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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch
@welch.bsky.social
15K followers 340 following 85 posts
Tech reviews and news at Bloomberg The Verge for a long time before that chris-welch.com Signal: 845.445.8455 @chriswelch elsewhere
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · 1d
New: Bose is shutting down cloud music streaming for its SoundTouch speakers.

Customers who still own the products are very frustrated.

I spoke with a longtime Bose customer who said his aunt and uncle — both in their 80s with dementia — still use and love their SoundTouch speaker today.
Bose Angers Customers by Ending Cloud Streaming for Old Speakers
Bose Corp. announced this week that it will discontinue the cloud infrastructure for its “SoundTouch” line of audio speakers in February, rendering the devices unable to directly stream music from ser...
www.bloomberg.com
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · 19d
I reviewed the iPhone 17 Pro... and I reviewed the iPhone 17... and I reviewed the iPhone Air.

Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup is its most impressive in a long time because the company shifted focus back to hardware.

Full review: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Sep 10
Full story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Spotify Introduces Higher-Fidelity Feature for Paying Customers
Spotify Technology SA is introducing higher-quality sound for paying subscribers, the streaming company’s latest effort to enhance the listening experience for its best customers.
www.bloomberg.com
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Sep 10
Lossless is rolling out gradually to over 50 markets through October.

Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK are up first.

If you have Premium, you’ll get a notification when it’s available for your account.
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Sep 10
It doesn’t cost anything extra beyond the normal Premium subscription. There’s no “Supremium” plan or Music Pro add-on.

It took the company this long… just to deliver the core feature it announced in February 2021. What a thing.
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Sep 10
News: Spotify Lossless is here. More than FOUR YEARS since being announced, today the music streaming service is rolling out the higher quality — up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC — to Premium subscribers in select markets.
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 21
Instagram’s music library somehow leaked the 2025 mix of “Free As A Bird” by The Beatles from the upcoming Anthology reissue.

It sounds amazing. What a difference from the original.

Enhancing old recordings is proving to be one of the best uses for AI.

Listen here: youtu.be/unJ7C8LCIlY?...
The Beatles - Free as a Bird (2025 official remix)
YouTube video by Tito Sotelo
youtu.be
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 18
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 18
Oh wow, NYC.
Sunset near Union Square in Manhattan on August 17th.
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 16
That damn song at the end stayed stuck in my head for days
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 11
The "we're just reinventing cable" thing really hits with this one.
ESPN DTC and FOX One to Launch Combined Bundle Offer | The Walt Disney Company
Viewers will have the opportunity to bundle ESPN’s DTC Unlimited Offering and FOX One for $39.99 per month Starting October 2.
thewaltdisneycompany.com
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Reposted by Chris Welch
mattufford.bsky.social
Matt Ufford @mattufford.bsky.social · Aug 7
the degradation / dismantling of Eater is such a damn shame. in a world of influencer- and bot-skewed restaurant ratings, googling "eater [city]" provided guidance from passionate locals with good taste; it was a cheat code for eating well wherever you traveled
voxmediaunion.bsky.social
Vox Media Union @voxmediaunion.bsky.social · Aug 7
Vox Media Union statement on today's devastating round of layoffs at Eater. We stand with all of our wonderful colleagues. #solidarityforever #unionstrong #1u
Eater layoffs statement Today, 15 members of the Vox Media Union working at Eater were notified without warning that their jobs were being eliminated as part of a major restructuring of the 20-year-old brand. This was especially shocking considering that Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff told Puck’s Dylan Byers just last week that he did not anticipate any impending layoffs at the company. But, of course, we’ve learned that we cannot trust Jim Bankoff’s word when it comes to layoffs. This is the second major round of layoffs at Eater this year, following a round earlier this year that decimated Eater’s award-winning cities network. To be abundantly clear: these layoffs are a gut-job, one that eliminates roughly a third of Eater’s union jobs. It is also a cowardly capitulation to the fallacious insistence that generative AI is the future of search and publishing. We are devastated that our colleagues have lost their jobs, and we are deeply worried about the future sustainability of Eater without them. Eater is currently in the midst of celebrating its 20th anniversary, and right now, there is not much to celebrate. We will have more information forthcoming about ways to support our laid-off colleagues in the coming days. Solidarity forever, The Vox Media Union Committees
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 7
This is one of the bleakest developments yet out of Vox Media. All the newsletters and podcasts in the world won't fix it.

Sending my support to those who abruptly lost their jobs today — cruelly coinciding with Eater's 20-year celebration, no less. (www.eater.com/food-culture...)
voxmediaunion.bsky.social
Vox Media Union @voxmediaunion.bsky.social · Aug 7
Vox Media Union statement on today's devastating round of layoffs at Eater. We stand with all of our wonderful colleagues. #solidarityforever #unionstrong #1u
Eater layoffs statement Today, 15 members of the Vox Media Union working at Eater were notified without warning that their jobs were being eliminated as part of a major restructuring of the 20-year-old brand. This was especially shocking considering that Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff told Puck’s Dylan Byers just last week that he did not anticipate any impending layoffs at the company. But, of course, we’ve learned that we cannot trust Jim Bankoff’s word when it comes to layoffs. This is the second major round of layoffs at Eater this year, following a round earlier this year that decimated Eater’s award-winning cities network. To be abundantly clear: these layoffs are a gut-job, one that eliminates roughly a third of Eater’s union jobs. It is also a cowardly capitulation to the fallacious insistence that generative AI is the future of search and publishing. We are devastated that our colleagues have lost their jobs, and we are deeply worried about the future sustainability of Eater without them. Eater is currently in the midst of celebrating its 20th anniversary, and right now, there is not much to celebrate. We will have more information forthcoming about ways to support our laid-off colleagues in the coming days. Solidarity forever, The Vox Media Union Committees
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 6
Breaking: Sonos says price increases are coming for some products later this year due to tariffs hitting Vietnam and Malaysia.

As for new hardware, @tconrad.bsky.social mentioned a "lull" in launches over next couple quarters with emphasis on software differentiation.

Full story now on Bloomberg.
Sonos to Raise Its Hardware Prices This Year Due to Tariffs
Sonos Inc. will raise prices on some products later this year, the company said Wednesday, a move that threatens to complicate its comeback attempt following a tumultuous 2024.
www.bloomberg.com
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Aug 1
Photographers, tariffs have come for your beloved Fujifilm film simulations.

The company raised US prices of most cameras and lenses on Friday, with popular models like the X-100VI and X-T5 now $200 more expensive than they were Thursday night.
Fujifilm Raises Camera and Lens Prices in the US Amid Tariffs
Fujifilm Holdings Corp. raised US prices for the majority of its digital cameras and lenses on Friday, in some cases by hundreds of dollars, as President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to reverberate...
www.bloomberg.com
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jul 30
It’s a music platform. Music is communal. Sharing music is a big reason Spotify is beating Apple at this game.

Some things make sense to keep private unless you specify otherwise. (Venmo transactions!)

I wouldn’t call public-by-default playlists terrible privacy.

www.theverge.com/privacy/7163...
Spotify’s terrible privacy settings just leaked Palmer Luckey’s bops and bangers
The Panama Playlists claims to show the favorite tracks of some of the biggest names in tech, media, and politics.
www.theverge.com
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jul 23
It's official: @tconrad.bsky.social is the new CEO of Sonos. He's got an excellent understanding of what the audio company's strengths are — and what they aren't.

The app is in a far better place today than 14 months ago. Very interested to see what comes next.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jul 11
Good photo, if I do say so myself.
theverge.com
The Verge @theverge.com · Jul 11
The original Pixel Fold is over $1,000 off on the last day of Prime Day
The original Pixel Fold is over $1,000 off on the last day of Prime Day
It’s $599 while supplies last.
buff.ly
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jul 10
They sound so damn good.
Slide Away (Live in Cardiff, 4 July '25) by Oasis on Apple Music
Song · 2025 · Duration 6:22
music.apple.com
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jul 9
Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 are here. After a few slow years, the company is showing serious design ambition. The Fold 7 is extremely thin, and the Flip 7 has leapfrogged Motorola's Razr Ultra.

My full story with @markgurman.bsky.social: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jul 4
The last time I saw Oasis (at MSG in 2008), concert videos looked and sounded like this.

Happy reunion day. Hope everyone in Cardiff has a brilliant time.
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jul 2
The Honor Magic V5 is one very, very thin foldable. Your move, Samsung.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jun 28
Tonight I met someone who, it turns out, worked with and knew Chris Ziegler after The Verge/Apple fiasco.

I’ve been wondering what happened to him for years. Chris was one of the funniest, warmest colleagues I ever had.

He’s well these days. And happy. That’s all I wanted to hear and all I’ll say
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welch.bsky.social
Chris Welch @welch.bsky.social · Jun 23
Exclusive: VSCO is releasing its own camera app — the company’s first new standalone release in a decade.

It’s called Capture, and it will let users pick from 50 of VSCO’s popular photo filter presets before snapping a shot. There’s a manual mode, too.

US release is planned for later this summer.
VSCO Debuts Standalone iPhone Camera App With Popular Photo Filters
Capture joins a growing group of apps positioned as alternatives to Apple’s iPhone camera software.
www.bloomberg.com
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Reposted by Chris Welch
bloomberg.com
Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · Jun 18
Exclusive: Microsoft is planning to cut thousands of jobs, particularly in sales, as part of the company’s latest move to trim its workforce
Microsoft Planning Thousands More Job Cuts Aimed at Salespeople
Microsoft Corp. is planning to ax thousands of jobs, particularly in sales, as part of the company’s latest move to trim its workforce amid heavy spending on artificial intelligence.
bloom.bg
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