Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Apple CEO Tim Cook to take 40 percent pay cut, still make almost $50 million in 2023

Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc., speaks during the launch event for the iPad 6 at Lane Technical College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., March 27, 2018.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will earn significantly less in 2023.

According to a proxy statement filed by the company, Cook’s paycheck will equal $49 million (roughly $65 million CAD) this year, a 40 percent reduction from 2022.

The pay cut came from Apple’s Compensation Committee. Shareholder feedback also went into the decision, which Cook both recommended and supported.

The pay decrease isn’t a sign of a struggling company. The statement shows Apple’s net sales grew by eight percent in 2022, hitting $394 billion. Its products succeeded in countries worldwide, hitting sale records for iPhones, Mac, Wearables products, and Home and Accessories. Apple now has 900 million paid subscribers, a 155 million increase year-over-year.

The company is also reportedly working to move production elements in-house. Screen production could move as early as 2024, and modem, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips could follow in 2025.

“Taking into consideration Apple’s comparative size, scope, and performance, the Compensation Committee also intends to position Mr. Cook’s annual target compensation between the 80th and 90th percentiles relative to our primary peer group for future years.”

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Apple Via: iPhone in Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Shaw reports Q1 revenue decrease as it waits to face the Federal Court of Appeal

Shaw added thousands of new wireless customers in the first quarter of 2023, its financial results show.

The company, which offers its services in Ontario, Alberta and B.C., has 13,800 wireless customers. Most of them (12,300) are prepaid, and only 1,500 are postpaid, a sharp decrease from the 36,000 added year-over-year. Shaw blames the latter figure partially on increased competition and a higher churn rate, which refers to customers who stopped doing business with the company.

Subscriber growth contributed to wireless service revenue growing by 5.4 percent. On the wireline side, Shaw lost approximately 52,800 customers, and revenue decreased by 2.7 percent.

The company reports $1.37 billion in total revenue, a 1.2 percent decrease compared to the first quart of 2022.

Rogers-Shaw merger

The merger is set to face the Federal Court of Appeal on January 24th, based on the Competition Bureau’s challenge to block the merger.

The Commissioner of Competition has until the 13th to file his arguments. Shaw, Rogers, and Québecor must provide a reply by the 17th. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) also needs to provide approval, and Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he’ll wait to see how the legal proceedings play out before sharing anything.

The Freedom Mobile transaction, which will see Québecor subsidiary Vidéotron acquire Freedom Mobile, also faces regulatory approval from the Commissioner of Competition and ISED. The merger can only close if Rogers’ takeover of Shaw is approved.

The proposed closing date for the Rogers-Shaw transaction has been extended to January 31st.

But the date could be extended due to the current appeal and ISED’s decision. However, Vidéotron will have to “consent” to the expansion, Shaw stated in its financial results.

Image credit: Shutterstock 

Source: Shaw

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung discounts S22 series ahead of S23 launch

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event is scheduled to take place in San Francisco on February 1st. The event will go live at 10am PT (1pm ET), and the company will show off its highly anticipated S23 series.

Before that, the South Korea-based company is offering you a chance to get your hands on the S22 series at a cheaper cost. Samsung’s website currently has the S22 Ultra, the S22+, S22 and the S21 FE 5G discounted.

The discous will stick around until January 26th.

Follow the links to learn more about the Galaxy S22 Ultra, S22+ & S22 and S21 FE 5G.

For what we’re expecting from Samsung at Unpacked, click here.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

Source: Samsung

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Mobile Syrup

Fido discounts select plans by $10/mo for Lunar New Year

Rogers flanker brand Fido is offering a $10/mo discount for 12 months on select plans for Lunar New Year.

The offer is available through a promo code, although it was auto-applied when I loaded up Fido’s plan page. The code applies the discount to the following plans:

  • $55/mo 8GB ($45/mo after discount)
  • $60/mo 10GB ($50/mo after discount)
  • $65/mo 15GB ($55/mo after discount)

While not quite as good as some of the offers available during Black Friday and Boxing Week, $10 off each month is better than nothing.

At the time of writing, Koodo and Virgin Plus had not rolled out a similar discount.

You can view Fido’s plans here.

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Mobile Syrup

Fantasy Football: 2023 Video Game Edition [SyrupArcade Cast 3]

Even if you’re not into sports, you’re likely familiar with fantasy football. The idea of drafting players or teams early on to see how they fare down the line certainly makes for some good discussion.

However, we at MobileSyrup are decidedly not into sports, so instead, we’ve drawn inspiration from these sorts of fantasy drafts and, naturally, applied that to video games. Specifically, we’ve dedicated our third episode of the nascent SyrupArcade Cast to which 2023 games we think will review the best on OpenCritic.

To start, we assembled a quartet of big gaming fans consisting of regular SyrupArcade Cast hosts Dean Daley and Brad Shankar, as well as MobileSyrup contributors Chris Brown and Steve Vegvari. From there, each of us were given the chance to pick three games that we believe will be among the top-scoring of the year. We’ll also do a follow-up podcast in the middle of the year — after more titles are announced at the likes of E3 and Summer Game Fest — to add two more picks for a total of five each.

Who snagged The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? Where did Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 end up? What about Starfield, Final Fantasy XVI, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or one of the many other games launching this year? Tune in to the latest episode of the SyrupArcade Cast to find out!

As always, you can listen to the SyrupCast below or find the podcast on your favourite streaming platform.

Subscribe on Spotify

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

Direct Download Link

You can find last month’s Game Awards-focused episode here.

Image credit: Nintendo

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Mobile Syrup

Best Buy’s Top Deals for the week has the Meta Quest 2 $80 off

Best Buy’s new list of Top Deals for the week is live now with discounts on Samsung TVs, Samsung wearables, HP and Asus laptops, earbuds and more.

The deals mentioned below start today, Friday, January 13th, and end on Thursday, January 19th.

Check out some Top Deals below:

Samsung 43-inch 4K UHD HDR LED Tizen Smart TV (UN43AU8000FXZC) – 2021: $499.99 (save $100)

Logitech M720 Triathlon Wireless Optical Mouse – Black: $49.99 (save $20)

HP 27-inch All-in-One PC – Starry White (AMD Ryzen 5 5500U/512GB SSD/16GB RAM/Windows 11): $1,099.99 (save $100)

HP DeskJet 3755 Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer – Seagrass: $94.99 (save $30)

Canon PIXMA TS3429 Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer: $69.99 (save $5)

Acer 31.5-inch FHD 165Hz 1ms GTG Curved VA LED FreeSync Gaming Monitor (ED320QR Sbiipx) – Black: $269.99 (save $130)

Jabra Elite 4 Active In-Ear Noise Cancelling Truly Wireless Headphones – Black: $119.99 (save $30)

Meta Quest 2 128GB VR Headset with Touch Controllers & Elite Strap: $529.99 (save $80)

ASUS VivoBook M515 15.6-inch Laptop – Slate Grey (AMD Ryzen 3 3250U/512GB SSD/8GB RAM/Windows 11 Home): $469.99 (save $180)

Samsung 65-inch 4K UHD HDR QLED Tizen Smart TV (QN65QN88BAFXZC) – Titan Black: $2,099.99 (save $500)

HP 15-inch Laptop – Jet Black (Intel Core i5-1135G7/512GB SSD/8GB RAM/Windows 11): $699.99 (save $100)

Sony SRS-XB33 EXTRA BASS Waterproof Bluetooth Wireless Speaker – Black: $149.99 (save $50)

Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro (GPS) 45mm Smartwatch with Heart Rate Monitor – Grey: $509.99 (save $50)

Therabody Theragun PRO Handheld Percussive Massage Device (4th Generation) – Black/Blue: $649.97 (save $150)

Google Nest Wifi Pro Wi-Fi 6E Router – Snow – 3 Pack: $419.99 (save $110)

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 12.4-inch 64GB Android 11 Tablet with Qualcomm SM7225 8-Core Processor – Black: $519.99 (save $30)

Marketplace offers

MotionGrey Standing Desk Height Adjustable Electric Motor Sit-to-Stand Desk Computer for Home and Office – Black Frame (55×24 Tabletop Included):$239.99 (save $475)

REFURBISHED (Good) – Toshiba Tecra A50-E 15.6-inch FHD Laptop – 8th Gen Intel Quad Core i5-8350U – 32GB RAM – Super Fast 1TB M.2 SSD – Win 10 Pro (Grade A): $489.99 (save $122)

Everyday Minnow 16-inch Electric Bike: $399.99 (save $300)

Costway 24-inch Dual Zone Wine and Beverage Cooler Refrigerator Dual Control Refrigerator: $1,199.99 (save $568)

Find all Best Buy Top Deals here.

Image credit: Meta

Source: Best Buy

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Mobile Syrup

Up to 59 percent off smartphone cases from Spigen, Otterbox, Life Proof

Now could be the right time to purchase a new case for your smartphone.

Amazon is having a solid sale on select Android and iPhone cases from various accessory manufacturers, such as Otterbox, Spigen, LifeProof, Urban Armor and Bundle. The deals range from 5 percent off to 59 percent off.

Of course, the prices range from an iPhone 8 case for just over $20, Galaxy S22 for $32, and top off at $14.99 for an iPhone 14 case.

Many cases available at various prices. Protect your device!

Check them out here at Amazon Canada.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

Source: Amazon Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Pre-registration now open for Avatar Generations mobile game ahead of early 2023 launch

Square Enix has confirmed that pre-registration is now open for its Avatar: Generations mobile game ahead of a planned “early 2023” launch window.

This comes after a soft launch of the game in select markets, including Canada, last August.

Developed by the company’s London mobile team in partnership with Vancouver’s Navigator Games (Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast), Avatar Generations is a free-to-play RPG set in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

At launch, the game will retell Aang’s story from the Nickelodeon’s beloved animated series, with additional content updates adding chapters centred around The Legend of Korra and other characters.

You’ll be able to assemble a team of familiar faces, including Aang, Katara and Sokka, and face off in turn-based combat. Each character will have their own unique skills and progression paths.

You can pre-register for the game via the official website (iOS) and Play Store (Android).

Image credit: Square Enix

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Mobile Syrup

Where to stream The Last of Us in Canada

Nearly 10 years after release, the beloved PlayStation game The Last of Us is finally getting a live-action adaptation on January 15th.

Co-created by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and original The Last of Us writer-director Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us tells the story of a hardened smuggler who’s tasked with escorting a teenaged girl across a post-apocalyptic U.S.

The series stars Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) as Joel, Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Ellie, Gabriel Luna (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Tommy), Merle Dandridge (Greenleaf) as Marlene (reprising the role from the game) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation).

Notably, the series was filmed in Alberta over the course of a year, and with a reported budget of at least $100 million USD (about $133.6 million CAD), it’s believed to be the biggest TV production in Canadian history. Clearly, HBO is looking for this to be a next tentpole original alongside the likes of House of the Dragon. 

As part of the HBO catalogue, The Last of Us will be available on Crave on the 15th at 9pm ET, the same time it drops on HBO and HBO Max in the U.S. The nine-episode series will follow a weekly release format.

For more on The Last of Us, check out our review of the series and interview with several of the cast and crew, including Druckmann, Mazin, Pascal and Ramsey. We also have a review of The Last of Us Part I, last year’s remake of the original PS3 game upon which the HBO series is based.

Image credit: HBO

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Mobile Syrup

Marvel Snap PvP mode to launch later this month

Marvel Snap‘s long-awaited player vs. player (PvP) mode is finally set to launch on January 31st.

Developer Second Dinner confirmed the date in a new blog post regarding its first-ever ‘Series Drop,’ in which some Series 5 cards will move to Series 4 and Series 4 cards will become Series 3.

The launch of the ‘Battle Mode’ PvP feature is an exciting one, though, given that the game has lacked any such option since releasing in October. Until now, you’ve only been able to play online with random opponents, but PvP will allow you to set up private matches with friends.

Interestingly, PvP will play out a bit differently, too. In Battle Mode, players will wager health points instead of cubes. Second Dinner wrote more about the design philosophy of these changes in a blog post.

Additionally, Battle Mode will only support matches between players in the same region to start. Global matchmaking will “come a bit later,” says Second Dinner.

Marvel Snap is available for free on Android and iOS.

Source: Second Dinner