Mitchel Broussard

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover are planning to combine their online payment options into "a single button," hoping to make customers' shopping easier and reduce friction in the checkout process. The button will be a major competitor to PayPal, and combat what's called "the NASCAR effect," where multiple payment logos and options dot the purchasing interface on online...

AT&T is planning to add a new streaming service to its lineup called "AT&T Watch," priced at a low cost of $15 per month with the removal of all sports channels. The service will be one of the cheapest streaming bundles available on the market, and will even be free for AT&T wireless subscribers on unlimited plans (via The Wall Street Journal and Variety). As of now not much else is known...

Best Buy currently has a limited-time sale hitting the 15-inch MacBook Pro from mid 2015, with a 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and 256GB flash storage. Under the sale, those interested can get this model for $1,499.99, priced originally at $1,999.99. Students and parents of students can knock the price down an additional $50 to $1,449.99. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner...

eBay today announced a new update for its iOS and Android apps, aimed at further simplifying the item listing process. The headlining feature of the update is a new barcode scanner, allowing sellers to quickly scan the box of an item (if they still have it), select a condition, and click "list your item." The barcode scanner will automatically populate the listing with all of the requisite...

Verizon today announced the evolution of its existing "FamilyBase" parental controls product into "Smart Family," a redesigned app that lets parents track screen time, set content filters, monitor whereabouts, and more. With the Verizon Smart Family app, parents can instantly pause the internet to manage their kids' screen time, check the battery status of their phone, and look at a summary...

Anyone who uses Apple Pay to checkout in the McDonald's iOS app on a Friday in April will have the opportunity to get free Medium fries with their order. The offer for a free side of fries is Apple's latest promotion for Apple Pay, and customers have two more Fridays to take advantage of it: April 20 and April 27. The McDonald's promotion is valid only with a minimum $1 purchase (excluding...

When Apple first announced its ARKit developer platform, one of the examples it gave was an image that showed someone playing Dejarik, a holographic board game from the Star Wars universe. The game has been available in an augmented reality experience on the iOS "Star Wars: Jedi Challenges" app [Direct Link], but it required pieces of hardware -- namely the Lenovo Mirage AR headset -- that current...

Just under two years after launching on the iOS App Store, Opera this week announced that its free "Opera VPN" app will be permanently discontinued as of April 30, 2018. Opera's virtual private network app masks the user's true IP address and allows them to bypass firewalls, block tracking cookies, change their virtual location to unlock geo-specific content, and more. At the end of April, the ...

Apple Music has seen a consistent rise in subscriber numbers over the past year, with the streaming music service's fastest growth yet -- hitting 40 million subscribers -- coming just this month. According to Macquarie Capital analyst Ben Schachter, Apple Music will keep up its progress and average 40 percent growth each year over the next three years (via The Wall Street Journal). With this...

Facebook this week shared a blog post explaining "new privacy experiences" that will be available on the social network, in compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), coming into effect on May 25. Facebook originally detailed part of its plan for GDPR-related privacy features back in January, and is now following through in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica...

Sonos today announced the upcoming debut of new color options for the Sonos One speaker, launching in addition to the device's current colors of white and black. Created in collaboration with Danish design brand HAY, the Sonos One will be available in red, yellow, and green in September 2018. Although not mentioned specifically, the announcement of the new speaker colors also includes an image ...

Last November a new streaming TV service called "Philo" was announced, aimed at providing a much cheaper monthly cost for users by cutting out all sports-related content. Starting at $16 per month, subscribers can stream 37 entertainment networks on multiple devices including iPhone, MacBook, Roku, smart TVs, and more. At the time of its announcement the company said a Philo app would be...

Apple's latest entry in its online Machine Learning Journal focuses on the personalization process that users partake in when activating "Hey Siri" features on iOS devices. Across all Apple products, "Hey Siri" invokes the company's AI assistant, and can be followed up by questions like "How is the weather?" or "Message Dad I'm on my way." "Hey Siri" was introduced in iOS 8 on the iPhone 6,...

Duncan Sinfield says that piloting his drones over Apple Park has become increasingly difficult in the past few weeks, and that he believes it's "only a matter of time until the campus becomes shut-off to drones completely." Sinfield's comment on Apple Park security comes in the text description of a new video that he uploaded today, where he talks about the response that he's been getting to...

Apple's next Activity Challenge for Apple Watch wearers will be centered around Earth Day this Sunday, April 22, with notifications that should begin appearing on Friday, April 20. The Earth Day Challenge requires you to do any workout for 30 minutes or more on April 22, and record your activity within the Workout watchOS app or any other app that adds workouts to the Health iOS app. As is...

MacRumors and Twelve South have partnered up again this week, offering our readers the chance to get the accessory maker's HiRise Duet charging stand for $30 off its original price of $119.99. The HiRise Duet is a combination charging stand that supports both the iPhone and Apple Watch, with an integrated Lightning charger for iPhone and iPad, as well as a Magnetic Charging Disc for the Apple...

Best Buy is continuing its string of sales this spring with a new offer focused on the MacBook Pro today, which will last until next weekend. The focus of the new sale is Apple's latest MacBook Pro, with discounts of up to $200 off select 13-inch models (or up to $250 off for students and parents of students). Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and...

On Monday, Apple introduced new (PRODUCT)RED models of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, which went up for pre-order on Tuesday and are available to purchase in Apple Stores as of today. Since it's an Apple product launch day, customers interested in the new iPhone 8 color can visit Apple.com to check stock at their local Apple stores and arrange for an in-store pickup on the smartphone. Apple's ...

It's been one week since Cardi B released her debut studio album "Invasion of Privacy," and over that time it's reached more than 100 million streams on Apple Music. According to stats provided by Apple to The Verge, this means that Cardi B has set a new record for first-week streams by a female artist on Apple's streaming music service. The previous record holder was Taylor Swift and her...

Best Buy today launched a new 2-day sale, offering discounts on the 12-inch MacBook, 5th generation iPad, 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus. For the 2017 MacBook models on sale, Best Buy's prices this weekend are coming in around $100-$150 cheaper than B&H Photo and Adorama, while last year's 9.7-inch iPad is between $30-$50 cheaper than rival retailers in the new sale. Note:...