The Morning After: Bono finally apologizes for that free iTunes U2 album

Once upon a time, back in 2014, U2 gave away an album's worth of songs to every iTunes user in the world. And a lot of people were not happy. The blowback was so intense that Apple had to release a special tool to remove it. And it was all Bono’s fault, as he explained in an interview with The Guardian over the weekend.When Bono approached Tim Cook, along with Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller about the idea, he was met with some incredulity. "Are you talking about free music?" Cook said.In Bono’s words: "'No,' I said, 'I don’t think we give it away free. I think you pay us for it and then you give it away free, as a gift to people.'" Cook was apparently not convinced, asking if it would be distributed only to U2 fans, and the singer replied: “I think we should give it away to everybody.” No, Bono, no!– Mat SmithThe Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.The biggest stories you might have missedHitting the Books: The early EVs that paved the way for GM's Ultium successApple’s App Store will display more ads starting next week | Engadget'Resident Evil 4' remake gameplay shows tense but familiar actionEngadget Podcast: Apple's confusing new iPadsFormovie Theater review: A formidable $3,000 Dolby Vision UST projector Apple’s next Mac Pro could feature an M2 chip with up to 48 CPU coresPokémon Scarlet and Violet hands-onSome major revamps are coming to the hit series.NintendoThe next Pokemon games feature a fully open-world design, pulling together what players experienced in Legends Arceus and the Wild Area in its predecessor Sword and Shield. There are lots of changes we noted during our hands-on preview. While you’re exploring, if you don’t feel like directing combat yourself, you can bring out your lead Pokémon to find items or auto-battle other nearby monsters (with the fight taking place off-screen). Even the gyms themselves have gotten an update, with the trials that you need to pass in order to battle Brassius (the leader of the Artazon gym) taking place around town instead in a single room or building. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet officially go on sale for the Nintendo Switch on November 18th.Continue reading.Elon Musk’s Neuralink delays event to November 30thMusk didn't share a reason for the delay.NeurolinkNeuralink has delayed its upcoming “show-and-tell” event by a month. On Sunday morning, Elon Musk tweeted that the showcase would take place on November 30th, instead of October 31st as was originally announced back in August. Musk did not provide a reason for the delay. The last time Neuralink held an event, it showed a monkey playing Pong with its mind. Since then, however, the company has seen most of its co-founders leave.Continue reading.Apple's head of hardware design is leaving the company after three yearsEvans Hankey replaced the famous Jony Ive in 2019.Apple's main replacement for Jony Ive is leaving. The company has confirmed to Bloomberg that industrial design head Evans Hankey is departing after three years. There's no named replacement as of this writing, but Hankey will reportedly remain in her position for six months as part of the transition. Bloomberg's sources claim Gary Butcher, a former designer and currently Airbnb's design VP, is returning to Apple.Continue reading.Amazon’s Echo is half off right nowThe Echo Show 5 has also dropped to $35.If you somehow don’t have an Alexa-powered speaker already – and still want one – Amazon has cut the price of its Echo Show 5, down to $35. We gave Amazon’s spherical smart speaker a score of 89 when it came out in 2020. Since then, it has remained one of our favorites in the category.Continue reading.

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