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Musk said Apple ‘never considered’ removing Twitter days after claiming otherwise

Source: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-men-suits-hugging-point-finger-537281563

Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted that Apple “never considered” removing Twitter from the App Store following a conversation with CEO Tim Cook. The conversation came on the heels of a tweetstorm from Musk accusing Apple of hating free speech, censorship, and of threatening to remove Twitter from the App Store.

Musk kicked off what many thought would be a larger feud with Apple on Monday. It started with a tweet accusing Apple of reducing ad spending on Twitter (something many brands are doing thanks to Musk’s chaotic leadership, but Musk seems convinced activists are to blame). Notably, some reports indicate Apple actually increased ad spending on Twitter, contrary to Musk’s claims.

Along with the tweet about Apple cutting ad spending, Musk tweeted a poll asking whether Apple should “publish all censorship actions it has taken” and later posted about Apple’s 30 percent App Store fee. Musk also tweeted and then deleted a meme about going to war with Apple over that 30 percent fee.

On Wednesday, Musk thanked Cook for “taking [him] around Apple’s beautiful HQ,” in a tweet with a short video clip showing off the Apple campus. Musk followed that up with another post saying he had a “good conversation” with Cook and that they resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter’s removal from the App Store, “among other things.”

So far, it remains unclear what “other things” the pair discussed and whether that included Apple’s 30 percent App Store fee. Some expected it would be only a matter of time before Musk took issue with the fee. As Twitter loses advertising revenue, Musk seems increasingly intent on making a profit through Twitter Blue subscriptions, but those may be subject to Apple’s 30 percent cut if offered through in-app purchases via the App Store. Interestingly, recent reporting suggests Twitter delayed the upcoming relaunch of Blue so they could avoid the 30 percent fee.

Check out all of MobileSyrup’s reporting on Musk’s Twitter here.

Header image credit: Shutterstock (with modifications)

Source: @elonmusk 

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Android announced some new features in time for the holidays

Android is announcing new features that help users express their memories and connections.

One of the new features is artist-designed styles in the Google Photos collage editor from Australian husband-and-wife visual duo Dabsmyla and renowned watercolour artist Yao Cheng.

Google is also making it easier for emoji mashups. Google is calling it ‘Seasonal emoji mashups’ for Emoji Kitchen, available as stickers via Gboard.

There’s now a new ‘Reading mode’ for Android that creates more accessible screen reading experiences, with a focus on customizable contrast, text size, text-to-speech, page clutter and font types. The feature is useful for people who are blind, have low vision, or are dyslexic.

The YouTube Search widget can help users find videos directly from their device’s home screen. Plus, there’s tap to watch in Google TV, which gives users the ability to cast content directly from the Google TV app to compatible TVs with a single tap.

Wear OS Tiles makes it easy for users to get in touch with their favourite contacts. There’s also an Adidas running integration with Google Assistant, which lets users quickly jump into more than 30 types of workouts using their phone by saying, “Hey Google, start a run with Adidas Running,” which will start tracking a workout, noting the speed, distance and heart rate via the built-in sensor on smartwatches. Further, Wear OS’ Google Keep update shows a visual enhancement to your notes, like photos, co-authors, and background colours.

Further, over the next week, Google can use Assistant to jump into more than 30 types of exercises.

Header image credit: Google

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Honda will produce hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in 2024

Honda will produce a new hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) in 2024.

The first model will be a Honda CR-V and offer electric driving when commuting around town and zero emissions for longer trips. Honda’s current CR-V is a hybrid with a gas engine.

The new vehicle will carry a high-pressure hydrogen tank instead of a gas tank. It will be the first in North America to combine a plug-in with FCEV technology.

The company says FCEVs powered by hydrogen are part of its push to make transport more sustainable. Honda will manufacture the vehicle at the Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC) in Marysville, Ohio. The plant has previously manufactured the Acura NSX supercar and Honda race cars.

The company says it will share more details closer to the vehicle’s introduction in 2024.

Image credit: Shutterstock 

Source: Honda

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Mobile Syrup

LastPass CEO confirms August security breach exposed customer info

LastPass says a security breach in August has led to the exposure of customer information.

The password manager lets users store private passwords that are encrypted and accessed through a master password, similar to 1Password and Bitwarden.

The company has changed its original tone after initially stating no customer information was compromised.

“We recently detected unusual activity within a third-party cloud storage service, which is currently shared by both LastPass and its affiliate, GoTo,” Karim Toubba, LastPass CEO, said in a blog post.

The company launched an investigation, engaged a security firm, and informed law enforcement. 

“We have determined that an unauthorized party, using information obtained in the August 2022 incident, was able to gain access to certain elements of our customers’ information.”

While Toubba said passwords remain encrypted, the company continues to investigate the scope of the breach.

Source: LastPass

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Mobile Syrup

Free Google One VPN starts rolling out for Pixel 7, 7 Pro owners

After being extended to Windows and Mac earlier this month, Google’s One VPN service is now available for free to some Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro users.

The VPN service, which is normally available to those who subscribe to Google One’s ‘Premium’ 2TB plan, is now rolling out for some Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro owners for free. Normally, the plan costs $13.99 per month or $139.99 annually.

Back when the Pixel 7 series launched, Google said that owners of the new devices would get to use One VPN for free for five years, and support for the same finally seems to be rolling out now.

The feature was expected to arrive in the December feature drop, but it is already live on a number of Pixel 7 series devices, as reported by 9to5Google. MobileSyrup’s news editor Jon Lamont also has the VPN available on his Pixel 7. If you open the Google One app on a Pixel 7 series device, you’ll see a new splash screen that reads that your “Pixel comes with VPN by Google One,” and that you can “Manage the VPN in the Google One app.”

From there, to enable the VPN, tap on ‘Benefits’ > VPN > View Details > and tap on ‘Enable VPN.’ Once connected, you can use a convenient button to ‘snooze’ the VPN for five minutes if needed.

It’s worth noting that you won’t be able to claim the free Google One VPN if you’re logged into a Workspace or company Google email. Also worth noting is that access to the VPN on your Pixel device does not give you access to it on multiple devices, like your Windows or Mac computer. To use the service on more than one device, you’ll have to subscribe to Google One’s Premium 2TB plan.

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Pluto TV free streaming app is now available in Canada

Ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV is now available in Canada.

The free FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) streaming platform says that it features over 100 channels and over 20,000 hours of content, including series like NCIS, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Judge Judy and more. Canadian series include Love it or List It, Chopped Canada and Border Security are also part of the Canadian version of the app.

The service’s free channels include Pluto Comedy, Pluto TV Drama, Pluto Action, Christmas 365 and of course, The Asylum, which offers the cinematic masterpiece, Sharknado, alongside other “mockbuster,” b-level films, and more. Of course, there’s also a channel dedicated to CSI called, as you may have guessed, the CSI Channel. It’s worth noting that the Paramount-owned streaming service is launching through a partnership with Corus.

Paramount also offers its Paramount+ streaming service in Canada, which is home to notable content like Yellowstone, 1883, Seal Team, the painfully awful Halo TV show, and more. The company recently increased the cost of the platform to $9.99/mo or $99.99/year. It’s likely that older Paramount content will appear on Pluto TV given it’s entirely free, while the companies’ more premium offerings will still be found on Paramount+.

Pluto TV is available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Chromecast, and Samsung and LG smart TVs.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Mobile Syrup

SanDisk SD Cards and Flash Drives on sale by up to 39 percent

SanDisk is having a post-Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale by discounting several flash drives and SD Cards. If you’re looking for more storage, check out these deals below.

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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How to watch Canada’s last 2022 FIFA World Cup game today

Canada’s journey at the 2022 FIFA World Cup is, unfortunately, coming to a close. After losing its first two matches, against Belgium and Croatia, respectively, the Great White North has been eliminated from the tournament.

The final two Group F games are taking place simultaneously today. Canada vs. Morocco and Croatia vs. Belgium are both set to take place 10am ET/7am PT. While Canada has already been eliminated and won’t qualify for the round of 16, it can surely hamper Morocco’s chances of qualifying. If Morocco wins or draws against Canada, it qualifies. If Morocco loses against Canada, its qualification depends on the Belgium vs. Croatia scorecard and result.

Canada has been impressive in the tournament so far, having qualified for the World Cup after 36 years. We have nothing to lose going into the match with Morocco, and that might just be the edge that team Canada needs to nab its first FIFA World Cup win ever.

Further, team Canada has a lot to look forward to. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being co-hosted by Canada, the USA and Mexico. Host nations are not required to compete for qualification, and qualify for the group stage automatically, so it is certain we will see team Canada back in action on the world stage in 2026.

The last time Canada and Morocco met for an international fixture was a friendly game in Marrakesh, Morocco, on October 11th, 2016, where Morocco beat team Canada 4-0.

How to watch

The matchup between Canada and Morocco is set to take place at 10am ET/7am PT today at the Al Thumama Stadium in Al Thumama, Qatar.

Those with a cable connection with access to TSN 1, TSN 3, TSN 4, TSN 5 or CTV can watch the game directly on their TVs in English, while those with RDS can watch the game live in French.

If you feel like watching the game on a different device, you can head to the TSN website, CTV website or the RDS website and log in with your cable credentials to stream online.

If you don’t have a cable connection, you can still watch team Canada battle it out with the number 2 ranked squad by subscribing to either TSN Direct on RDS Direct, depending on your language preference.

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Mobile Syrup

Alleged M2 Max chipset Geekbench specs leak online

Apple’s alleged 12-core CPU M2 Max chipset is expected to power the company’s upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro refresh.

While we don’t know much about the chip, new Geekbench scores allegedly of the M2 Max might give us a little bit more information about the chipset.

The Geekbench result was first shared by @VNchocoTaco on Twitter (via MacRumours) was uploaded on Tuesday, November 29th. The score confirms that the processor is a 12-core one, with 3.5GHz of base frequency and 96GB of memory.

Apple’s current 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro come with 32GB base memory, although you can pay $500 extra to purchase a device with 64GB of unified memory. The device analyzed in the Geekbench scoring, called the “Mac14,6” has 96GB of memory, which makes it the highest RAM offering on a MacBook yet. Only the Mac Pro and the Mac Studio are available with higher than 96GB memory options.

“Mac14,6” with the M2 Max chipset has a 1,853 single-core score, and a 13,855 multi-core score. Compared to the Geekbench score of the 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chipset, the M2 Max only displays a minor increase in performance.

The Geekbench test was performed on a MacBook running macOS 13.2 (22D21), a build that hasn’t even entered public beta yet. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with the M2 Max chipset are expected to release in early 2023.

Check out the M2 Max Geekbench score here.

Source: Geekbench Via: MacRumours

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Golf now included in Nintendo Switch Sports

Golf has finally arrived on Nintendo’s Switch Sports. 

Nintendo Switch Sports, which was released in April 2022, came out without Golf as a playable game. At the time, Golf was planned to be added to the title in Fall 2022, but was delayed. Now, Golf is available to download as part of the free Nintendo Switch Sports ‘version 1.3.0′ update.

The golf update features a total of 21 holes from the Wii Sports Golf mini-game, alongside a ‘Survival Golf’ mode that allows for eight-player online gaming in a knockout-per-hole format, and a local LAN game mode.

Read the Nintendo Switch Sports version 1.3.0 update patch notes below:

Golf

  • Golf has been added. It can be enjoyed in all modes: Play Globally, Play Locally and Play with Friends.
  • We added a Shot Assist mode in Golf to make it easier for beginners to play. To use it, go to Options → User Settings → Other.
  • This setting only applies to Play Locally and Play with Friends.
  • Please be aware that even if you have Shot Assist mode on, your setting will revert to Normal in Play Globally mode.

Play with Friends

Overall

  • Several issues have been fixed to improve the gameplay experience.

Head to 3:26 in the video below to check out the Golf update.

Image credit: Nintendo Switch Sports

Source: Nintendo Switch Sports