Note that neither report means this is definitely happening. Kuo based his on supply-chain reports, and we noted at the time the uncertainties regarding these.

Apple likes to have multiple suppliers wherever possible, to allow it to negotiate better prices, and to reduce risk. If, for example, a major supplier of Lightning ports were to report Apple was planning to cut orders next year, that could mean nothing more than a rejigging of competing suppliers.

Similarly, USB-C suppliers talking about expecting a major boost in orders next year might again simply be Apple or other companies increasing orders with some suppliers while reducing them with others.

Bloomberg’s report was instead based on internal testing of a USB-C iPhone. I’m sure that report is accurate, but again, it doesn’t amount to proof. There is precisely a 100% chance that there have been USB-C iPhone prototypes within Apple’s labs for years now. Does ‘testing’ mean simply experimenting with these, or something on a more formal and larger scale?

However, both sources seem reasonably confident in their predictions, so let’s assume for now that they are correct. What does this mean for the future of iPhone ports? Here are my brief thoughts.

It would be an overdue move

I’m a big fan of port standardization in general, and of USB-C in particular. My ideal is a day when absolutely all wired connections are USB-C to USB-C, and I can finally ditch five of the six trays of cables I have, not to mention the additional one with assorted adapters.

I was a bit skeptical of Kuo’s report for this reason. While I’d welcome it, my immediate question was ‘why now?’. Apple started the switched to USB-C in the Mac back in 2016, and the iPad in 2018, so why wait another four years before the iPhone belatedly follows suit?

In particular, if Apple is heading toward portless iPhones, why go through the disruption now of a wired port change that would last for perhaps two or three years before a fully wireless iPhone?

If the reports are accurate, this is a very overdue move.

Most will be happy with portless iPhones

One possible explanation for the latter point is simply that the portless reports aren’t true, and Apple plans to stick with a wired charging and data-transfer connection option for the foreseeable future. However, I don’t buy that, for several reasons.

First, a portless iPhone is absolutely in line with Apple’s design direction. Sure, things have changed a little since Jony Ive left, but I do believe that his “single slab of glass” vision is Apple’s ultimate goal.

Second, eliminating a port reduces manufacturing cost and complexity. This, too, is absolutely in line with the company’s ethos – as the removal of the headphone jack demonstrated.

Third, removing the port improves reliability. It takes away the biggest entry point for dust and water, which will likely significantly boost the waterproofing standard. Additionally, it ends the fraying Lightning cable issue!

Finally, most iPhone owners don’t need a port – and even fewer will do so in the future. Few iPhone owners ever do any wired data-transfer, and most people can get their charging needs met through overnight wireless charging. For top-up charges, we’re seeing a growing number of wireless charging pads in cars, coffee shops, hotels, airports, offices … you name it. This trend will only continue. Same for power banks with MagSafe charging capabilities.

But there are still people who need a wired port

Apple cannot have things both ways: argue that the iPhone is a suitable camera for professional video use (albeit mostly as a B-cam or C-cam) while at the same time removing the only practical way to transfer significant amounts of 4K (and later 8K) video footage.

If you’re using an iPhone for pro video shoots, a wired port is a necessity, and USB-C is much better than Lightning.

Similarly, there will be a minority of people for whom wireless charging isn’t practical. If you are a really heavy iPhone user, and need to go significant periods between charges, then the faster speed of wireless charging may be a necessity rather than a luxury.

So there will always be some who need a wired connection (at least until wireless charging and wireless data transfer offer speed much closer to wired connections), even if they are a minority.

What’s my best guess?

I can see one of two things happening, at the point where Apple feels ready to make the change to portless iPhones.

First, the standard iPhone model(s) go portless, while the Pro models retain a wired port. This would make for a worthwhile point of differentiation for more serious iPhone users, while the vast majority of consumers will remain happy with wireless charging and AirDrop.

Or second, have the iPhone Pro Max be the only model to continue to offer a USB-C port. This would again be consistent with certain features being exclusive to the largest and most expensive model – like sensor shift and 2.5x optional zoom being exclusive to the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I think Apple could probably take the second approach without upsetting too many people. Videographers are likely to appreciate the larger screen of the Pro Max, while anyone needing to push battery usage to the limits will obviously be buying the Pro Max for its longer battery life. So the two groups who most benefit from a wired port are already likely to choose the top-end model.

So that’s my bet. Sometime within the next few years, all but the iPhone Pro Max go portless, while the Pro Max gets or keeps a USB-C port. What’s your view? Please take our poll and share your thoughts in the comments.

Apple today shared the official trailer for the upcoming third season of alt-reality For All Mankind. Season three picks up ten years further on in the story, with NASA aiming to occupy the surface of Mars.

Apple’s flagship space drama debuted as part of the Apple TV+ launch in November 2019, and the show has continued to receive strong critical acclaim. For All Mankind season two was selected as the #1 show of last year, by Rolling Stone. Watch the trailer for the new season after the break …

For All Mankind is based on the premise that Russia, not America, reached the moon first in 1969. This inspires much more investment into the US space program than what happened in real life, meaning that the state of technology advances significantly in the alternate timeline laid out by the show. For instance, in the first season, NASA and the Soviets set up permanent bases on the surface of the Moon.

Season 3 picks up in the 1990’s, and the battle of space has now turned to Mars. Joel Kinnaman and Shantel VanSanten are part of the returning cast, reprising their roles as Ed and Karen Baldwin.

The new season of For All Mankind begins on June 10, with the first episode. The remaining episodes will be released on a weekly basis, every Friday. Watch the trailer here: