Apple TV on Thursday announced it will expand its Emmy Award-winning comedy slate with a new half-hour series (as yet unnamed) led by four-time Emmy Award nominee Elizabeth Banks (“The Miniature Wife,” “The Better Sister,” “30 Rock”), and hailing from creators Liz Heldens (“Will Trent,” “Friday Night Lights”) and Matt Ward (“The Big Leap,” “Best Medicine”).
Elizabeth Banks will lead Apple TV’s new half-hour comedy series, which begins production this year.
Apple TV on Thursday announced it will expand its Emmy Award-winning comedy slate with a new half-hour series (as yet unnamed) led by four-time Emmy Award nominee Elizabeth Banks (“The Miniature Wife,” “The Better Sister,” “30 Rock”), and hailing from creators Liz Heldens (“Will Trent,” “Friday Night Lights”) and Matt Ward (“The Big Leap,” “Best Medicine”). The series is set to begin production in Los Angeles this year.
Fresh off a messy divorce, Heidi sets out to secure a lively second act for herself and her kids. But when she stumbles into coordinating her father’s retirement community sex dates, Heidi is forced into an unlikely alliance with his girlfriend’s perpetually single son.
Produced for Apple TV by 20th Television, the new series will be showrun and executive produced by Heldens and Ward. Banks executive produces alongside Max Handelman and Krissy Wall through her Brownstone Productions banner. Jonathan Krisel (“Adults,” “English Teacher”) will direct the pilot and serve as executive producer. Quinn Haberman executive produces alongside Heldens for Selfish Mermaid, and Jason Winer and Jon Radler will executive produce for Small Dog Picture Company.
Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 797 wins and 3,431 award nominations and counting including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” global cultural phenomenon “Severance,” Apple’s most-viewed drama “Pluribus,” Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA” and Academy Award nominee “F1,” the highest-grossing sports feature of all time.
MacDailyNews Take: Potential names, off the tops of our heads: The Retirement Plan, Dad’s Little Black Book, Twilight Matches, Late Bloomers, or Senior Sex & The Single Mom. MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $12.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
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Apple supplier STMicroelectronics shares surged after the European chipmaker reported strong first-quarter sales and forecast accelerating revenue growth from artificial intelligence in the coming months, as tech giants continue pouring billions into data centers.
Apple supplier STMicroelectronics shares surged after the European chipmaker reported strong first-quarter sales and forecast accelerating revenue growth from artificial intelligence in the coming months, as tech giants continue pouring billions into data centers.
The company, whose major clients include Apple as well as Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, said revenue rose 23% year-over-year to $3.10 billion. That figure topped the company’s guidance of approximately $3.04 billion and analysts’ consensus estimate of $3.06 billion, according to Visible Alpha.
Chief Executive Jean-Marc Chery said personal electronics and other equipment had led growth in the quarter, flagging improving demand, strong bookings and normalized inventory despite macroeconomic uncertainty. For the current quarter, the company is forecasting revenue of about $3.45 billion, above a Visible Alpha estimate of $3.18 billion.
STMicroelectronics shares in Paris jumped as much as 10% Thursday. The stock price has more than doubled over the past 12 months.“
AI is an opportunity for STMicroelectronics to turn the page after several quarters marred by a slow automotive business—a key end-market for a company that supplies to Tesla, German parts supplier Continental and Israel’s Mobileye. The auto industry has been an Achilles’ heel for STMicroelectronics in recent years as carmakers have been slowly digesting chip inventories they built at the height of the pandemic.
MacDailyNews Note: STMicroelectronics reported a quarterly net profit of $37 million, down from $56 million a year earlier. Its gross profit rose to $1.05 billion from $841 million, resulting in a 33.8% gross margin. Analysts had expected net profit of $150.5 million and gross profit of $1.03 billion, according to Visible Alpha.
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In a candid discussion on audio quality, Apple Music’s Oliver Schusser acknowledged that for the average listener, lossless audio often doesn’t deliver a perceptible upgrade in everyday scenarios like listening on an iPhone with headphones.
Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio arrived for Apple Music subscribers in June 2021.
In a candid discussion on audio quality, Apple Music’s Oliver Schusser acknowledged that for the average listener, lossless audio often doesn’t deliver a perceptible upgrade in everyday scenarios like listening on an iPhone with headphones. Spatial Audio, however, is a different story — it’s the format that actually moves the needle for most fans.
Robinson:How often do conversations about your hardware products [like AirPods] come into play when you’re developing new products at Apple Music [like high fidelity listening and Spatial Audio]?
Schusser: To the consumer, the magic really happens when the hardware, the software, and services talk to each other and build groups of great experiences. And I actually think that spatial audio, and the work we did with Dolby Atmos, is almost one of the best examples of it.
If you look at audio, changing audio standards are hard. And if you look back over like 60 years, there’s only really been mono [and then eventually stereo]. [At Apple Music] we wanted to create a new standard with two distinctive criteria. One: we thought it’s important that people — general people, fans — can notice the difference. And number two: we wanted it to work on as many, if not all, devices. Not just Apple devices, but just in general. So, lots of people said lossless is the answer. I heard this from record labels: ‘You gotta do lossless.’ But what they didn’t notice is that lossless actually doesn’t work over Bluetooth. So, when you have a wireless connection, lossless doesn’t actually work. And in the days of AirPods and wireless headphones, the vast majority of people didn’t have wires. So there were lots of people out there not even noticing that.
Robinson:I do agree that most average people can’t really hear the difference with lossless.
Schusser: Correct. My second point is: honestly, if we did an anonymous [blind] test on just an iPhone with headphones — and you and I work in the industry, and I assume you like sound as much as I do — I can tell you most fans wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. But that’s what we did with spatial audio. And this required really a collaboration — not just [with Apple], but with lots of people. We worked with Dolby on creating [sound that comes] not from two sides, but really from everywhere. And it actually worked on pretty much all devices, all headphones, all of our [products], on iPhone, on Mac, but also on pretty much any other device. [There was] one downside: there were only roughly 5,000 songs in the world that had already been mixed and mastered in [spatial] audio. So, we [had] to go and upgrade all the studios in the world and also educate the sound engineers on what this new canvas looked like.
MacDailyNews Take: Schusser nails it: Most people can’t really hear the difference with lossless audio — but they sure can with Spatial Audio.
Leave it to Apple to cut through the audiophile noise with refreshing honesty. While the industry was busy pushing “lossless” as the next big thing, Apple Music’s Oliver Schusser rightly pointed out that for the vast majority of listeners — even on an iPhone with headphones — lossless often falls flat in blind tests. It simply doesn’t deliver a noticeable upgrade in the wireless, everyday world most of us actually live in.
Spatial Audio, on the other hand? That’s the real game-changer. With Dolby Atmos, music doesn’t just play — it envelops you. Instruments and vocals float around your head with breathtaking depth, clarity, and immersion that actually moves the needle for real people. It’s not subtle marketing hype; it’s a transformative listening experience that works on virtually any headphones and turns your favorite tracks into something magical.
This is Apple at its best: focusing on what users can actually experience instead of chasing specs that only a tiny fraction can appreciate. Spatial Audio isn’t just better sound — it’s the best way to experience music. If you haven’t turned it on in Apple Music yet, you’re missing out on the most significant audio leap since stereo. Highly recommended.
How to turn on Spatial Audio (Dolby Atmos) in Apple Music
On iPhone or iPad (easiest and most common method):
Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap Apps (or Music directly in some iOS versions).
Tap Music.
Tap Dolby Atmos.
Choose one of these options:
• Automatic — Recommended. Plays Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos automatically when using compatible headphones (like AirPods, AirPods Max, or Beats) and a supported song is playing. • Always On — Forces Dolby Atmos playback for all supported tracks.
You can also enable Download in Dolby Atmos in the same menu so songs download in Spatial Audio format when available.
For dynamic head tracking (full Spatial Audio experience):
If you’re using AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, or compatible Beats headphones that support head tracking:
Swipe down from the top-right corner to open Control Center.
Touch and hold the volume slider.
Tap the Spatial Audio button in the lower right and select Head Tracked (or Fixed/Off).
On Mac:
Open the Music app.
From the menu bar, choose Music > Settings (or Preferences).
Click the Playback tab.
Under Dolby Atmos, select Automatic or Always On.
Tip: Look for the Dolby Atmos badge on album artwork or the Now Playing screen — this confirms the track supports Spatial Audio.
Once enabled, supported songs in your Apple Music library will play with immersive, theater-like sound that places instruments and vocals all around you. It works great with any Apple or Beats Bluetooth headphones, and the difference is often immediately noticeable compared to regular stereo.
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