Daily Archives: September 20, 2017

Taiwan motorcycle advertisement

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This is an old video but what a wonderful, poignant ad celebrating lifelong friendships and motorcycles. I’m honestly jealous of these guys.

iPhone 8 Plus and me: A 72-hour quest for beautiful images

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As a (supposed) professional photographer, I’m really interested in the improvements and features of the new iPhones’ cameras and the advancements Apple is making in photography. They are helping “average users” to create beautiful, compelling images.

Apple admits to Apple Watch LTE problems

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While writing my review of the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE capabilities, I experienced notable connectivity issues. The new Watch appeared to try to connect to unknown WiFi networks instead of connecting to cellular, when I was out and about without my phone.

Within the first couple days of experiencing this, Apple replaced my first review unit with a second one, but that one proved to be problematic, too.

Eventually, the company issued an official statement, acknowledging the issue. “We have discovered that when Apple Watch Series 3 joins unauthenticated Wi-Fi networks without connectivity, it may at times prevent the watch from using cellular,” an Apple spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We are investigating a fix for a future software release.”

I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I never had this issue with my Apple Watch. Every time I tried to do something, it worked just fine.

Perhaps Gruber explained it:

I suspect one reason I haven’t run into this is that I generally avoid using unauthenticated Wi-Fi networks. They’re a security risk, and at least in my experience they generally offer slower, less reliable connectivity than LTE.

I don’t do that either, so that could be it. Whatever the reason, Apple needs to get it fixed and they will.

Austin Mann: iPhone 8 camera review

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Austin Mann:

I’m writing to you from a small hotel room in India having just experienced a magical adventure in western India orchestrated by friends at Ker & Downey. I’ve shot thousands of images and countless portraits with the iPhone 8 Plus and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned.

While the iPhone 8 Plus looks essentially the same as the phone we’ve had since the 6 Plus, there are some new features in the 8 Plus which really impact creative pros across the board — most notably Portrait Lighting, along with a few other hidden gems.

I’m a big fan of Austin’s photography and his reviews. He knows his craft and does a great job showing off iPhone 8 Plus camera.

New York Times on iPhone 8: A worthy refinement before the next generation

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Farhad Manjoo:

What does one say about a new iPhone? At this point, a decade after the first one sent the earth spinning in directions both magical and ghastly, it can be difficult to summon any fresh wonder when appraising the familiar little slab of digital horror and delight.

I’ma stop you right there. Why does the New York Times do this? Why ghastly? Why digital horror?

But I digress:

The 8s look almost identical to the iPhones 7, 6S and 6, a model first introduced back when Donald Trump was still hosting a reality TV show. To make matters worse, both are overshadowed by the $1,000 all-screen iPhone X, which Apple considers the foundation for the next iteration of the iPhone. That model ships in November, and reviewers have not yet had a chance to use it.

To make matters worse? This prose is jarring, especially when compared to the “worthy refinement” in the headline. But onward, people:

Most of Apple’s improvements over the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are minor, but if you have an older model, either of the 8s will feel like a solid upgrade. And if you are considering upgrading from an Android phone, there’s one area where the new iPhones still rank head and shoulders above their competition — the processor, the engine that runs the entire device, where Apple is so far ahead that it almost feels unfair.

OK, I feel the tone shifting. What follows is a highly positive review, especially when compared to Android phones. For example:

The fastest Android phones, though, are almost painfully behind. With a Geekbench score of around 1,900, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S8 is not just half the speed of the iPhone 8, but it’s actually slower than last year’s iPhone 7, and even slower than the iPhone 6S, released in 2015.

Helps when you custom design your own processors.

And my favorite part of the iPhone, the camera:

Most images were astounding, and given the iPhone 8’s advantages in size, convenience and usability, I predict that my camera will be spending a lot more time in the drawer. In particular, I fell hard for the 8 Plus’s “Portrait Lighting” feature, which uses data from a depth sensor to mimic the blurred-background “bokeh” effect you get when taking portrait photos with expensive cameras. That feature made its debut last year on the iPhone 7 Plus, but in the 8 Plus, it’s been further refined to let you adjust the lighting of each shot, making for breathtaking portraits that you’ll be surprised came from a mere phone.

Pretty, pretty good.

iOS 11: How Control Center works

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Jason Snell, Macworld:

Control Center in iOS 11 is different. Really different. And when you upgrade from iOS 10, it will take some getting used to. But as someone who has been using it for a few months now, let me declare: It’s better. The new Control Center is simultaneously simpler and more powerful. And best of all, you can customize it to do what you want —— and hide most of what you don’t care about.

I agree with Jason. I think the new Control Center does take getting used to. But Jason solves that problem. His walkthrough makes things pretty clear.

Clever app that generates QR codes, makes it easy to store and retrieve them

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Visual Codes is a bit hard to describe. It basically makes it easy to turn a chunk of data (like a URL) into a QR code, and makes it easy to store and retrieve those codes. You can even use Siri to display your codes on your iPhone screen.

Here’s an example that might explain the value here:

You can use Visual Codes to create a QR code that connects to your home WiFi. You could print that QR code (Visual Codes knows how to print, too) and put it on the wall in your house. When someone comes to visit, they point their camera to the QR code poster (iOS knows how to interpret QR codes, knows this particular one is to connect to WiFi) and they are connected.

If you prefer a more private, controlled setting, you could ask Siri to bring up your home WiFi QR code, then have your guest point their camera to the QR code on your iPhone screen. Same result. No password changing hands, and they are in.

This is just one use case. Of many. And the app is FREE. Printing requires an in-app purchase of $1.99 that unlocks all additional features, but the free version is usable. No reason not to grab it. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Details on the Visual Codes web site.

Backstory: How DuckDuckGo was born and grew to take on Google

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This is a fascinating read. There’s the story of how Gabriel Weinberg got started. And the story of how he figured out his core mission, that of privacy.

One particular highlight that struck me:

It was 2011 when Gabriel Weinberg started to experiment off-line advertising with a billboard, which said “Google tracks you. We don’t.”

According to Wired, that campaign cost was $7,000 for four weeks, and it started “in tech-heavy SOMA district, along the highway dumping cars off the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.”

This is not literature, but there’s lots of detail, and a terrific underdog story.

Droid Life: Google to roll out $49 Google Home Mini

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Droid Life:

When Google takes the stage on October 4 at a phone-related event in San Francisco, most of us expect there to be non-phone related product announcements too. We’ve heard rumors about a Google Home “mini” possibly being on the way and today we can confirm that it exists, how much it costs, and the colors it’ll be available in.

The home assistant market is evolving, and all before Apple’s HomePod has an official release date. Amazon’s Echo Dot is priced at $49.99 and now it looks like Google is playing in the same space at the same price.

Begs the question: Will Apple roll out a HomePod Mini to compete with the Dot and Home Mini?

The Dot has a speaker, but is not designed to play music. A HomePod Mini could offer remote, always on Siri queries, and fire up music on the HomePod.

That said, is there a need for a HomePod Mini in a home that likely already has iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches? Gonna be interesting to watch this market unfold.

Review: Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular

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When Apple released the Apple Watch Series 3 at its event last week, it added a few really big new features, including cellular capabilities to the device. I’ve been testing out a cellular model with an iPhone 8 for about a week. […]