Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
In 2020, Microsoft was battling to bring xCloud or Xbox Game Streaming to the iPhone and iPad, and the conversations had an unlikely victim: Shadow a third-party cloud gaming app that lets you stream PC games to an iPhone or iPad.
Emails between Microsoft and Apple, revealed in the
Epic v. Apple trial today, show how the Xbox maker was trying to get xCloud on iOS. Microsoft was trying to figure out how Shadow, Netflix, and other similar “interactive” apps were able to exist in the App Store while Apple was refusing to approve xCloud. Microsoft put forward Shadow as an example of such a service, only to see it suddenly removed from the store.
Apple’s Spring Loaded event: the 8 biggest announcements
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Apple just wrapped up its “Spring Loaded” event, announcing new iPads, iMacs, and more. It was jam-packed with news from the company.
If you want to read about what was announced as it happened, check out our live blog with commentary from Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, and Chaim Gartenberg. But if you just want the news, read on.
Apple’s new iPad Pro.
Image: Apple
Apple unveiled its newest iPad Pro tablets, and they’re equipped with the same Apple-designed M1 chip in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini (and the new iMac, also announced today). The 12.9-inch model has an upgraded display that uses 10,000 Mini LEDs, and Apple calls it the Liquid Retina XDR display. Both iPad Pros also have a new 12-megapixel ultrawide camera that can automatically track you during video calls.
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In a freewheeling interview with TD, Jennifer Huntley, head of partnerships in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at VisitBritain talks about how the Gulf region is the second most valuable market for Britain in terms of visitor spending. VisitBritain is looking at positioning the country’s appeal as a tourism destination, improving its ranking in the eyes of international travellers and increasing visitor spending in all parts of Britain.
Aerial. River Thames and Tower Bridge, London, England
TD:
How is Visit Britain promoting the region in the Middle East? What are the key strategies involved?
JH: Working with a wide range of partners in both the UK and overseas, our mission is to make tourism one of the most successful and productive sectors for the UK economy. Tourism is currently worth GBP 127 billion (USD 174.40 billion) to Britain’s economy and as Britain’s seventh largest export industry, inbound tourism’s economic contribution was valued at GBP 26.2
How the pandemic inspired creative uses of technology in 2020
People got imaginative with TikTok, FaceTime, Zoom, Google Forms, and a meme of Anthony Fauci
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Josh Gad’s Reunited Apart brought together the cast of the Lord of the Rings movies
The year that brought us the coronavirus pandemic, murder hornets, and the deaths of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Alex Trebek is probably one most people won’t be sad to bid adieu. Parents and kids were stuck together during lockdowns, trying to manage remote school and work, and everyone’s feeling good and frayed at this point.