Sprint today announced a new agreement with the Telecommunications Company of Cuba that will allow the fourth-largest US carrier’s subscribers to roam in Cuba. The move comes on the heels of changes to US-Cuban relations recently implemented by the US government.

The Sprint press release (below) mentions two of the company’s global roaming initiatives, but doesn’t specify whether Cuba will join the existing programs or will be part of a different offer.

The company says the exact details and the timing of the launch will be announced at a later date.

Filed under: AAPL Company

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The Apple TV is an advancement in many ways over the third-generation model (faster processor, App Store, Siri) but there are also a couple of regressions, features that existed before that are missing and/or removed. One such example is Podcasts. The third-gen Apple TV featured a pre-installed Apple Podcasts app, which would sync with your iTunes subscriptions on the desktop and iOS devices. However, it is nowhere to be seen on the new fourth-generation Apple TV yet …

The screenshot above comes from the video loop Apple plays in retail stores to demo the new product. It clearly shows Apple’s latest Podcasts app icon, suggesting the app is on the way for the new fourth-generation box. Like the Remote app which only works from iOS and Apple Watch on Apple TV 2/3, it seems Apple did not manage to get it ready for the initial launch of the device.

There is a chance that the Podcasts app was included in the marketing video due to human error, but this is unlikely given that the icon has been fully designed for the new Apple TV. It also just makes sense that the feature disparity between the 3rd-gen and 4th-gen will be rectified in forthcoming software updates … like the annoying lack of iOS Remote app or Bluetooth keyboard pairing for text entry. Apple has not officially commented on any of these matters.

Thanks Alireza!

Filed under: Apple TV, iOS Tagged: Apple TV, podcasts app, retail store

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Apple iPad Mini 2, space gray or silver: $199 shipped ($70 off)

Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi: 16GB $399 (Reg. $499), 64GB $479 (Reg. $599), 128GB $559 (Reg. $699)

Beats by Dr. Dre Pill 2.0 Portable Bluetooth Speaker (multiple colors) $120 shipped (Orig. $200)

Amazon’s Black Friday Deals store is now open for business

Everything we know so far about this year’s best Black Friday deals and promotions

More new gear from today:

2 Pack: Mohu Leaf Metro Indoor HDTV Antenna (Refurb) $25 shipped (Orig. $40 value)

• Games/Apps: Metal Gear Phantom Pain hits its lowest price $40, more
• Target 25% off Toys: Razor E200 Electric Scooter $117 (Reg. $144), more
• Amazon to offer midnight deliveries for Call of Duty: Black Ops III via Prime Now
• Media: Breaking Bad Complete Series on Blu-ray $70 (Orig. $161), $3 DVDs, more
• Daily Deals: Garmin vívofit 2 $70, Two Aukey MFi Lightning Cables $8, more

Motorola Moto X (2nd Generation) 16GB Unlocked Android Smartphone $200 shipped (Reg. $300) wp.me/p1xTlR-Jdz https://t.co/wMnxjGU1kO

—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) November 02, 2015

More deals still alive:

Freebies: Mighty Mac App Bundle + Brad Paisley album + More!

Free PS Plus Games for November: The Walking Dead Season 2, Mass Effect 2, Beyond Good & Evil, more

Free Xbox Live Gold Games for November: Pneuma Breath of Life, Dungeon Siege III, more

• App Store Free App of the Week: rop mind-bending puzzle game ($1 value)
• Headphones: Audio-Technica Over-Ears $100 (Orig. $250),  more
• Power Bank Deals: Aukey 20,000mAh Dual USB $22 Prime shipped (Reg. $30), more
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 14 (Mac/PC) is on sale for Prime members: $40 shipped (Reg. $70+)
• AirPrint Laser Printers: Samsung $55 (Orig. $160)
• One year Sam’s Club membership + food coupons: $25 w/ email delivery (Reg. $45+)
• 9to5Toys Specials: MiFi 500 plus 1 year of LTE $149.99, more

PSA: Best Buy and others launch new Apple TV pre-orders, offer potential savings

The best accessories for the new Apple TV: MFi game controllers, keyboards, cables, more

New products & more:

Panasonic has a new line of solar powered products designed for those in need

• The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book teaches you how to build cars, contraptions and more
• This life-size R2-D2 refrigerator carries your beer to you…for a price
• GE’s new smart LED lightbulbs tell your brain when it’s time for bed
• The Altwork Station cures the standing desk blues with its reclining design
• Can a $99 Windows PC that connects to your iPad be any good?
• Gibson’s Neat podcasting microphones mix fun and color
• Blue’s new Lola headphones drop some weight but keep the retro look
• Toys R Us Holiday Catalog Leak: Apple TV for $54 in-store, much more
• LEGO nailed the famous Ghostbusters Firehouse set

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon Black friday, Amazon Prime, Black Friday, coupon codes, Cyber Monday, eBay Daily Deals, free apps, free shipping, iPad Air 2, ipad mini 2, itunes deals, Lunch Break, New Toy of the Day, video games, Walmart, Walmart Black Friday

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As Nintendo’s ultra-popular Wii demonstrated back in 2006, adding motion sensors to a remote control can be fun — and dangerous for your TV when you start swinging the controller around during gameplay. Since the fourth-generation Apple TV supports games and its new Siri Remote includes motion sensors, Apple came up with its own safety solution: the Remote Loop, not surprisingly sold separately as a $13 accessory.

Our galleries below show what you can expect from the Remote Loop, including its packaging, the metal spikes it uses to grip the Siri Remote’s Lightning port, and the earlier Apple inspiration for its choice of fabrics….

Remote Loop’s most interesting feature is its metal tip. Similar in size and shape to a Lightning plug, it has two triangular spikes sticking out of its sides, retractable using buttons hidden on the edges of the plastic grip underneath. The spike idea originally debuted in Apple’s Dock Connectors a long time ago, but disappeared as Apple worked to shrink the size (and price) of the connector housings.

The back of the box shows the Remote Loop in white — probably for illustrative purposes — but it’s currently only available in black. Apple notes that it’s “Compatible with Siri Remote and Apple TV Remote,” indicating the different names for the new Apple TV’s remote in countries with and without Siri support. No instructions or warranty details are to be found in the box; the back points you to Apple’s web site for more information.

Beyond the Wii’s fabric remote strap, Apple’s inspiration for the Remote Loop was clearly the iPod touch Loop, a somewhat flimsy-feeling pack-in that enabled some fifth-generation iPod touches to be wrist-carried like cameras. The Remote Loop appears to be made from the same material, but it’s a little thicker, and more substantial-feeling thanks to the plastic and metal connector at the top. It clicks into place when connected to the Siri Remote, and doesn’t feel like it’s coming loose unless you press the release buttons inwards.

If the Wii controller provides any guidance, it shouldn’t be too long until we see rubber cases for the Siri Remote… oh, wait, they already exist (Griffin’s Survivor Play and Ozaki’s O!Coat), and sell for $20 each. Because of course they do.

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Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users. I’ve recently discussed how to safely prepare and wipe your iPhone for resale or trade-in, and how to get the best iPhone trade-in price to help buy an iPhone 6s, amongst many other topics.

Filed under: Apple TV Tagged: Apple TV, Nintendo Wii, Remote Loop, Siri Remote

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It’s the very definition of a first world problem: you’re lazing on the couch watching Netflix on your iPad, your arms get tired from holding it and your attempts to balance it on your knees have not been overly successful. It’s this issue that led industrial designer Sean Kieley to develop the TStand.

It’s a Kickstarter project, but has already tripled the modest $10k goal needed to hit bulk order requirements, so you should be able to be confident of receiving one if you back the project …

Look & feel

The TStand isn’t iPad-specific: it’s a generic tablet stand designed to accommodate most devices. I tested it with an iPad Air 2, but it contracts enough to hold an iPad mini too.

The TStand model I tested was a prototype, but one that should be pretty reflective of the production model. I generally greatly prefer metal to plastic, but this is one case where I’ll admit plastic is the better choice: as it’s designed to be something you rest on your body, the aim was to make it as light as possible. The silver version does, though, quite a good impersonation of anodised aluminum until you touch it (it’s also available in black).

The iPad is held in place by a strong spring mechanism. The slots that hold it have rubber coatings, to avoid risk of scratching it. The strength of the spring is such that there appears no risk at all of the iPad falling out.

In use

In use, it works well. The curved leg sections wrap around your torso, making it stable when lying on a couch or bed. It does, of course, move as you breath, but didn’t ever feel like it was in any danger of falling over.

The angle is infinitely adjustable, so you can set it to your taste.

You can also use the TStand as a desktop stand, but while the set-back position is good for movies, it’s not so ideal for active use – which is why it’s designed to flip all the way around, bringing the iPad to the front.

It’s equally stable when used this way up, and the height means that it also works as a monitor stand with a Bluetooth keyboard. Personally, I prefer the compact form of my Brydge keyboard, but if you’re using the iPad in the office, I can see the benefit of the raised position.

Pricing

Retail pricing is set to be $79 for black or $84 for silver, which I’d have to say is probably a little on the steep side for a little laziness. But at Kickstarter pricing, it’s a much better deal. Super early bird backers were able to pre-order for $32. Those were soon snapped up, but you can currently get the early bird deal of $37 for gloss black or $42 for matte silver. At that price, I’d say it’s worth it for the couch use alone.

Shipping is estimated for December. The company says that it has two weeks slack in its schedule, but admits that any delay could make it tough to deliver by the holidays, so you probably shouldn’t order one as a holiday gift. But if it’s just for you, and you’re as lazy as I am, the TStand is a nice little treat.

The TStand is a (fully-funded) Kickstarter project. At the time of writing, Early Bird deals were available from $37. Jeremy did a roundup of other stands earlier this year, and there are of course many more to choose from on Amazon.

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: iPad, iPad Stand, Tstand

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Angela Ahrendts, SVP Retail and Online Stores, is the latest Apple executive to make a public conference appearance this fall. Bloomberg announced today that Ahrendts is set to speak at its third annual ‘The Year Ahead’ business summit happening next week. Michael Bloomberg will open the two-day event on Monday, November 9, in New York City. Angela Ahrendts’s appearance follows the next day at Park Hyatt where Apple’s evolving retail strategy is likely to be a focus of the conversation.

Angela Ahrendts’ appearance as a speaker at Bloomberg’s business summit is especially notable as the retail chief has taken on a less public-facing role at Apple compared to her time as CEO of Burberry — save for a few LinkedIn blog posts — something many have pointed out in recent months.

Apple hired Ahrendts away from Burberry in late 2013 (officially joining in 2014) where she left her chief executive position at the fashion company for a senior vice president role at Apple. During her tenure, Ahrendts has overseen the Apple Watch launch and store changes required to support the new product as well as several new store openings including Dubai and Abu Dhabi most recently.

Last week during Apple’s quarterly earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared that has plans to open or replace some 30 to 40 retail stores in 2016 with the total number of locations in China reaching 40 by mid-year.

In addition to Angela Ahrendts’ upcoming summit talk, Tim Cook recently appeared at the annual WSJD conference where he shared Apple Music subscriber numbers. Apple Pay head Jennifer Bailey also made news at her recent Code/Mobile appearance where she shared news of new retailers planning to accept the mobile payment service.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Angela Ahrendts, Apple, Apple Retail, Apple Store, Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, The Year Ahead, The Year Ahead: 2016

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John Legere took to Twitter in a surprisingly short and subdued Tweetstorm just a short while ago to announce a new move the ‘Uncarrier’ is making this week. Ahead of its Uncarrier X event, T-Mo’s extraverted chief announced that the wireless carrier is now offering a personal 4G LTE CellSpot to any Simple Choice customer who wants one…

Unlike the current ASUS-made CellSpot router, the 4G LTE CellSpot actually creates an LTE network in your home or work place and can apparently cover up to 3,000 square feet:

Like the ASUS router, customers can get the device for free as long as they pay a $25 deposit, and T-Mo claim’s it’s just “plug and play”. As long as you have an Internet connection at home, you can plug the 4G LTE CellSpot in and it’ll create an LTE signal right in your home. T-Mobile now offers three different network boosting devices. For those confused about how the new one differs from the older products, the company put together a short list:

• Wi-Fi CellSpot Router: Announced at Un-carrier 7.0 in September 2014, this Internet-connected router provides customers with Wi-Fi coverage for calling and texting beyond the reach of any cellular network;
• 4G LTE CellSpot Signal Booster: This signal booster amplifies T-Mobile’s 3G, 4G and/or LTE signal throughout a home or business without an Internet connection; and,
• 4G LTE CellSpot: Announced today, this 4G LTE tower delivers a strong, reliable wireless 4G LTE signal for customers with or without an indoor cellular signal on compatible 3G, 4G and LTE handsets for up to 16 callers at one time anywhere a customer has broadband Internet and T-Mobile wireless spectrum.

It’s interesting/weird to see T-Mobile opt for actual LTE mini-towers when it already offers Wi-Fi calls and texts with virtually any router across the globe. Every device it sells now is equipped with Wi-Fi calling functionality, meaning none of its customers should ever struggle to make a call or send a message. However, there are perhaps those few who bring unlocked devices, or buy them elsewhere which don’t have Wi-Fi calling baked in. Older iPhones, for instance, don’t have Wi-Fi Calling baked in even with the latest software loaded.

It could also, perhaps, be a response to customers complaining about the quality and consistency of Wi-Fi calling. It has been known to be unreliable, particularly if there are more than one person trying to use it at once. Having a device which copes with up to 16 simultaneous callers/users could be a big improvement.

Regardless of our views as to its purpose of existence, the 4G LTE CellSpot operates on 10×10 LTE in Band 4 and UMTS in Band 2 spectrum, and will be available in T-Mobile brick-and-mortar stores or through Customer Care from November 4th.

Filed under: Tech Industry Tagged: CellSpot, cellular, indoor coverage, iPhone, LTE, T-Mobile

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Facebook’s chief product officer Chris Cox is insisting that an unspecified but substantial number of staff switch from iPhone to Android, in order to have an experience of the service more typical of that in emerging markets, reports Wired.

“I am mandating a switch of a whole bunch of my team over to Android, just because people, when left up to their own devices, will often prefer an iPhone,” said Chris Cox, who said the move is “so that they can be reporting bugs and living in the same experience that most Facebook users experience today” … 

The initiative follows on from ‘2G Tuesdays,’ where each Tuesday employees are asked to allow their Facebook app to behave as if it were on a slow 2G network for one hour, giving them an appreciation for what the service is like to use in many developing countries.

Both moves reflect the fact that with 1.5 billion users to date, and near saturation point in most markets, Facebook’s future growth depends on countries where technological development is at a much easier stage.

Unlike 2G Tuesdays, which are voluntary, the wording of Cox’s announcement on Android suggests that the move from iPhone to Android is not. Among the things staff will miss out on when they give up their iPhones are the Notifications the company recently introduced to the iOS app.

Via TNW, photo Digiday

Filed under: iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: Android, Facebook, iPhone

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Apple gave up on optical drives several years ago. Citing Blu-ray Disc licensing issues and the growing popularity of Internet streaming, the company was able to leave CD, DVD and Blu-ray drives out of new Macs without suffering any drop in sales. Today, except for a single MacBook Pro model that hasn’t been updated since 2012, Macs are physically too thin to accommodate optical drives, and that’s not going to change any time soon.

But optical disc technology has soldiered on, adding new features to hook serious video and photo fans. “BDXL” Blu-ray Discs can now store up to 128GB of data, and Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs can hold full-length movies for 4K Ultra HDTVs. Separately, Millenniata debuted M-DISC, an archival disc technology that lets anyone burn DVDs or Blu-ray Discs guaranteed to last “centuries.” While M-DISCs must be written using new burners, they can be read by traditional DVD and Blu-ray players, ensuring broad compatibility.

OWC’s new Mercury Pro ($78/$135) external drives are designed to help Mac owners burn M-DISCs. The basic $78 model burns less expensive, lower-capacity M-DISC DVDs, while the superior $135 version can also burn higher-capacity M-DISC Blu-rays, as well as burning and playing regular Blu-ray Discs. Each version of Mercury Pro comes bundled with a heavy-duty Mac-matching external enclosure, cables, and software, while the Blu-ray model also includes two blank BD-R discs to get you started…

About M-DISC

Even if the name’s not familiar, M-DISC is based upon fundamentally sound technologies. Unlike most recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, which store data by making microscopic color changes to their rings, an M-DISC writing surface becomes physically pitted with real grooves during the burning process. While the chemically-induced color changes in standard recordable discs wear off over time, M-DISC’s pits — like vinyl records and professionally-mastered optical discs — remain intact so the disc can continue to be read for years. Millenniata, the developer of M-DISC, boldly promises that “your data will be safe for centuries,” and notes that the discs have withstood “rigorous testing by the U.S. Department of Defense,” resisting “extreme conditions of light, temperature, humidity and more.” As blustery as the claims may sound, independent tests have subsequently demonstrated their superior resistance versus standard recordable optical discs. M-DISCs will certainly survive much longer, and much harsher conditions, than typical recordable discs.

There are currently three types of M-DISCs. The first are 4.7GB DVDs; these are the only M-DISCs that work with the entry-level $78 Mercury Pro, and sell for $2-$3 each. Next are 25GB Blu-ray Discs, which is enough capacity that eight discs could fully back up the average person’s most precious photos. These 25GB discs work with the $135 Mercury Pro Blu-ray burner, and can be had for under $5 each in bulk; OWC sells them in 3-packs for $14.97 or 15-packs for $67.50. There are also 100GB M-DISCs, which sell for $20-$25 per disc, and are not compatible with either Mercury Pro, as they require a BDXL M-Disc burner.

The New Mercury Pro

Measuring 6.6″ wide by 8.3″ deep by 2.2″ tall, the new Mercury Pro is a large and solid-looking external drive, using a Mac-matching sandblasted finish on the front, sides, top, and bottom, except for a large stripe of brushed metal on the centers of the top and bottom surfaces. A subtly convex button on the front right side manually opens and closes the disc tray, though your Mac can eject a disc in software.

Located alongside power and USB 3.0 ports on the back, a rear power switch turns the drive on and off. Should you want to secure the drive in an office, there’s a slot for a Kensington-style lock above the power switch. Four clear rubber feet keep the metal from scuffing against your desk’s surface.

Every Mercury Pro arrives with a thick, shielded USB 3.0 cable and a small external wall adapter that’s required to maintain stable power; both parts speak to a desire to guarantee error-free, interruption-free burning, a prerequisite for disc mastering. Because of its physical size, and the requirement of external power, Mercury Pro is clearly meant to be set on a desk and left there, rather than carried in a bag and used on the go. As previously noted, the Blu-ray version of Mercury Pro comes with two blank BD-R discs. OWC notes that some resellers will also offer a further step-up version of Mercury Pro bundled with Roxio’s Toast 14 Titanium and Blu-ray-burning software.

Using Mercury Pro

Connecting Mercury Pro to a Mac is as simple as plugging in a USB cable and flipping on the power. Without further software assistance — no driver is required — OS X can use it to burn or read traditional DVDs and CDs, just like Apple’s $79 external USB SuperDrives. The $78 Mercury Pro’s M-DISC DVD writing support doesn’t require special software unless you want to fine-tune the contents of your disc image before mastering it.

Mac users also get two free apps in the bundle: Prosoft Engineering’s Data Backup 3 and Smile Software’s Disc Label. (A PC app called NovaStor NovaBackup is also included for Windows users.) There’s no delicate way to say this: the free apps are old. Data Backup carries a 2007 copyright and appears to have last been modestly updated to version 3.1.9 a year ago. But despite some graphical glitches, it runs under OS X El Capitan, enabling you to create first-time and versioned backups of your hard drive (or preferred folders) to optical discs. You choose a source, pick a destination type (volumes or CDs/DVDs), then tell it whether to split large files into chunks that will fit on individual discs. Depending on what you’re backing up, it will create chunks of data that can be reassembled using multiple discs, optionally including subsequent discs containing only files changed since the last backup.

Similarly, Smile Software’s Disc Label hasn’t been updated since late 2010, and speaks to the end of the era when (some) people were actively printing disc labels and jewel case inserts (remember those) with their inkjet printers. The app still loads under El Capitan, and includes dozens of different templates for making these sorts of things, assuming you have a use for them. But it looks like a relic from the past. Last but not least, the PC version of NovaBackup is listed as compatible with Windows 7; make of that what you will.

The optional app Toast 14 Titanium, aided by the Toast HD/BD Plug-In, is all but mandatory to take advantage of Mercury Pro’s Blu-ray mastering features. Having been polished years ago for optical disc mastering, video conversion, and pretty much every related function you can imagine, Toast 14 Titanium has just been updated to version 14.1 with full El Capitan support. During my testing, I used it to burn M-DISC archival-quality, Blu-ray-filling collections of home photos and videos — really, the key things I’d want to keep backed up for decades — and everything worked just as expected.

If there’s one complaint about the overall performance of the Mercury Pro and Toast 14 combination, it’s a primarily hardware-related limitation: speed. The Mercury Pro I reviewed is the Blu-ray version, based on LG’s WH16NS40, and although it’s billed as a “16X” drive, it writes M-DISC Blu-ray Discs at 4X maximum speeds. Similarly, the DVD version is based upon LG’s GH24NSC0B, which is a “24X” drive that writes M-DISC DVDs at 4X. In other words, you can expect to spend about an hour burning and verifying each M-DISC, though write speeds with regular BD-R and DVD-R discs may be significantly faster, and read speeds for discs — including M-DISCs — are much faster.

It’s also worth a brief note that Apple’s lack of participation in the Blu-ray standard means that commercial Blu-ray Disc playback continues to require separate software. This video explains how to make Blu-Ray Discs work using the free app VLC.

Prior to testing the new Mercury Pro, I had been out of the optical disc market for years, and had only the faintest idea what M-DISC was. But as I’m always on the lookout for ways to preserve my collection of digital photos and home movies, it’s truly interesting to see optical discs re-emerging as a viable alternative — particularly discs that focus on storage quality, not just quantity. There’s obvious long-term appeal in a drive that’s capable of creating long-lasting, archival copies of precious memories, easily viewable on common DVD and Blu-ray Disc players. If that’s something you’re looking for, each of OWC’s Mercury Pro bundles offers a nice drive and basic software to get you started.

More From This Author

Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users. I’ve recently discussed how to safely prepare and wipe your iPhone for resale or trade-in, and how to get the best iPhone trade-in price to help buy an iPhone 6s, amongst many other topics.

Filed under: Mac, Reviews Tagged: Blu-ray, Blu-Ray player, M-DISC, Mac, Mercury Pro, OWC

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With Apple not allowing us to delete its pre-installed iPhone apps, may of us take to hiding them away inside a folder on the ‘back’ screen where they at least don’t get in the way. But a report in the WSJ suggests there’s another reason you may want to hide the Stocks app: using it too often can lead you to make poor investing decisions.

The report references a phenomenon known as myopic loss aversion, in which people are likely to sell stocks when they see frequent downward movements – even if the long-term trend is up.

When people are frequently told how their investments are doing—say, if they are given a daily update on their long-term investments, by smartphone or any other digital device—they are more likely to make poor financial decisions and possibly sell at the wrong time.

The reason frequent checks are risky is that the more often you look, the greater the chance you’re going to see a drop in the price. And that has nothing to do with the stock’s performance, it’s just stats.

If you check every single day, there’s a roughly 47% chance that the market will have gone down, based on its past movements. But what happens if you check once a month? The numbers will start to look a little better, as the market will only have gone down 41% of the time. Years are better still, as the S&P generates a positive return seven years out of every 10. And if you check once a decade, then you’re only going to get bad news about 15% of the time.

So if you want to make the best investment decisions, it seems the smart money is on leaving the Stocks app well alone.

Apple has come under criticism for continuing to offer a 16GB iPhone in 2015, but defended the decision on the basis of cloud storage and app thinning.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: investment, iPhone, shares, Stocks, Stocks app

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