An Amazon patent won’t let you check online prices from rival retailers inside stores

With Amazon’s push into brick-and-mortar stores, it seems they want to stop you from buying products online (at least from rivals) while you’re inside their establishments. The online retailer has been granted a patent for “controlling online shopping within a physical store or retail location.” So, if you use the in-store Wi-Fi at an Amazon-owned store, your browsing will be monitored and blocked if you visit a competing retailer’s site. It’s basically like a firewall for accessing specific URLs or web addresses. One way to circumvent that, though, is by using your mobile data to do some comparison shopping. It is a patent so there isn’t any way to find out whether Amazon will use the technology yet.

Source: CNET + ZDNet

GarageBand for macOS gets new features, TouchBar support

Apple released an update to GarageBand for macOS, the most popular music creation and editing applications for consumers. GarageBand 10.2 is a significant update that comes with a modern design, new features and content, and usability improvements, including:

-- Expanded support for the MacBook Pro Touch Bar:

-- Navigation view lets users quickly move around their project by dragging across a visual overview of the arrangement

-- Performance view turns the Touch Bar into a simple one-octave musical keyboard or drum pads for playing and recording software instruments

-- Addition of 3 new Drummers that play percussion in the styles of Pop, Songwriter, and Latin

-- New Drummer loops, a new type of Apple Loop, which can be added to your song and then customized with performance controls

-- The ability to remotely add new tracks to your project using GarageBand on your iPhone or iPad

--  A new modern design that improves legibility in brighter working conditions and has a flatter overall look, consistent with the latest macOS designs.

The GarageBand 10.2 update is available to existing users for free.

Sony Pictures Television heads Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg move to Apple

In case it wasn't clear enought that Apple is serious about creating its own original programming for Apple Music, the company has redoubled its efforts to hire top-tier industry talent.

Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, two of television’s most notable and influential executives, are joining Apple in newly created positions overseeing all aspects of video programming.

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Sphero outs an adorable Spider-Man toy

If you’ve loved Sphero’s take on Star Wars’s BB-8, you might also fall in love with this talking Spider-Man toy, which comes out just in time for the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming next month. It’s unlike the usual Sphero toy, though. Unlike the BB-8, which moves around, it’s more of a talkative rubber toy. Kids can speak to it via voice commands—much like we would the other smart home speakers. It can guide kids through comic book storylines, which The Verge likens to camp counselor telling a story at a bonfire. But there’s a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book aspect to it as Spidey asks the kid what to do next. There are 400 pages worth of content included and 100 storylines to get through. Sphero intends to add stories in the future. You don’t have to worry about your child’s security as the toy doesn’t send information over the web or stores data in the accompanying app. It’ll just look for its wake-up phrases.

As mentioned, you can pair phones with Spider-Man over Bluetooth but it’s not essential to control the device with it. Some of the trigger phrases include asking it to “Tell me a story” or “Make me laugh.” It’s going to be a fun toy for young (and old) Spider-Man fans. It’s said to be available for US$149 starting today but a quick check of Amazon shows that it’s “Currently unavailable.”