Tim Hardwick

Tim is a Contributing Editor at MacRumors. He has been covering technology for almost a decade, but will write about anything that interests him, from philosophy of mind to his own personal brand of bad fiction. Originally from Liverpool, he lives in the Roman spa town of Bath, England.



Tim Cook Tells Utah Tech Audience: Encryption 'Makes the Public Safe'

Saturday October 1, 2016 4:23 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple CEO Tim Cook drew cheers from a Salt Lake City audience on Friday as he reiterated the company's unwavering commitment to encryption and privacy protections for its customers, according to local media reports. The comments were made during a Q&A session at the yearly meeting of the Utah Technology Council (UTC), a trade and advocacy group representing more than 5,000 technology and life-sciences companies across the U.S. state. The 55-year-old CEO was invited along with Utah senator Orrin Hatch to take the stage at the Grand America Hotel and field questions from a public audience. Tim Cook in Q&A with senator Orrin Hatch (Image: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News) Calling encryption "one of the biggest issues we face," the CEO noted that most iPhone users have more personal data on their phones than in their homes. "Encryption is one of the things that makes the public safe," he said. "We feel we have a responsibility to protect our customers." "We believe the only way to protect both your privacy and safety from a cyberattack is to encrypt," Cook told about 1,400 industry executives, tech workers and Apple fans. "We throw all of ourselves into this and are very much standing on principle in this."Cook was responding to questions regarding the lingering impact of Apple's dispute with the FBI over the agency's demand that it build a "back door" into its software, following the use of a locked iPhone by the primary suspect in the San Bernardino mass shooting last December. Apple refused to comply with the request from the federal agency, which dropped its
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Apple Ordered to Pay $302 Million in Damages to VirnetX in Patent Retrial

Saturday October 1, 2016 3:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple has been ordered to pay more than $302 million in damages for using VirnetX Holding Corp's patented internet security technology in its FaceTime platform without permission. According to a Reuters report filed late on Friday, the verdict was handed down by a federal jury in Texas that has a reputation for awarding favorable verdicts to plaintiffs in cases involving patent infringement. The U.S. district judge presiding over the case, Robert Schroeder, previously threw out VirnetX's $625.6 million win over Apple from a previous trial because he said jurors in that case may have been confused. The case with Nevada-based patent licensor VirnetX originally began in 2010, with a jury eventually awarding the company $368 million in 2012, but that decision was thrown out in 2014 after the court decided there were problems with how the trial judge had instructed jurors on calculating damages. VirnetX continued to pursue Apple in relation to patents it believes the company infringed upon. The previous two suits were combined by the licensor's lawyers, and in February, a jury returned with an even bigger verdict, $625.6 million – one of the highest ever in a U.S. patent case. However, Schroeder later voided the result, saying that the repeated references to the earlier case could have confused jurors and were unfair to Apple. In the latest trial, reports Reuters, jurors were asked to determine damages on two VirnetX patents that Apple had already been found to infringe, and to determine both infringement and damages on another two patents. The final
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Taiwan Government Takes Bank Applications to Offer Apple Pay

Friday September 30, 2016 3:46 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission has begun accepting applications from the country's banks for offering Apple Pay to their customers, according to a report out today (via DigiTimes). The mobile payment service will initially be limited to the use of credit cards, although other financial card systems like debit cards are expected to be allowed at a later date. Apple Pay is expected to be provided by Taiwan's four big banks – CTBC Bank, Cathay United Commercial Bank, E.SUN Commercial Bank, and Taishin International Bank. Customers should be able to apply to use Apple Pay at the end of the year at the earliest. Last month, Taiwan became joint-third in line with Switzerland to adopt Apple's carrier billing feature for iTunes users, allowing them to charge app and media transactions directly to their cellphone bill. Apple debuted the billing scheme in Germany back in October 2015, before rolling it out to users in Russia a month later. Apple is likely to continue to expand the initiative to more countries as it seeks to secure deals with carriers for lower transaction handling
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Zero-Day Acquisition Platform Triples iOS 10 Bug Bounty to $1.5 Million

Friday September 30, 2016 3:08 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Exploit acquisition platform Zerodium has increased its reward for a successful jailbreak of iOS 10 to $1.5 million, far surpassing Apple's recent payout offer for discovering and reporting vulnerabilities in its software. Late last year, Zerodium briefly offered and paid out $1 million to one hacking team for the successful creation of a browser-based jailbreak for iOS 9.1 and 9.2, but dropped the going rate for an exploit to $500,000. Rather than report the vulnerabilities to Apple, Zerodium said that it would sell the exploit to its customers, which include major technology, finance, and defense corporations, as well as government agencies. Instead of being limited to a specific timeframe, the new $1.5 million reward is a permanent offer that aims to compensate for Apple's recently hardened security regime, said Zerodium founder Chaouki Bekrar. We've increased the price due to the increased security for both iOS 10 and Android 7, and we would like to attract more researchers all year long, not just during a specific bounty period as we did last time.At the same time, Zerodium's decision to up its bug bounty can be seen as a response to the imminent launch of Apple's own program. Last month at the annual Black Hat Conference, Apple announced the launch of an invite-only Security Bounty Program that would offer rewards of up to $200,000 to researchers depending on the vulnerability discovered. Apple said the program would be limited to a few dozen researchers and would go live in September. Earlier this week, several news media outlets were seemingly
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Adobe Adds iPhone 7 Camera Support to Lightroom for iOS

Friday September 30, 2016 1:36 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Adobe has updated its Lightroom app for iOS to take advantage of the enhanced cameras on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The latest version of Lightroom for iPhone, v2.5.2, brings specific lens and sensor profiles for both of Apple's new devices, featuring specific dual-lens optimizations for the 5.5-inch handset. The update also brings improved color, noise, and lens profiles for Adobe's digital negative (DNG) image format when used in conjunction with the iPhone 7 series, allowing photographers to edit images while avoiding the bugbear of visible distortions typically brought about by lossy data compression. In addition to support for Adobe's RAW file format, the new iteration of Lightroom supports the DCI-P3 wide color gamut display featured in iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and first seen in the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. The improved standard offers 25 percent more color than sRGB. The latest update builds on Adobe's last, version 2.5, which brought RAW shooting capability to owners of Apple devices equipped with a 12-megapixel camera, including the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and iPhone SE. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for iPhone is a free download for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct Link]
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Apple Opening R&D Center in Zhongguancun, China's 'Silicon Valley'

Thursday September 29, 2016 3:38 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple has set up its first research and development center in China in Zhongguancun Science Park, according to a statement released by the Zhongguancun Park Management Committee (via DigiTimes). Zhongguancun is a technology hub situated in the Haidian District in northwestern Beijing and is very well known in China. Often referred to as "China's Silicon Valley", the area has gathered nearly 20,000 technology enterprises since its emergence in the 1950s. The hub has many local prestigious academy affiliations, and is home to research centers for several global tech companies, including Google, Intel, AMD, Sony, and Microsoft. Zhongguancun main street and plaza in northwestern Beijing, China. . Apple's new R&D center in Zhongguancun has reportedly registered a capital of $15 million, with total investment likely to reach $45 million in the future, according to the park's press release. The center will employ a total of 500 staff and focus on the development of "computer software and hardware products, communication, audio and video devices, as well as advanced technologies for consumer electronics products and the information industry". The R&D facility is expected to complete in 2016 and to be used to integrate Apple's engineering and business teams to increase regional sales and services, according to media reports in China. The news comes on the heels of Apple CEO Tim Cook's announcement last month during a visit to China that an R&D center would be coming to the country "by the end of the year". The move has been seen as a response to the iPhone's
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Apple CEO Tim Cook to Field Questions at Utah Tech Tour With Senator Orrin Hatch

Thursday September 29, 2016 2:32 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple CEO Tim Cook will participate in a Q&A session with U.S. senator Orrin Hatch this Friday, as part of the senator's Utah Tech Tour (via AppleInsider). The event is being held to highlight the state's technology community, and the Apple chief is scheduled to give a short address before taking questions from Hatch and members of the public. An online form has also been set up for submitting questions for possible inclusion in the Q&A. It's not clear what topics will be up for discussion during the event, although Apple's run-in with the government over encryption and privacy issues following the San Bernardino shooting case is likely to be on the agenda. Senator Hatch serves as the Chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, and in April he invited members of the Senate to a special Q&A session with one of the lawyers Apple hired to head its legal team during its dispute with the FBI. The Utah Tech Tour takes place at the Grand America in Salt Lake City, from 5.30pm to 7pm MDT on Friday, September 30. The event is open to the public. Tickets of limited availability can be ordered online via the Utah Tech Tour website. Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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Spotify Launches in Japan, the Largest Music Market Outside the U.S.

Thursday September 29, 2016 1:55 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Spotify launched in Japan today, 18 months after it opened its first offices in the country (via TechCrunch). The streaming service has been in protracted negotiations with record labels to flesh out rights for the region, allowing rivals like Apple Music to get a head start in the country's hugely lucrative market. Music sales in Japan are estimated to be almost $3 billion a year, making it the second largest market outside of the U.S. One potential obstacle for streaming services is that people in Japan prefer to buy and own music on CD rather than purchase digital files, although the convenience of streaming could sway consumers and allow services like Spotify to build a significant subscriber base in the country. Spotify also becomes the only mainstream streaming service in Japan that offers a free-tier option for users, which may have been a factor in its protracted negotiations with the music industry, but could serve to persuade Japanese consumers to give streaming a try over competitors. Back in March, Spotify launched in Indonesia, the company's first big expansion in Asia for some time. It first entered the continent in 2013 with launches in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, but had been relatively quiet in the region since. Spotify has 40 million paying customers compared to Apple Music's 17 million paying customers. Yesterday it was reported that Spotify is in 'advanced talks' to purchase SoundCloud, which has upwards of 175 million listeners per month and could provide a huge influx of users to the service, giving it an edge over
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Public Skeptical of Self-Driving Cars Despite Race to Perfect Technology

Wednesday September 28, 2016 4:19 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Despite accelerating hype surrounding the possibility of self-driving and fully autonomous vehicles in the near future, most Americans would rather drive themselves. That's according to the results of a new study published today that aimed to assess public opinion on the subject. The survey commissioned by Kelley Blue Book showed that out of 2,264 U.S. residents polled, 64 percent said they need to be in control of their own vehicle and 62 percent said they enjoy driving. The results also revealed that 80 percent of participants believed people should always have the option to drive themselves, while a third of respondents said they would never buy a fully autonomous car. When asked if they would live to see a world in which all vehicles are fully autonomous, 62 percent of respondents answered no. Baby boomers were the most resistant to the idea (72 percent), followed by Gen X (64 percent) and millennials (60 percent). Gen Z (ages 12-15) respondents were the most optimistic about a future of cars with no drivers, with only 33 percent believing such a scenario unlikely. "This shows that while many of us have been reading a lot about progress being made on self-driving cars of late, to most people it's still like a flying car, something out of The Jetsons," said Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer. "But we also learned that while it's hard to get people on board, any level of exposure changes perceptions quickly." The poll showed that most people aren't familiar with the term "autonomous vehicle" – one with no steering wheel or pedals, and no way
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Apple Increases iPhone 7 Component Orders for Q4 2016

Wednesday September 28, 2016 2:35 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple has increased its part and component orders for the iPhone 7 series this year, with orders for the fourth quarter said to be between 20 and 30 percent higher than expected (via DigiTimes). According to sources from Taiwan-based touch panel makers General Interface Solution (GIS), which is a subsidiary of Foxconn, increased touch panel orders from Apple mean the supplier will see revenues grow significantly in Q4 2016. Initial demand for Apple's iPhone 7 series has been high, with excitement for the company's jet black color option and its larger dual lens camera-equipped handset leading to long wait times as regions struggle to re-stock following the first wave of orders. Some analysts believe the timing of Samsung's exploding battery problem is leading a number of consumers returning defective Note 7 devices to choose an iPhone 7 over a like-for-like replacement. According to one online poll conducted by SurveyMonkey, 26 percent of Note 7 owners plan to use their refunds to switch to Apple's flagship phone, while 35 percent said they would keep the refund, without specifying what phones they would use in the future. Those numbers compare to 21 percent who said they would swap for a different Samsung model, while only 18 percent said they planned to get a rectified Note 7, which remain in short supply. Samsung claims its own data shows a much higher retention rate, and says about 90 percent of Note 7 owners had chosen to get a direct replacement, after the corrected devices became "widely available". So far, more than 60 percent of defective devices
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Google for iOS Updated With Touch ID Incognito Mode and YouTube Support

Wednesday September 28, 2016 1:32 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Google announced an update to its namesake app for iOS yesterday, adding a resumable private browsing mode and inline YouTube support. The new private browsing feature apes Incognito mode from the company's Chrome browser, along with its dark window theme, but adds an extra layer of privacy, too. Like Chrome, search and browse history are not saved when the mode is enabled, but Google app users can also enable Touch ID for the feature, allowing them to re-enter an existing Incognito session after exiting the app. Additionally, the Google app gets inline support for YouTube videos, allowing for instant playback within search results, instead of being switched to another browser window or the YouTube app. The update also renames Google Now to "the feed", and brings increased stability for iOS 10 users as well as performance improvements that promise to reduce crashes by half. The new Incognito mode does not appear to have rolled out to all users yet, but once it does, the mode can be enabled by tapping into the app's account settings screen and selecting "Turn on incognito". A hard press of the Google app icon from the home screen also turns up a 3D Touch option to enter the mode on compatible devices. The Touch ID feature can be configured in Incognito settings. Google Search can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
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Xiaomi Takes on iPhone 7 Series With 'Mi 5s' and Dual-Lens 'Mi 5s Plus'

Tuesday September 27, 2016 4:02 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Chinese mobile phone maker Xiaomi has responded to Apple's iPhone 7 with the launch of a pair of new high-end smartphones. The two handsets succeeding the company's flagship Mi 5 phone are called the Mi 5s (5.15-inches) and the Mi 5s Plus (5.7-inches), the latter featuring dual cameras as per Apple's own 5.5-inch Plus device. The 12-megapixel cameras come with an f/2.0 aperture, dual-tone LED flash, phase detection auto-focus, automatic HDR, and video recording of up to 4K resolution at 30fps. Both phones have a 1080p display and a fingerprint scanner under the front glass, which Xiaomi says "recognizes a 3D map of each user's fingerprint through ultrasonic waves", so no physical button is needed. The use of ultrasonic is also said to tolerate dirty fingers better than the capacitive sensors found in Apple's devices. Both dual-SIM handsets are also powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, but the Pro is clocked higher and has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, whereas the Mi 5s features 3GB RAM and 64GB storage as standard, with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage as optional add-ons. Similarly, a higher spec Mi 5s Pro is available with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. #Mi5s new Xiaomi flagship: ultra-large camera sensor with 1.55um pixels, ultrasonic under-glass fingerprint sensor, 600-nit display, SD821 pic.twitter.com/BChcE3OGgP— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) September 27, 2016 The phones will be available in China from September 29, with the Mi 5s priced from 1999 RMB ($299) and the larger Mi 5s Plus costing upwards of 2299 RMB ($345). There's no word yet on when the phones
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Google Announces Offline Video Viewing and Sharing App 'YouTube Go'

Tuesday September 27, 2016 3:24 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Google has announced YouTube Go, a new app that lets users save videos for offline viewing and allows sharing of videos with nearby users over Bluetooth (via The Verge). The app includes options for previewing videos before download, and controlling video quality and file size, all of which are intended to benefit users concerned about cellular data limits and those who are located in areas with limited connectivity. The announcement was made at a Google event in Delhi, India, where the app will launch initially for users to test, before a broader rollout at a later date. The app will also make use of YouTube's Smart Offline feature, which automatically downloads videos overnight so that they can be watched at a later time in areas without a data connection. YouTube product management VP Johanna Wright said in a statement: YouTube Go is a brand new app to help the next generation of users share and enjoy videos. YouTube Go was designed and built from the ground up with insights from India, in order to bring the power of video to mobile users in a way that is more conscious of their data and connectivity, while still being locally relevant and social.Users in India can sign up to YouTube Go immediately, but it's unclear exactly when the app will launch in the country or elsewhere.
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Users Report Loss of HiDPI Scaling on External Displays in macOS Sierra

Friday September 23, 2016 5:03 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Some Mac owners are reporting problems with external monitors and the use of scaled resolutions since installing macOS Sierra earlier this week. Several MacRumors readers using 4K displays have described the disappearance of scaled HiDPI resolutions beyond 1920x1080 since updating from OS X El Capitan, leaving their options reduced to 1080p or a non-scaled native resolution of 3840x2160. Monitors with native 1440p resolutions also seem to have had HiDPI scaling options removed. Scaled options in Sierra (left) and OS X El Capitan (right) when holding the Option key. Owners of larger displays often use Apple's scaled HiDPI resolutions offered in Display preferences to enjoy increased desktop space without reducing the legibility of text. MacRumors forum member Sheza warned: If you're like me and you have a 1440p monitor that you like to run in 1080p HiDPI mode using a custom plist or SwitchResX, DO NOT UPGRADE TO SIERRA. Likewise if you have a 4K display and you like a bit more space while maintaining that sweet retina look and so you run it in 1440p HiDPI, DO NOT UPGRADE TO SIERRA. Apple seems to have inexplicably removed this ability. You're now forced to destroy your eyesight by running... at native resolution.Some readers have reported unsuccessfully trying alternative monitor cable connections – switching over from DisplayPort to HDMI and vice versa. Others have tried using third-party resolution utilities like SwitchResX, with mixed results. A separate report posted on StackExchange, viewed 1,259 times, details the same issue: I just upgraded to
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Apple Partners With E-Commerce Site Flipkart to Sell iPhone 7 in India

Friday September 23, 2016 1:46 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple has partnered with e-commerce giant Flipkart to sell the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in India, where the phones are expected to launch on October 7 (via Mashable). The online retail partnership means Flipkart will source iPhones directly from Apple instead of from third-party suppliers, which it has relied on in the past. The deal will ensure Flipkart earns a higher margin on every sale, but likely fewer discounts for customers. Apple has also struck a deal with Indian e-commerce company Infibeam to directly sell its iPhones, but the partnership with Flipkart includes plans to sell iPads and Macs as well. Apple does not yet have a license to sell products directly to consumers in India, which has led to buyers going through third-party retail stores to get hold of the company's flagship phones. Traditionally, Flipkart has also used third parties to sell Apple products through its online marketplace, often with heavy discounts in order to compete with offerings from rival e-commerce giants like Amazon India and Paytm. Despite the potential loss of some customers looking for discounted smartphones, the new partnership guarantees Flipkart a robust supply chain and better marketing support from Apple. It should also help Apple retain more control over pricing, thereby avoiding a price war in India similar to the one that took place in 2015. Last year, Amazon India, Paytm, Flipkart, and Snapdeal offered heavily discounted iPhones to buyers, with the iPhone 6s base model, which is officially priced at Rs 63,000 ($945), being sold for as low as Rs 45,000 ($675)
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Facebook Messenger Gains iOS 10 CallKit Support in Latest Update

Thursday September 22, 2016 2:10 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Facebook has updated its Messenger app to support Apple's CallKit framework, which was introduced earlier this month with iOS 10. The CallKit SDK allows incoming calls from third-party VoIP apps to appear on the iOS lockscreen just like a standard cellular ID does. Incoming Messenger calls show the caller's Messenger profile information alongside controls like mute, keypad, and a speakerphone toggle. On answering a call, users are taken to the Messenger app. CallKit also enables Messenger users to answer calls through CarPlay, just like a FaceTime or cellular call. The update follows similar CallKit integrations last week by the likes of WhatsApp and Viber, which have also integrated SiriKit, allowing users to ask Apple's personal assistant AI to perform app-specific actions, like sending a message to a WhatsApp contact. Facebook Messenger is a free download for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct link]
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How to Perform a Clean Installation of macOS Sierra

Wednesday September 21, 2016 6:47 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
macOS Sierra is Apple's latest desktop operating system, which succeeds OS X El Capitan and adopts a new name to bring it in line with iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The OS will come pre-installed on all new Macs once current stock is depleted and is a free download for existing Mac owners. The main new feature in macOS Sierra is deep Siri integration, bringing Apple's personal assistant to the Mac for the first time. It also adds new features to Photos and Messages, and includes Continuity smarts like Universal Clipboard and an Auto Unlock option for Apple Watch owners. This tutorial explains how to download macOS Sierra and perform a clean install, which offers several benefits over the automatic upgrade process included in the installation package.
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Instagram Rolling Out New 'Save Draft' Feature to All Users

Wednesday September 21, 2016 3:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Instagram is introducing a "Save Draft" feature to its mobile app, allowing users to start working on a post and then save a copy of the edits for finishing later (via TechCrunch). The option appears if users tap the "back" button after they have added effects, filters, a caption or a location to a photo. Previously this only threw up a warning that any changes would be discarded, but now users can opt to save a draft to their phone. To return to the draft post, users need to tap the Camera icon at the bottom of the screen, then select "Library". Posts appear at the bottom of the screen under the title "Drafts". The relatively minor addition has been welcomed by Instagram users, some of whom were aware that the company had been trialling the feature among a select number of account holders since July. Trying to create a post that's just right? With the latest update, you can save as a draft & come back to it later. https://t.co/7lZ0eyNtBC— Instagram (@instagram) September 20, 2016 The draft option is also expected to be a hit among businesses and brands who use the photo-oriented social network, allowing them to prepare multiple posts in advance of
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Tumblr Brings Apple's Live Photos to the Web, Publishes Open Source Code

Wednesday September 21, 2016 3:03 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Blogging site Tumblr has announced web support for Live Photos, the animated image format Apple introduced with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Now when visitors to a Tumblr-hosted site see the concentric circles in the top-left of an image, they can click and hold on the picture to play it, audio included. "That’s right! Live Photos work on the web now," reads the company's announcement. "Whenever you see that famous Live Photo icon, click and hold to make them swing." Nine months ago Tumblr introduced support for the format to its mobile app, which also allows users to turn them into GIFs. Since then, the ability to view Live Photos has spread to other third-party apps like Facebook. To make Live Photos compatible with all browsers, Tumblr developers wrote some JavaScript code that converts the MOV file captured by an iPhone into an MP4, and merges it with the still JPEG image. Tumblr has also published open source code on GitHub, enabling other web developers to build support for Live Photos into their own sites. An Android version is also in the works, says the company. Tumblr claims to be the first to support Live Photos on the web, although The Verge points out that some independent developers have made them work before, but it was never easy or
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Netflix Plans to Fill its Streaming Catalog With 50% Original Content

Wednesday September 21, 2016 2:05 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Netflix is aiming to fill half of its streaming catalog with original programming over the next few years, according to company CFO David Wells (via Variety). The announcement marks a renewed push towards offering original TV shows and movies commissioned by Netflix over stocking licensed content. The streaming catalog is already one third of the way toward reaching the target, according Wells, who said the company was undergoing "a multiyear transition and evolution toward more of our own content". Netflix expects to launch 600 hours of programming in 2016, up from 450 hours in 2015, said content chief Ted Sarandos at the start of the year. The company has projected content spending on a profit/loss basis to rise from $5 billion in 2016 to more than $6 billion in 2017. Wells said the original TV series and movies will continue to be a mix of content owned and produced by Netflix, as well as co-productions and acquisitions. The streaming market is seeing a decreasing cost of production and an increasing number of bidders, making it cheaper to take risks on new programming. "You have supply and demand settling out," Wells continued. "We don't necessarily have to have home runs. We can also live with singles, doubles and triples especially commensurate with their cost." The goal, he said, is to release something that appeals to each individual subscriber, every single month, and on that front "we’ve got a ways to go" across different genres and formats. "The nice thing about the platform is it allows a lot of creative freedom," Wells added, offering the
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