It’s hard to believe, but a scant 20 years have passed since viewers were unshackled from their televisions. For decades, NBC told us Thursday nights were “Must See TV” and ABC insisted it was “TGIF” Friday, so we did as we were told and stayed home to watch Friends, Seinfeld, and Full House.
Then, in 1999, two former employees of Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics (SGI), Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay, introduced a revolutionary new product: a digital video recorder, or DVR. The product, named TiVo, seamlessly recorded shows, paused live television, and allowed users to fast-forward through the commercials. Sure, you could achieve similar wonders with a VCR, but the process was so laborious that few would try. Plus, TiVo included an algorithm to make suggestions about the shows we might want to watch.
TiVo was a giant leap into the digital age that can be traced to the ambitious “Orlando project”.
I first used a TiVo when I moved to Nashville in 2002 and it was incredible. I don’t think I’ve gone without a DVR since.
Pixelmator Photo is a powerful, beautiful, and easy to use photo editor for iPad. It features a collection of nondestructive, desktop-class photo editing tools, a set of stunning, machine learning-enhanced film emulation presets, a magical Repair tool to remove unwanted objects from your photos, support for editing RAW images, and more. Simply put, it’s the best way to edit your photos on iPad.
There is no company in the industry that knows photos like Pixelmator. The pre-order price for Pixelmator Photo for iPad is $3.99—that is a no-brainer. Take a look at all of the features on the company’s web site.
New AirPods pair just as easily as the originals which still feels neat. Upgraders will probably want to rename the new AirPods though. My original AirPods were called ‘Zac’s AirPods’ so the new AirPods defaulted to ‘Zac’s AirPods #2’ since the new ones were paired before the old ones were removed.
I removed the original AirPods from my Bluetooth device list, then dropped the #2 from the new AirPods.
In my experience (colored by a run down battery, no doubt), the new AirPods paired much more quickly and consistently than Gen 1.
As to renaming, I went through the same process Zac did, but added Gen2 to my new ones to keep both around, each with a distinct name. Why? I know I will use the old ones at some point and want to avoid the name collision.
“Hey Siri” support is the most noticeable new feature of second-gen AirPods for upgraders. Activating Siri before required a double-tap on an AirPod or using Hey Siri on a paired device. Activating Siri with a voice command on AirPods is really natural and fast.
And:
“Hey Siri” on new AirPods even works with the Apple Watch when you’re away from your iPhone as long as there’s a network connection (like Wi-Fi or LTE). I’ve been testing this with indoor and outdoor runs and I’m hooked.
And:
Being in motion and activating Siri with a voice command without breaking your stride or worrying about where your wrist is positioned is just one less point of friction.
Hey Siri on AirPods is a home run feature for me. That, snappier connects, and way longer talk time made the new AirPods well worth the cost of admission.
Side note: AirPower or not, I am happy to have the charging case. Plenty of Qi options to choose from.
I will say that for $10 a month, News Plus is the most comprehensive magazine subscription service on the market. (Scribd is a very solid alternative for non-iOS users.)
If you’re thinking about subscribing, that — and only that — is what you should be focused on: getting a service designed mostly for magazines.
I have to agree here. If you are into magazines, Apple News+ is a tremendous value.
But as a news source? Early days still.
Don’t get me wrong. I do think there’s a lot of high-value, news-related content on the site. But the user interface makes getting to those stories a challenge.
Part of the issue is the primitive search features. And the like/dislike/block functionality being hidden in the kitchen junk drawer that the share icon has become. [UPDATE: Swipe right to dislike a story. Not obvious to me, given the multiple columns, but it’s there. And also in the junk drawer.]
My sense, also, is that the News+ interface is constrained by what cross-platform features are currently supported by Marzipan.
Add in the complexities of Apple News+ being one step removed from the news cycles. My sense is that breaking news has to wait to make an appearance until the next sync cycle between Apple News and the news origin.
As I said, it’s early days still. If you are into magazines, the value is clear. If you are looking for breaking news, or want a highly tunable experience, stay tuned.
What does Siri really know about sports, the weather, and stock? Not too much, and that’s a problem for Apple. There’s nothing worse than asking a digital assistant the score of a game only to get a wooden answer that you could have Googled in half the time.
Well, no. I would definitely be more than happy with a wooden, but correct, answer. But that aside:
Based on hiring data tracked over the past few months, Apple appears to know this. That’s why the company is hiring writers and engineers with a focus on particular subject matters to help make Siri more interesting and enticing to use.
I think that last little bit is on the mark. Apple wants Siri to be more interesting and entertaining. And, I think, more human.
The new positions suggest that the company is putting together subject-focused teams of both engineers and writers to not just improve Siri’s knowledge base, but do so in a way that’s editorial and entertaining with a particular voice.
No matter the reasons, good to see Apple’s Siri hires trending upwards. Interesting article.
Release Notes is an event meticulously designed to help you grow your online business. At its heart are practical talks on a range of business topics, but those who have attended past events know that Release Notes has more to offer. Plenty of networking time is built into the schedule, and organized activities are designed to stimulate great conversation and build new relationships. Whether you are a developer, designer, marketer, salesperson, or founder, Release Notes can help you take your next step with your business.
I love this conference so much. It’s not just the speakers, but the attendees and the events organized around the conference. It’s a great time and you learn a lot. The conference runs from October 3-5 in Mexico.
Apple has cut prices for several of its most important products on its official Chinese online store by nearly 6 percent. The price cuts affect products including iPhones, iPads, Macs and AirPods, according to Apple’s online store in China.
The original CNBC headline was “Apple slashes iPhone prices in China”. The price cuts were less than 6 percent. Significant and newsworthy, yes. But slashes seems an overreach to me.
This week was my third time attending an Apple media event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.
This time, Apple announced its streaming video plans along with subscription services for news and games. You’ve probably already read the recaps and taken in all the hot takes.
Now take a look at what it’s like to cover the event in person as an invited journalist, which is always a privilege.
An interesting take (mostly in photos) of last week’s Apple Event. Don’t miss the shots of the media riser and the teardown at the end. Interesting perspective.
I specifically waited for today to post this. But it really is a product.
Watch the video, then consider: If you pull the pin on a fire extinguisher and you aim badly, you adjust your aim to point the stream at the fire. But if you throw this vase badly, you’ve got nothing but continued fire.
And don’t get me started on cats knocking things off tables.
The price of these Qi chargers ranges from $13 up to $160. Part of this cost disparity is the number of devices handled, support for fast charging, support for Apple Watch charging and, of course, design.
Personally, I don’t care about Apple Watch support, since my Apple Watch never needs a top-off during the day, so dropping it on the Apple charger at night is all I need. That simplifies the equation greatly. Can you make do with a single device charger? Alternate between your iPhone and AirPods?
Also personally, I do not want a light on my charger, especially if it will live in my bedroom. And if I have to have a light, make it subtle.
Another design alternative to consider is flat-on-the-table vs angled.
Take a look through the links above to get a sense of what the reviewers find useful, develop a sense of what features are important to you, then hit the net and look for best bang for your buck.
Gerard Williams III, senior director in platform architecture, departed Apple last month after nine years, according to a person familiar with the matter.
While not well known outside of Apple, Williams led development of every Apple processor core from the A7 — the first 64-bit processor for mobile devices — to the A12X, the chip powering Apple’s latest iPad Pro devices.
And:
Williams isn’t the first notable Apple engineer to leave its chip business, which is led by Johny Srouji. Two years ago, Apple SoC architect Manu Gulati left for a similar role at Google. After Gulati left Apple, Williams took over his role overseeing SoC architecture.
Hard to know how much of an impact Williams leaving will be. Feels like Apple’s chip design process is mature enough that no one is irreplaceable.
“After much effort, we’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project. We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward,” said Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering in an emailed statement today.
Read all the details in the headline linked Matthew Panzarino TechCrunch article.
Been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a long time now. Glad Apple made the call.
Dave and I talk about my sudden change of heart regarding Apple News+ and why I’m liking the service. We also look at the new AirPods we picked up this week and delve into the Apple’s new video service.
We start our examination with these curious markings on the boxes. We’re seeing multiple references to something called “AirPower” … ?
Darth: “The snark is strong with this one.”
We have some real gripes with the AirPods’ design priorities, but there’s no denying the engineering talent that goes into them. Peer into this X-ray and you can pick out batteries, microphones, antennas, speaker drivers, circuit boards—all in something that fits in your ear.
Amen.
This was an interesting read. But incredibly entertaining, too.
This is a pretty interesting find by Matthew Cassinelli. In a nutshell, you can handwrite notes on your iPad using Apple Pencil, then send that text (as text, not as drawn text) to a shortcut.
To see this in action, watch the video below and jump to about 2:12.
If you do a lot of handwritten notes, I can see lots of value here. Export the text to a shopping list, for example. Or, perhaps, append the text to a list of app ideas. I suspect you could even create a shortcut smart enough to figure out from context what list stuff should go to.
Of course, your success here will depend on how readable your handwriting is.
With Apple’s release of watchOS 5.2, I see the ECG feature is now more widely available throughout Europe and other regions. That’s great news.
I want to encourage those of you with Apple Watch devices in those supported regions to go grab the update and try out the ECG. Not just because it’s extremely cool tech. But because, well, let me put it this way:
I now have a cardiologist.
That isn’t a statement I was planning to make in my forties. But there it is. And it’s only true because of Apple Watch.
Let me back up.
Riveting read. And yet another reason to appreciate the value of Apple Watch and Apple’s commitment to health.
Matthew Panzarino unearths a raft of tiny details on Apple Card, beyond the major points that have been floating around.
A few nuggets:
The physical Apple Card does not support contactless payments. If you’ve got a tap terminal, you’re supposed to use Apple Pay.
And:
The physical Apple Card, of course, has no number. The app displays the last 4 digits of the card number that is on the mag stripe of the card only, you never see the full card number. Instead, Apple provides a virtual card number and virtual confirmation code (CVV) for the card in the app. You can use this for non-Apple Pay purchases online or over the phone. This number is semi-permanent, meaning that you can keep using it as long as you want.
This last is an important point. The number on the physical card’s mag stripe is different than the number in the Wallet app.
About the phrase “semi-permanent”:
You can hit a button to regenerate the PAN (primary account number), providing you with a new credit card number at any time. This is great for situations where you are forced to tell someone your credit card number but do not necessarily completely trust the recipient.
Fantastic approach.
Lots more detail in Matthew’s TechCrunch post. Great read.
Nope. Not a typo. From the linked post by Horace Dediu:
The Apple Watch is now bigger than the iPod ever was. As the most popular watch of all time, it’s clear that the watch is a new market success story. However it isn’t a cultural success. It has the ability to signal its presence and to give the wearer a degree of individuality through material and band choice but it is too discreet. It conforms to norms of watch wearing and it is too easy to miss under a sleeve or in a pocket.
First things first. Take a look at the bar graph in Horace’s story. The iPod is red and the Apple Watch is orange. As you made your way, quarter by quarter from 2009 to 2018, you’ll see iPod revenue slowly disappear, declining into the other category, then see the mighty emergence of Apple Watch, way bigger than the iPod, revenue-wise.
OK, back to the post and that weird title:
Not so for AirPods. These things look extremely different. Always white, always in view, pointed and sharp. You can’t miss someone wearing AirPods. They practically scream their presence.
For this reason wearers, whether they want to or not, advertise the product loudly. Initially, when new, they looked strange, even goofy. But the product’s value to the wearer overcame any embarrassment and for those courageous enough to wear them, they became a point of pride. As all things distinctive enough, the distinction rubs on the user and that distinction begets new users and new distinction, and so on. So now we have a bona fide cultural phenomenon.
And:
The only thing which AirPods do remind me of is the original iPod. The iPod-and-white-earbuds had a similar signal/function ratio. Looks distinctive, works well, nails the job to be done and is self-describing. The “iconification” of white was the phenomenon of its decade.
AirPods + iPod = AiriPods
Good headline work there. Read the rest of the article. Lots of interesting thoughts, especially about the decision not to mess with a good thing when moving from the original AirPods to gen 2.
Ever since that ad with the girl making her way down the corridors of her school, unlocking everything in her path with just a glance, Apple has slowly incorporated the padlock into their branding.
The newest ad, embedded below, is the latest example of Apple’s ad shift. The shift emphasizes privacy, both in words “Privacy. That’s iPhone.” and in the use of that locking padlock icon that wraps everything up.
This is one joyous critique. Joyous to read and watch, not so much to experience first-hand. Brilliantly wry take by Joanna Stern for the Wall Street Journal.
Don’t miss the little switches embedded throughout, which let you view the post with and without e’s and r’s or with double-e’s.
And, for the pièce de résistance, watch the video embedded below. Great work.
This is a look at the first beta of iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3. What I found most interesting was the up close exploration of the overhauled TV app.
I’ve long gotten used to being able to watch (some) content from my cable package on my iOS device. But this feels different. Both more comprehensive and with much more potential as far as searchability goes.
No Netflix, though. Wonder if that’s ever going to change. Not sure what Netflix’s game is here. If the TV app gains traction (and I think it will), seems like Netflix will only lose exposure and subscribers as more and more viewers use the tvOS interface to learn about new, recommended content.
Fascinating piece by Guilherme Rambo for 9to5Mac. As you might expect, looks like the “discover” interface for Apple Card will use the same mechanism as the AirPods.
Repetitive stress tests are part of physical product testing. Just like slamming butts in chairs or opening and closing car doors, the tests are designed to simulate years of wear in a day or so.
This Galaxy Fold test just opens and closes the Galaxy Fold, over and over. It gives you a nice up close view of the outside of the hinge, as well as a slightly backed out view of the screen seam.
As you watch this, think about this question: Would Apple ever ship this product? If not, why?
The ECG app on Apple Watch Series 4, a direct-to-consumer product that enables customers to take an electrocardiogram right from their wrist, is available in Hong Kong and 19 European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. In addition to receiving De Novo clearance in the US from the FDA, the ECG app1 and irregular rhythm notification2 are now CE marked and cleared in the European Economic Area.
This is part of the watchOS 5.2 software update, which is rolling out now.
I mentioned on Monday as part of my first look at Apple’s announcements that I wasn’t so sure about Apple News+. After just a couple of days of use, I’m starting to change my mind.
My initial thought was that I stopped reading magazines years ago and that I wouldn’t read digital magazines. Strangely, that part is still right for me. If Apple News+ was a collection of magazines that I could download and read, I probably wouldn’t bother with it beyond the free trial.
I love to read fascinating stories from great writers. After work, I rarely read technology stories—I tend to read more human interest or sometimes just quirky bits of information that I can thoroughly enjoy.
The same is true for the podcasts I listen to regularly—not one of them is a tech podcast. I listen to podcasts that have fascinating interviews with people from around the world.
These types of stories and podcasts take me away from the typical information I get as a tech blogger and podcaster.
And this is where Apple News+ surprised me a bit.
The main page of Apple News+ is set up just like the free version of Apple News is on the iPhone. There is a collection of stories in a variety of topic areas that you can choose to read.
As I began reading, I noticed that very few of the stories were from the same magazine. Instead, I was reading stories that interested me, not magazines that interested me. That’s a huge distinction.
I do not have the time in my day, nor the inclination, to sit down and thumb through a magazine to see if anything interests me.
I like the way that Apple News+ presents the information to me. There is no doubt that these magazines have talented writers, but there is no way I would ever find some of the stories I’ve read in the last couple of days if I was left to find them on my own.
If Apple News+ is able to continue recommending quality stories, I will continue to be a subscriber.
If you’re considering the gen2 AirPods, watch the video embedded below.
One point Rene highlights is that the new AirPods, courtesy of the H1 chip, are Bluetooth 5.0 compatible. Bluetooth 5.0 is about twice the speed of its predecessor (about 48MBps) and capable of longer distances between devices. Obviously, to gain these benefits, the devices on each end need to support Bluetooth 5.0.
Fortunately, all modern iPhones support Bluetooth 5.0 (the iPhone 8 does, the iPhone 7 is at Bluetooth 4.2). And Bluetooth 5.0 is backward compatible.
So like a lot of people I like to end my trials as soon as I get them because I don’t want to forget to unsubscribe. Every other thing I subscribe to from the App Store I still get to use everything until the end of the trial even if I cancel early.
Well not with Apple News+. I ended the trial expecting to be able to use it for the next 30 days and I did it so fast I didn’t even read that it would actually end.
Yup. Unlike the Apple Music subscription, the Apple News+ subscription ends the second you cancel.
I’ve left a reminder on the 29th day anniversary to consider my options.
