Mitchel Broussard

In the latest company rankings, Brand Finance has detailed the 500 Most Valuable Brands in the United States for 2018 [PDF], with Apple earning 2nd place this year and not moving spots from last year. A lot has shifted around the company, however, with Google dropping from 1st place last year to 3rd place this year, and Amazon rising from 3rd to become Brand Finance's #1 most valuable U.S. brand...

Members of the Information Technology Industry Council plan to meet this Wednesday, June 27 in San Francisco to discuss "how to tackle growing questions and concerns about consumer privacy online." The news comes from Axios, and members of ITI in attendance will reportedly include Apple, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Dropbox, and more -- although specific attendees have...

Monument Valley 2 creators Ustwo Games today posted a new story on Medium (via The Verge) that highlights the first-year numbers and growth of the popular mobile sequel. Although there are numerous points of data to look at, one notable standout is that Monument Valley 2 earned $10.4 million in the one year period that began on June 5, 2017 (the game's launch day) through June 4, 2018. In...

Facebook is working on its own in-house time usage insight dashboard, following in the footsteps of Apple's iOS 12 keynote at WWDC, which included the announcement of a "Screen Time" digital health feature. Discovered by Jane Manchun Wong (via TechCrunch), "Your Time on Facebook" shows a list of of how long you've spent on the Facebook app over the last week. This includes the average time you ...

Apple's audio device strategy has been highlighted today in a new report by Bloomberg, which looked forward to 2019 and the launch of the "higher-end" third-generation AirPods, next HomePod, and previously rumored over-ear headphones from Apple. For the AirPods, next year's model is believed to be water resistant "to protect against rain and perspiration," which Bloomberg previously reported ...

The United States Supreme Court today ruled that the government "is required" to obtain a warrant if it wants to gain access to data found on a civilian's smartphone, but only when it's related to the user's location data (via The New York Times). Image via Wikimedia Commons The decision is expected to have major implications for digital privacy moving forward as it pertains to legal cases,...

Alongside a major version 3.0 update that rolled out to its iOS app [Direct Link] earlier this week, Turner Classic Movies has also expanded support for its "Watch TCM" app to tvOS devices. Now the app can be downloaded to the fourth-generation Apple TV and fifth-generation Apple TV 4K, with thousands of classic films available on demand. You'll need to have TCM already on your current cable ...

Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has begun commercial production of chips manufactured using its advanced 7-nanometer process (via DigiTimes). One of the major customers for chips built with the technology will be Apple and the A12 processor, which is expected to be found in all three upcoming 2018 iPhones. The announcement comes from newly appointed TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, ...

eBay today launched its latest sitewide coupon code, offering customers the chance to save $15 on orders that reach or exceed $75. The code isn't as enticing as eBay's previous sitewide sales, but could still give shoppers the chance to save money on a variety of items, excluding video game consoles, laptops and netbooks, coins and paper money, gift cards and coupons, and real estate. Note:...

Movie subscription service MoviePass today confirmed that it will soon introduce surge pricing into its business model, charging customers from $2 and up for films that the company deems popular. The news comes from MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe, who confirmed to Business Insider that surge pricing will affect monthly subscribers while annual subscribers will be exempt from what he describes as...

Siri rival Google Assistant received a major update today across the Google Home speaker ecosystem with a feature Google revealed at I/O in May, called "Continued Conversation." Now, when you speak to Google Assistant and wake it up with a "Hey Google" or "OK Google" phrase, you don't need to repeat the phrase again for a follow-up request. For example, you can ask "Hey Google, what's the...

In the latest piece of news surrounding Apple's original television content plans, the company has given a series order to an adaptation of the French series "Calls," which aired in France beginning in 2017 (via Variety). Created by Timothée Hochet, "Calls" is described as a short-form series that tells stories via snippets of audio taken from real-life situations, as well as through the use...

Apple has partnered with Adidas for this week's Apple Pay promotion, allowing customers to save 15 percent on items purchased in the iOS Adidas app until June 28. There's no promo code this time around, and some exclusions apply in regards to the products that can be discounted, but the companies didn't provide specifics. To take advantage of the promotion, download the Adidas app for iOS [Di...

One week after completing its acquisition of Time Warner, AT&T today announced the impending launch of an all-new live TV service called "WatchTV," which unsurprisingly includes many channels under the Time Warner umbrella (via Engadget). This appears to be the service not focused on sports that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said in April would be coming very soon. The announcement came...

Microsoft today announced a rebranding of its news engine that's been powering sites like MSN.com since 1995, which the company is simply calling "Microsoft News." The name will replace the previous "MSN News" smartphone app beginning today across devices for iOS, Android, Microsoft Edge, Windows 10, Skype, Xbox, and Outlook.com (MSN.com will retain its name). The revamped app curates news via ...

Last month, Europe implemented its General Data Protection Regulation in an effort to protect the data of all individuals within the European Union, with some aspects affecting users worldwide. According to a new report by Axios, the White House is "in the early stages" of figuring out what a federal approach to online data privacy would look like in the United States. So far, special...

Apple senior vice president of retail Angela Ahrendts gave a new interview today at Cannes Lions, an annual international festival in France that celebrates individuals and companies in creative spaces. During her talk, Ahrendts discussed a variety of topics related to Apple and its pivot away from retail "stores" over the last few years to become community gathering places (via NBC News). Th ...

21st Century Fox and the Walt Disney Company today announced a new deal that increases the value of Disney's original December 2017 offer from $28 a share at $52.4 billion to $38 a share at $71.3 billion, with a new cash component. This agreement "is superior to the proposal" from Comcast made earlier this month, according to an unnamed representative speaking for Fox (via The Wall Street Journal)...

Feral Interactive today announced the release of Tropico for iPad, scheduled for a debut sometime "later this year." Originally published by Kalypso Media from Tropico 3 onwards, Feral noted that this will mark the first time Tropico has been ported to iPad. Tropico is a city building game set on an island in the Caribbean, where the player takes on the role of the island's dictator El...

There are a few exclusive deals we have to share today, beginning with a partnership with accessory company Elevation Lab. Over on Amazon, our readers can purchase Elevation Lab's DraftTable or DraftTable Kit for 20 percent off, marking the accessories down to $39.96 and $55.96 respectively. Just head to Amazon and enter the code MACLAB20 during the checkout process before the code expires on...