Tuesday, November 22, 2022 Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Tesla — the “iPhone” of the automotive industry — has several integrations with popular music services. Spotify, TuneIn, Tidal, and Slacker (as the default streamer) currently grace the UI of the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y. The elephant in the room — the omission of Apple Music — has been a thorn in the side of many a Tesla user who also subscribe to Apple’s streaming music service.
Despite people clamoring for it, Tesla vehicles will probably never adopt Apple’s CarPlay, and from a business standpoint that makes sense. Why would Tesla give up so much control of its primary interface to Apple? I don’t ever see that happening, and I personally don’t blame Tesla for this decision at all.
But having no access to Apple Music within the native Tesla UI? That decision never made sense to me. It’s probably my number one complaint about Tesla vehicles. Thankfully, it looks as if the lack of native Apple Music support may be coming to an end if a recent post on r/teslamotors rings true. (via Tesla Raj).
As you all have seen by the pictures captured on the Model S display at Peterson Automotive Museum, Apple Music is coming to Tesla! This is probably coming in v11 Holiday Release! No word on Dolby Atmos but here is the notes! 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/4SAubjRHse
The image was captured at the Peterson Museum’s Tesla exhibit from a Tesla Model S running software version 2020.40.50.
Setting up the service appears to be fairly straightforward, and facilitated by a handy QR code instead of having to try to log in with an Apple ID from Tesla’s center-mounted display.
It looks like the annual holiday update is going to be one for the ages if you’re an Apple fan. Hopefully the UI is good, and perhaps there will be support for Dolby Atmos and Lossless downloads to a USB drive? I would like to imagine that Apple worked closely with Tesla to make it right, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Today Serif, the company behind the Affinity creative suite of apps, is announcing Version 2 of Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher. In addition, Affinity Publisher 2 is now available on iPad after being a desktop exclusive. Serif is also announcing a new Universal License ownership tier, that gives users access to all Affinity apps across all platforms for one low price.
The Affinity Universal License will normally be available for $169.99, but Serif is offering a special 40% launch discount, affording users with access to the entire V2 suite for just $99.99. This announcement also silences fears that Affinity apps would adopt a subscription model.
Ashley Hewson, Managing Director of Serif, notes:
“The ability to buy for a one-off payment is something that makes Affinity the only viable option for many of the brilliant and inspiring creative people around the world, who would otherwise not have access to the highest-quality tools. There has been a lot of speculation about us moving to subscription recently, so I’m pleased to confirm that isn’t the case!
For our existing customers we have also been very conscious that, considering many of our sales are generated via app stores, it’s not possible to provide upgrade pricing. That’s the main reason we have decided to offer such a large launch discount – giving upgraders a chance to do so at an incredible price.”
Affinity Photo V2 for Mac
Speaking on a personal basis, Affinity Photo and Designer have been two absolute staple Mac and iPad applications that I’ve used daily for the last few years. I’ve been a huge fan of Affinity apps, not only because of the lack of an annoying and pricey monthly subscription fee, but primarily because the apps are extremely good at what they do with no compromises for my particular workflow. I think many Photoshop and Illustrator users will be surprised by just how capable the Affinity Suite is, and now with Affinity Publisher 2 coming to the iPad, InDesign users may have more of a reason to look at Serif’s apps as well.
Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad
Serif notes that users who don’t require the full package will still be able to buy each app — Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Designer 2 or Affinity Publisher 2 individually for Mac, PC or iPad with the same 40% launch discount. All products, including the V2 Universal License, are also available as a 30-day free trial.
All new Affinity releases are available now. To purchase individual V2 apps or the V2 Universal License, head over to Serif’s website, and take advantage of the introductory pricing.
Conclusion
As someone who dislikes Adobe’s subscription model, Affinity has been a huge win for me personally. Although a lot more people know about Affinity apps than they used to, I still think there remains a sizable swath of creative users who have no idea how awesome these apps are, and how viable they are as outright Adobe replacements in many circumstances.
But even if you’re educated about what Affinity’s creative apps bring to the table, I think it’s a good idea to purchase the V2 versions at this reasonable price, and support the team at Serif. Without our support, it would not be able to provide such reasonable prices devoid of monthly subscription fees. Let’s show everyone from our support that you don’t have to adopt a subscription model to be a successful software company in 2022.
