Posts Tagged: history

Apple’s pay later service approval might depend on your purchase history

Apple will rely on your previous purchases and spending habits to decide how much it will lend you for its upcoming "buy now, pay later" service, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apparently, the tech giant intends to evaluate your eligibility based on your purchases at its retail stores, your App Store transactions and even the peer-to-peer transfers you've made using Apple Cash. 

Whether or not you've applied for an Apple Card in the past will also reportedly factor into the amount the company will lend you, along with your spending habits using any other card linked to your Apple Pay. The company will take which Apple devices you own into account, as well, Bloomberg says. Apple Financing, the subsidiary the company established last year, is expected to be in charge of conducting customer background checks and loan approvals. 

The tech giant first announced the "buy now, pay later" functionality for Apple Pay at its WWDC event in June 2022 with the intention of launching it later that year. While Apple didn't explain why it didn't arrive with iOS 16 like it originally intended, Gurman said at the time that the delays were caused by "fairly significant technical and engineering challenges in rolling out the service." To test the feature, Apple reportedly gave its retail employees access to it for their own purchases. In Gurman's latest report, he says testers have been seeing loan approvals for as much as $ 1,000. 

When it first announced the pay later offering, Apple said it will give you a way to split the cost of purchases into four equal installments that you can pay over six weeks. That's a short amount of time, but you at least won't incur any additional interest or fees. The company reportedly plans to offer another option later on that would let you pay for larger purchases over several months, though that one will charge you interest on top of the base amount. 

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

The Internet Archive’s PalmPilot Emulation project lets you relive tech history

Fifteen years after the release of the iPhone, it’s easy to overlook the role early innovators like Palm played in popularizing the smartphone. By the time HP unceremoniously shut down the company in 2011, Palm had struggled for a few years to carve out a niche for itself among Apple and Google. But ask anyone who had a chance to use a Palm PDA in the late ‘90s or early 2000s and they’ll tell you how fondly they remember the hardware and software that made the company’s vision possible. Now, it’s easier than ever to see what made Palm OS so special back in its day.

This week, archivist Jason Scott uploaded a database of Palm OS apps to the Internet Archive. In all, there are about 560 programs to check out, including old favorites like DopeWars and SpaceTrader. Even if you don’t have any nostalgia for Palm, it’s well worth spending a few minutes with the collection to see how much – or, in some cases, little – things have changed since Palm OS was a dominant player in the market.

For instance, there’s an entire section devoted to shareware and it’s interesting to see just how much some developers thought it was appropriate to pay for their software. Want to use the full version of StockCalc? Just send $ 15 by post to DDT Investments in Plaistow, New Hampshire.

In an interview with The Verge, Scott said it took about six months to get the CloudpilotEmu emulator to work with the Internet Archive. There’s still some work to be done. Specifically, some of the more obscure apps are missing descriptions and metadata. Scott also hopes to write instructions for each program. Still, short of buying an old Palm device off of eBay, this is the best way to experience a bygone computing era. That’s because CloudpilotEmu allows you to navigate through Palm OS. You can even launch the database from your phone and there’s full support for Palm’s Graffiti handwriting recognition system. If you want to help Scott with the project, contact him on Twitter or Discord.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

12 podcasts to listen to during Black History Month and beyond

Take a deep dive into racial disparity, adversity, empowerment, and Black history and culture with our pick of podcasts to listen to for Black History Month.
Digital Trends

The most influential women in tech history

With their big ideas and clever inventions, these inspirational women left an indelible mark on the world and set us on a path to a brighter future.
Emerging Tech | Digital Trends

How Google’s Magic Eraser changes history, one small human at a time

Google’s Magic Eraser tool on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro removes unwanted elements from photos, but is it any good? We take a close look at its ability.
Android | Digital Trends

This week in tech history: Google Assistant is born

At Engadget, we spend every day looking at how technology will shape the future. But it's also important to look back at how far we've come. That's what This Week in Tech History does. Join us every weekend for a recap of historical tech news, annive…
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Facebook tests tracking Location History via Instagram

After an abrupt exit by Instagram's founders, there have been reports that they weren't always happy with being seen as one of Facebook's apps, instead of a standalone platform. With curious timing, TechCrunch reports that at least one user, Jane Man…
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Google is bringing a new history feature to Google Chrome on Android

Google is testing out a new feature for the mobile version of its Chrome web browser that should make your browsing experience a bit better. Currently accessing your recent web history involves a few taps behind some settings menus, but a new feature in the works will allow you to long press the back button […]

Come comment on this article: Google is bringing a new history feature to Google Chrome on Android

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#CreateBlackHistory: Celebrating Black History Month with YouTube.

Over the past year, we’ve seen historic examples of “firsts” in so many different areas of society and Black History literally being made every single day. This month, and every month, I’m inspired by the future faces of Black History on this platform–incredible artists, musicians, beauticians and comedians like Todrick Hall, Ari Fitz, Andrea’s Choice, and TPindell. That’s why, this Black History Month, we are excited to celebrate these awesome creators by having them share who inspires them every day.

To recognize these contemporary history-makers in the making, we asked 28 different YouTube creators to tell us who they believe is creating Black History. Each day this month, we’ll publish one of those videos as a Reel on YouTube Spotlight channel.


In addition to our daily videos, we’ll share a new playlist each week of February, celebrating the luminaries who have been making Black History of late.

Celebrate Black History Month with us by visiting youtube.com/spotlight on your phone and swiping over to the Reels tab. And after watching the Reels, tell us who inspires you with the hashtag #CreateBlackHistory.

Danielle Tiedt, Chief Marketing Officer at YouTube, recently watched #CreateBlackHistory


YouTube Blog

Museum of African American History is freely digitizing home movies

Humanity has access to more data than ever before, but there's still so much media scattered around the world that might rot away before it can be preserved. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is launching an initiative to sa…
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Google Duo adds video chats to your regular call history

Google's standalone video chat app, Duo, came out last August. Since then, the company has added some nifty features, like voice-only calling to help avoid awkward bedhead conversations. Google has just added a call-log feature to Duo, making it poss…
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