Month: April 2019

Enlarge / NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 10: A sign warns people of measles in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg on April 10, 2019, in New York City. As a measles epidemic continues to spread, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a state of emergency and mandated residents of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg at the center of the outbreak to get vaccinated for the viral disease. (credit: Getty | Spencer Platt)

Five unnamed mothers in New York City filed a lawsuit Monday, April 15, seeking to block the city's mandatory vaccination order in areas hit by a massive measles outbreak that has raged since last October.

City health officials announced the order earlier this month as they declared a public health emergency over the outbreak, which has sickened 329 people so far—mostly children. According to the city's order, all unvaccinated people in affected ZIP codes must receive the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, prove immunity, or have a valid medical exemption. Violators could face a fine of $1,000.

In the lawsuit, the mothers claim that the outbreak does not constitute a dangerous epidemic (though the virus can cause severe complications and even death) and that the city's orders are "arbitrary and capricious." Moreover, they allege that the MMR vaccine has significant safety concerns (this is false; side effects beyond mild, temporary discomfort are exceedingly rare) and that the order violates their religious freedom.

Enlarge / The front of the 2019 iPad Air. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Two reports by Guilherme Rambo at 9to5Mac citing "people familiar with the development" of both macOS 10.15 and iOS 13 may have revealed some notable new features in Apple's operating systems for Macs, iPhones, and iPads.

In the first report, published yesterday, Rambo describes new additions in iOS 13, which has long been expected to be a major release after iOS 12 was focused on improving performance and reliability.

The report says that iPads running iOS 13 will support multiple windows: "Each window will also be able to contain sheets that are initially attached to a portion of the screen but can be detached with a drag gesture, becoming a card that can be moved around freely." Users will be able to stack the cards or dismiss them with a gesture.

Enlarge / T-Mobile CEO John Legere (left) and then-Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure during an interview on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 30, 2018. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

T-Mobile US and Sprint are facing potential rejection of their proposed merger at the US Department of Justice.

DOJ staffers "have told T-Mobile US and Sprint that their planned merger is unlikely to be approved as currently structured," The Wall Street Journal reported today, citing people familiar with the matter.

"In a meeting earlier this month, Justice Department staff members laid out their concerns with the all-stock deal and questioned the companies' arguments that the combination would produce important efficiencies for the merged firm," the Journal wrote.

Enlarge / Microsoft needs to give customers a better deal to convince them to give up discs for good. (credit: Dazzied / Flickr)

Today's announcement of the previously rumored "All-Digital Edition" of the Xbox One S is one of the few instances when a redesigned version of a home console is, from a features perspective, strictly worse than the version that came before it. The removal of the disc drive means the All-Digital Edition can't play Blu-rays, DVDs, or old disc-based games you (or GameStop) might have lying around, and it won't let you resell any games you might buy for it. The new box isn't even any smaller, even though the bulky optical drive has been removed.

Microsoft intends to make up for this loss of features with a lower price point for the new unit, which will sell for a $249 MSRP starting May 7. But that suggested price point—while technically lower than the official $299 MSRP for a 1TB Xbox One S bundle—doesn't seem likely to convince many people to invest in the disc-free console future.

An old low price?

To understand why $249 is such an odd MSRP for this new, less-capable Xbox One, we have to look back at the history of Xbox One pricing. After a higher-than-expected $499 launch with a bundled Kinect, the Xbox One saw some relatively rapid price reductions after the 2014 Kinect unbundling. By September 2016, players could already get into the Xbox One ecosystem (with a bundled game) for the low, low price of $249.

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  This is the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. Sure looks like an existing Xbox One S, doesn't it? [credit: Microsoft ]

The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will be the first major home console in the disc-media era to ship without an optical drive, Microsoft has confirmed. The new system will launch on May 7 in the United States and bears such a resemblance to the existing Xbox One S that they share an identical outside shell and motherboard, only with a plastic blocker where the disc drive's slot used to be.

In an interview with Ars Technica, Microsoft's Platform and Devices GM Jeff Gattis confirmed an MSRP of $249, which includes the discless console (currently only in "bone white"), one matching Xbox One controller, an internal 1TB hard drive, and three bundled game-download codes: Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Forza Horizon 3. This model will launch "in most Xbox One markets" on May 7, Microsoft says, and all existing Xbox One accessories will be compatible with the All-Digital Edition, owing to its identical motherboard.

Gattis explained that this price point will "pass the value of removing the disc drive onto the customer." I asked him, however, how he reckons that with the fact that, as of press time, most retailers list existing Xbox One S bundles (complete with at least one pack-in game) at a $249 price point.

Enlarge / Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during a product launch event on September 12, 2018, in Cupertino, Calif. (credit: NOAH BERGER/AFP/Getty Images)

A high-stakes trial between Apple and Qualcomm kicked off yesterday in a San Diego courtroom. But this afternoon, the companies announced that they had reached a deal in the case.

The news sent Qualcomm stock soaring more than 20 percent. Apple stock saw little change.

Apple and Qualcomm had been locked in a global, years-long legal battle over patent royalties. Qualcomm demands that companies license its patent portfolio before they can buy the company's chips. It's an unusual arrangement, and critics argue it is an abuse of Qualcomm's dominant position in the wireless chip market.