This week Tim Cook sent a letter to Apple investors regarding new strategies after much lower than expected earnings in FYQ1 2019.
Apple was expecting lower ravenue, but it looks like actual numbers caught Apple off guard. Regarding to Apple, the main cause of this situation is weak demand in China. People there doesn't buy new iPhones. New iPhones are ludicrous expensive, and in China there are plenty of cheaper devices that have the same features. People there doesn't care whether they use iOS or Android because Chinese apps look and work the same way on both platforms, so it is really easy for them to switch platforms.
Also, if we add to this tense relations, because of "Trade War", between China and USA it's not a surprise that sells have been lower than expected.
China is one of the biggest markets in the world, high demand from there is really important, but Apple also reported weakened demand in some "developed markets", which indicates that either iPhones are too expensive or new features introduced in new models does not appeal to the customers.
Probably it is the combination of both. For a while Apple has been increasing the price of the devices without any breakthrough features. I used to wait entire year for iPhone's keynote and I knew I would see something revolutionary. Now, I simply don't care because Apple will again show the same "recycled" phone with higher price tag.
On the positive note, Apple has increased demand for services, macs, wearables and iPads. Also in other markets, including Poland, Apple reported record sells. Maybe higher that usual demand in Poland is the first step to opening the first official Apple Store here.

Now, moving on to other news. Image of the Samsung Galaxy S10 has leaked, revealing bezelless screen without a notch, but with camera cutout withing the screen. This is an interesting design, and if you only need front facing camera it makes a lot of sense.

Google has got U.S. regulatory approval to proceed with a radar-based motion sensor known as the Soli Project. This technology can make UI from Minority Report a reality.

Thats all from this week, now it's time for list of interesting things.

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Couple weeks ago I released a Halloween watch face for Apple Watch. I was more a joke, but people really liked it. Since then they asked me weather I'm going to do a Christmas watch face. I wanted to do one, but I didn't know whether I would have time or even an idea to create something cool. Fortunately, last week I found both and created this.
Originally I wanted to do something else, but it didn't look good and I would have to spend much more time on this to make it work. After this failed idea, I decided to do a watch face inspired by Christmas decorations made out of paper. Paper town and Santa plus some particle effects create a perfect combination. I'm really happy with the end result. Usually Christmas designs are fancy and festive, but I really wanted to keep it clean and simple. After all the watch face should not distract you from its main purpose, telling time.
So far people like it as well, but its to early to call is a success, that I will be able to tell after Christmas. If you want this watch face on your Apple Watch, check out this my GitHub repository.

From other news. Microsoft announced that it is working on new browser that is going to replace Edge. I have mixed feelings about this because it's just another browser that we, as developers, will have to support. On the other hand it will be based on Chromium, so maybe it will not be that bad.

Apple released the watchOS 5.1.2 with long anticipated ECG feature. It is out for couple of days now, but it's already saving lives. Well done Apple.

It took seven miles to pull over a Tesla with a seemingly asleep driver. I was actually wondering whether you can drive Tesla on autopilot when you are drunk. Fortunately you can't. Autopilot is amazing technology that improves every year, but still I don't trust it that much to let it drive the car practically without the driver.

Marvel released the trailer for upcoming Avengers 4 movie. Together with the trailer we got the full name of the movie Avengers: Endgame. I know it is just a trailer, but I'm already hyped.

And finally, here is the list of interesting things.

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During this week literally nothing happened. The only things worth mentioning are listed below.

1. Apple announced iPad Pro and Mac event for October 30th with really cool logo variants,
2. Apple started taking iPhone XR preorders in selected countries,
3. Google will start charging Android device makers a fee for using its apps in Europe.

That's really all, so if you are interested, please take a look at the following articles.

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Image credits: Apple.

This week Google held a special event, where they presented new Pixel 3 phones and bunch of others devices. Let's start with the phones. Google as always presented two versions, the base one - Pixel, and one with bigger screen- Pixel XL. Here is the specification:

• Full-HD+ OLED, Gorilla Glass 5,
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor,
• Adreno 630 GPU,
• 4GB RAM and 6GB for Pixel XL
• 64GB/128GB storage,
• 12Mp f/1.8 rear camera with dual autofocus,
• 8Mp + 8Mp, f/1.8/2.2 dual-selfie camera,
• Rear fingerprint sensor,
• IPX8 waterproofing,
• 2915mAh battery for Pixel, and 3430mAh with Quick Charge for Pixel XL
• Wireless charging and USB-C 3.1,
• Android 9.0 Pie.

The specification for both version is almost identical. The only difference comes to amount of RAM, 4GB vs 6GB, and battery size. Of course there is also screen size difference, Pixel has 5.5 inch screen and Pixel XL has 6.3 inch with a notch. Speaking of the notch, it has not been received well. Based on images and videos I've seen, I have to agree with those accusations. I'm not a big fan of the notch, but I got use to it on the iPhone. Keeping that in mind, the Pixel's 3 notch still feels gigantic. I would love to see the phone in real life and do the comparison.
Speaking of real life, both phones are the most expensive Google phones ever :/ The Pixel starts at $799 for 64GB version. The XL starts at $899 for the same storage. It looks like the trend of producing very expensive phones continues.

Google also announced new tablet with a detachable keyboard powered by ChromeOS. It's called Google Pixel Slate, and it's very similar to the Surface Pro. It has 12.3 inch screen with front facing camera and two speakers. On the back there is rear camera. On the side, we will find fingerprint reader.
Device is powered by family of Intel CPUs, from Celeron up to i7 in the most powerful configuration. The CPU version affects the amount of memory we can get, 4GB in Celeron configuration, up to 16GB with i7. In terms of storage, devices will have from 32GB up to 256GB.
The Pixel Slate will go on sale in November starting at $599, while the dedicated keyboard will cost additional $199.

Also during the event, Google presented the Home Hub. This is basically the Google speaker with a screen, like Amazon's Echo Show or Facebook Portal but without a camera. Lack of the camera on a device like this is a bit surprising, but at leas we don't have to worry about device spying on us. Home hub comes in 4 colors and will be released on 22nd of October for $149.

The last news from the event is that Google Plus is going to be shut down. The official reason are security breaches, but to be honest, no one was using this platform anyway, so I'm glad that i will be officially gone.

That all folks from the news, here is the list of interesting things.

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