Things To Do In SW Florida

By KEN SWEET (AP Business Writer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is discontinuing its buy now, pay later service known as Apple Pay Later barely a year after its initial launch in the U.S., and will rely on companies who already dominate the industry like Affirm and Klarna.

It’s an acknowledgement from a company known for producing hit products that building a financial services business from scratch as Apple has been doing for several years is difficult and highly competitive.

Apple Pay Later launched with fanfare in March 2023 as a way for iPhone customers to split purchases of up to $1,000 into four equal payments with no fees or interest. The service was Apple’s answer to the growing popularity of buy now, pay later services globally, and considered a sizeable threat to companies like Klarna, Affirm and others.

But Apple Pay Later was only available where Apple Pay was accepted whereas the other buy now, pay later companies had deeply integrated themselves into millions of merchant websites. read more

Some of the headliners for the Monsters of Rock Cruise coming in 2025 will be collecting their first Social Security checks, but that’s never stopped the popular event from selling out.

Now prepping for its 13th sailing, the themed cruise that celebrates heavy metal bands from the 80s will feature Tesla, Extreme, Winger, Queensrÿche, LA Guns, Slaughter, Faster Pussycat, Krokus, Vixen and more.

Tesla lead singer Jeff Keith turned 65 this year. Coming up on “retirement” age are Winger lead singer and founder Kip Winger and Extreme lead vocalist Gary Cherone, both now 62. Slaughter lead singer Mark Slaughter is a relatively young 59.

Michael Schenker, 69, of MSG game will be there, as will Stephen Pearcy, 67, of RATT and Michael Monroe, 62, from Hanoi Rocks. Dokken fans will get 69-year-old guitarist George Lynch’s band The Lynch Mob alongside more than 35 artists set to play on the five-night cruise.

Fans of the HBO Max superhero show “Peacemaker” can hear Wig Wam perform its theme song “Do You Wanna Taste It.” read more

It’s been 11 days since SpaceX last lit up the Space Coast sky with a rocket launch, the longest run between launches in more than a year.

It’s not for a lack of trying, though, but bad weather and a scrub as the countdown clock hit 0 last week led to SpaceX taking down a Falcon 9 rocket for a Starlink mission and switching it up with a Falcon 9 to launch a European TV satellite on Tuesday night.

The SES 24 mission flying the ASTRA 1P communication satellite for Luxembourg-based communications company SES is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 during a window that runs from 5:35-8:24 p.m. The satellite will service TV markets in Germany, Spain and France.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts only a 55% chance for good conditions with liftoff winds and the presence of cumulus clouds a concern. The same issues remain in the event of a 24-hour scrub worsening to only 45% chance for good conditions.

If it does launch, the first-stage booster will be making its ninth flight and will aim for a landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. read more

A property owner near UCF’s main campus is the latest developer to propose an off-campus student housing project for the area.

Suffern, NY-based Castle Lanterra purchased the 129,087-square-foot University Corporate Center I office building at 3501 Quadrangle Blvd. in 2022 for $24.65 million. On Friday, the developer submitted an application to Orange County requesting approval to build a 638-bed student housing project. A site plan indicates that the community would have 169 units, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

Under the plan, the office building would remain, while the developer would build the 5-story student housing project on the northern half of the existing parking lot. Since the development would be student housing, the average unit size would be larger than a typical multifamily community. There would be 20 one-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom, 82 four-bedroom, 32 five-bedroom, and 15 six-bedroom apartments. The units would range in size from 587 square feet on the low end for a one-bedroom to up to 1,855 square feet for a 6-bedroom unit. read more