José Adorno, 9to5Mac:

A new study reveals that Apple TV+ has the highest-quality content when compared to Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu. The analysis from Self Financial uses IMDb scores with US customer data.

Here’s a link to the study itself.

Key bullet point from the study:

AppleTV+ has the highest average IMDb score for its titles (7.24), but has fewer than 70 titles to choose from.

I know there are plenty of people who discount IMDb, prefer other scorekeepers (MetaCritic, Rotten Tomatoes, whatever). But picking one lets you compare apples to apples. And an average IMDb score across the service of 7.24 is remarkable.

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:

The company is working on a product that would combine an Apple TV set-top box with a HomePod speaker and include a camera for video conferencing through a connected TV and other smart-home functions, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.

Struggling to wrap my head around this. Why pull all these things together? Especially the speaker part. If this is an actual in-the-works product, where would it sit? Is this intended for the TV room? If so, would it replace the TV’s own speakers? Any additional speakers you might have added to the TV already?

And if there’s a camera in the mix, wouldn’t it be difficult to position if it is tied to the speaker? Presumably, a speaker would require one specific placement (and you’d want at least two speakers, right?) and a camera a different placement.

Or is this a kitchen counter thing, like a portable TV so you could watch cooking videos in the kitchen? And do FaceTime calls at the same time?

Back to Mark Gurman:

Apple has explored connecting the iPad to the speaker with a robotic arm that can move to follow a user around a room, similar to Amazon’s latest Echo Show gadget.

Hmm. I guess I’ll understand it when I see it?

Yup. I said Samsung and clever in the same sentence. Cause it’s true (Don’t tell Jim). Watch the video, click this link on your iPhone if you want to take it for a spin on your own device.

Follow the headline link, then:

– Click on each of the 4 color wells to set your gradient colors
– Drag the little squares in the left image to set your gradient starting positions
– Drag the squares in the right image to set the end positions

Rinse. Repeat. Export if you create something you like. Cmd-Z to undo. Shift-Cmd-Z to redo.

Have fun. Pass it along.

Taiwan News:

Taiwan’s worst drought in over 50 years has been a boon for one lucky tourist who was able to recover a fully functional iPhone that he accidentally dropped into Sun Moon Lake almost exactly one year ago.

First things first: The phone was in a waterproof case. But still, a year in the water, at the very least, that’s an excellent case. Check out the image about halfway down the page. That case took a beating. But the iPhone looks pristine.