The Tech Media Minute: Will Apple Buy Dish, Sling TV?

What’s up with Sling TV and Apple?

Sling TV has arrived on Apple TV, news heavily promoted during this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote. What wasn’t discussed on stage was the agreement between Apple and Sling TV’s parent company, Dish.

As we previously noted, the companies are now offering a bundled deal that lets would-be customers purchase a new 32GB Apple TV for $89 ($60 less than retail) if they pay for three months of Sling TV, which costs $20 per month.

This promotion, which saves you $60, suggests that Apple is no longer moving forward with its long-rumored video stream service. Or does it? Could Apple eventually make a play for Dish and its larger satellite business?

Earlier this year, Robert X. Cringely predicted that Apple would buy Dish, explaining:

“… Acquiring Dish would do more than just turn TV and maybe movies on their heads, it would have an impact on mobile phone and data service, too. Dish is one of the largest owners of unused wireless spectrum that can be used as a bargaining chip in those content negotiations or possibly put Apple into the wireless data business.”

We say: Apple buying Dish could definitely happen. AT&T bought DirecTV, after all.

Apple’s arch-nemesis joining cloud computing arena

On Thursday, Samsung Electronics Co. said it would buy U.S. cloud services company Joyent Inc. The move allows Samsung to compete with other cloud computing services including Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corp.’s Azure, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This is Samsung’s third major acquisition of a U.S. startup in the past two years. The South Korea-based company purchased SmartThings and LoopPay in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Pinterest makes an interesting purchase

Pinterest, the image discovery company, has announced that it has acquired the team behind the Fleksy keyboard.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Pinterest isn’t buying the technology behind the popular keyboard. Instead, Pinterest said about half of Fleksy’s 10-person staff will join the company, including founder and CEO Kosta Eleftheriou.

Pinterest “hopes the Fleksy team’s mobile-engineering prowess can help it build out a visual search engine it dubs a ‘catalog of ideas.'”

Gun control is the focus of a new Twitter campaign, called #MakeItStop. The move comes just days after the Orlando, Florida massacre.

Also being discussed:

• #ENGWAL
• #TBTXPN
• #ThursdayThoughts
• #Bloomsday
• #IHaveABlackBeltIn
• #USOpenFeatured
• #WIREDBizCon
• Backchannel
• #rkidsrworthit

Today, June 16 is Fresh Veggies Day.

WWDC continues in San Francisco, California (through tomorrow, June 17). Down in Los Angeles, the E3 Expo concludes.

Rewind: In 1989, “Ghostbusters II” arrived in theaters.

Have a few more minutes? Check out these other stories making news:

• PlayStation VR’s Batman, Star Wars, and Final Fantasy games are all deeply disappointing, VentureBeat
• 9 reasons why the Xbox One S is better than the original, CNET
• This Leaked Feature Makes The Samsung Galaxy S8 Sound Worth Waiting For, Forbes

Want even more? Check out Tech Media Extra.