Tech Digest daily roundup: Apple discontinues iPod Touch
Apple has announced it is discontinuing its music player, the iPod Touch, bringing to an end a device widely praised for revolutionising how people listen to music. When the first iPod was launched in 2001, it could store 1,000 tracks. Today there are more than 90 million songs on Apple’s streaming service. The iPod Touch was designed by the same team that later invented the iPhone, which quickly overshadowed the iPod. Apple last updated the iPod in 2019. BBC
EA Sports has announced that FIFA 23 will be the very last in its long-running series of football video games – to be replaced by a new franchise called EA Sports FC. The company previously said it was reviewing its licensing agreement with the international governing body for football, but that it would in any case retain its league, player, and stadium naming rights, which are separate from the agreement with FIFA. In an announcement on Tuesday, the company said it would be releasing one more game with FIFA as its current naming rights partner. Sky News
Netflix is set to introduce adverts and crack down on password sharing by the end of the year as it tries to pull in income amid slowing subscriptions. The streaming service behind global hit shows such as The Crown and Squid Game is preparing to launch its lower-priced subscription tier, supported by advertisements, in the last three months of 2022, according to CNBC. Netflix executives had previously announced they would introduce the service within “the next year or two”.It comes as the £64bn company grapples with poor subscriber growth. Telegraph
Apple is preparing to swap the proprietary Lightning port on its iPhones next year for the nearly universally-embraced USB-C, claims company analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a pair of tweets, Kuo said Apple was going to make the change in 2023, basing this claim on an unspecified “survey” (presumably of component manufacturers, from whom Kuo seems to get a lot of his information for predictions about future Apple products). Kuo said that adopting USB-C “could improve iPhone’s transfer and charging speed in hardware designs, but the final spec details still depend on iOS support.” The Verge
Sony has heavily leveraged its camera expertise to create its upcoming flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 IV, it announced. It offers a slew of innovative, image-oriented features including what it calls the “world’s first true optical 85-125mm zoom lens,” along with true 4K at 120fps, livestreaming and external monitor capabilities and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform chip. The key feature of the Xperia 1 IV is the telephoto zoom that offers an 85-125mm equivalent zoom range, enough for sports, wildlife and more. Engadget
EE says its 5G mobile network has now reached more than 50% of the UK population, a feat it says it is the first network to achieve. The mobile operator, which is part of the BT Group, began rolling out 5G coverage in 2019. 5G technology is significantly faster than previous generations of mobile communications and is capable of handling more data at once, meaning users can download or stream content much more quickly. Yahoo!
