Linked List: July 9, 2021

Friday, 9 July 2021

News Corp Shutters Knewz Aggregator After 18 Months ★

The Wrap:

News Corp shuttered its the aggregation site Knewz on Friday, just 18 months after its launch. Users who navigated to the site found an announcement declaring, “Knewz is no more.”

Yours truly, back when Knewz launched:

It’s like the design brief was “Coked-up Drudge Report”.

Richard Donner: The People’s Choice ★

Nice piece by Glenn Kenny on Richard Donner, who died earlier this week at age 91. Donner is one of those directors with a string of “Oh, he directed that?” movies. I think Kenny nails it: Donner made movies people wanted to see. That’s something.

Tom’s Guide Awards 2021: The M1 Chip ★

Tom’s Guide:

After creating the A Series for the iPhone and scaling it up for the iPad, Apple’s team of engineers set its sights on the Mac, but the M1 chip couldn’t just match what Intel had to offer. It had to handily beat it.

“If somebody else could build a chip that was actually going to deliver better performance inside that enclosure, what’s the point? Why would we switch?” said Tim Milet, vice president of platform architecture at Apple. “And so for my chip architects, that was the target.” […]

The most striking thing about the M1 is its battery life. For example, the MacBook Pro lasted an astounding 16 hours and 25 minutes in our web-surfing test. The previous Intel model lasted 10:21. That’s a huge difference, and this increase caused more than one double take within Apple.

“When we saw that first system and then you sat there and played with it for a few hours and the battery didn’t move, we thought ‘Oh man, that’s a bug, the battery indicator is broken,’” said Bob Borchers, VP of worldwide product marketing for Apple. “And then Tim’s laughing in the background, ‘Nope, that’s the way it’s supposed to be’ and it was pretty phenomenal.”

‘Inside the President’s War Room’ – 9/11 Documentary Co-Produced by Apple and BBC One ★

Benjamin Mayo, reporting for 9to5Mac:

Apple TV+ today announced a new documentary special airing later this year. The show is entitled 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room and will explore the 2001 terrorist attack from the perspective of the immediate response of the people in charge. The special will be narrated by Jeff Daniels and include testimony from ex-President George Bush, Dick Cheney, and more. In a notable move for the streaming service, the special will premiere simultaneously on Apple TV+ and on the publicly-funded broadcast channel BBC One.

As you might expect, the special will air in September in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11. In the UK, the special will first be broadcast on BBC One and appear on Apple TV+ later. In all other regions, it will debut on Apple TV+ exclusively.

They’ve moved beyond Carpool Karaoke, that’s for sure.

The Information: Apple in Early Talks With NFL for ‘Sunday Ticket’ Streaming Rights ★

Sahil Patel, reporting for The Information:

The iPhone maker is one of a number of companies, including TV networks and other tech firms, that have had discussions with NFL executives lately about the package of games, including at this week’s Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley for tech and media executives. The rights cover a package known as Sunday Ticket, which now airs on DirecTV. They are separate from a slew of licensing deals recently completed between the NFL, most major broadcast TV networks and Amazon. ESPN’s parent Disney is among those likely to be interested in Sunday Ticket.

Sunday Ticket is no small thing. It’s not like the deal Amazon has had for a few years where they have the streaming rights for a small handful of Thursday night games. Sunday Ticket packages include all games — it’s a super premium tier for big fans and sports bars that want to show every game.

I feel like TV+ is following an interesting trajectory: slowly and steadily building into a unique premium TV service. Some sort of major foray into live sports seems like a good next step.