Apple on Wednesday updated its iconic iPods with new colors and a host of new features for the iPod touch.
Apple went all out with the iPod touch, giving the device the A8 chip, the same one used in the iPhone 6. Apple told me yesterday that the CPU in the new touch is six times faster than its predecessor and 10 times faster in graphics performance.
With its 4-inch display, iPod touch also gains support for Metal, which gives it even more options to run powerful games. The touch also has the M8 motion co-processor, which tracks movement and other data for health and fitness apps.
Apple also made some significant changes to the cameras in the iPod touch. In addition to an 8 Megapixel camera, Apple updated the image sensor processor and added burst and slo-mo modes to the iPod touch.
Not to be outdone by the iPhone when capturing movies, the iPod touch also gains cinematic video stabilization. This is especially handy if you’re capturing a movie while moving—the technology stabilizes the movie automatically.
The front camera of the iPod touch remains at the same resolution, but it also has an updated sensor and gains burst mode. That should be good for some new selfies.
One other change I’m glad to see is upgraded Wi-Fi—the iPod touch now supports the faster “AC” standard.
The new iPod touch will come in space gray, silver, gold, pink, red, and blue and costs $199 for the 16GB model, $249 for 32GB and $299 for 64GB. For the first time the iPod touch comes in a 128GB model for $399.
Apple told me yesterday that the iPod nano and shuffle models will maintain their current design, price and specs, but will come in the same new colors offered for the iPod touch.
Apple said that the iPod is still popular among all age groups and for many, it’s their first product in the Apple family.
I have many iPods and I’m so glad to see Apple upgrading them for new, and old, users.
Manipulative headline aside, this Wired piece by Brian Barrett is a good read. The first half is a state-of-the-union that discusses calls for Flash to have a specific end of life date, last major Flash holdouts (looking at you Facebook), and the game of Whack-a-Mole that Flash security has become.
Two interesting quotes from this first half:
“The Flash Player is a very interesting target for attackers because it really is ubiquitous and runs in all major browsers,” says Jérôme Segura, senior security researcher at Malwarebytes. “On top of zero-days, many end users are still running older versions which explains why the number one piece of software exploit kit writers go after is Flash.”
And:
Segura’s torn on whether Flash should die altogether. “At the moment it is the most responsible thing to do,” he says, “But I also think it may be short sighted. After all, malicious actors can easily move on to a new target.”
The second half of the article focuses on specific instructions on how to get rid of Flash from your environment. If you do decide to follow this path, you might want to read this more comprehensive article as well.
Will Gomez, writing for Mac360, addressing critics of the Apple Watch:
To Watch critics who said it’s too expensive, I say rubbish. It’s priced the way Apple prices everything. Within reach. To those who say the parts cost less than $85 to make, I say rubbish. Only Apple knows the parts cost, but price and cost are not the same thing. There are design, manufacturing, marketing, and support costs which must be accounted for in the price.
Watch is misunderstood. Critics lambast Watch as an overpriced bauble that won’t sell as well as iPhone or iPad, and does not have a clear value proposition. Use Watch for a week and you’ll see the value proposition is time and convenience. But Watch is an accessory so don’t expect a Watch connected to every one of the 150-million iPhones sold each year.
And for those who see the Apple Watch as a fashion accessory:
Watch lives in the fashion industry, yes, but as a fashionable iPhone accessory (of which there are many) that is also utilitarian. The Watch design, like those of many luxury watches, is timeless and will look great for many years. Apple did the design homework necessary to become both an accessory and a fashionable item.
Watch is designed and manufactured in the same vein as Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It’s both luxurious and utilitarian. It’s both fashionable and useful. It’s finely crafted but easy to use, but has a learning curve because Apple has crammed a lengthy list of capabilities into a device lightweight premium package that won’t be all things to all people, but will set the stage for future, standalone wearable products.
The Apple Watch is still a work in progress. Until you live with one and understand the things it does well, understand the friction in the gears it smooths away, there is no chance you will understand the value of the Apple Watch.
Great, informative article from Craig Hockenberry on the affect of water on your Apple Watch.
Every bit of this is a good read. But if I had to pick one point to highlight, it’s this:
Make sure you rinse your equipment in fresh water after it has been exposed to salt water. As you’ve seen above, that includes a swimming pool.
I make sure to wash my watch thoroughly after every swim. It doesn’t take much to get the corrosive liquid off. If you’re working out, it’s likely that you have a bottle of water handy: a few splashes is all it takes. Don’t use a sports drink for this rinse: it contains the same harmful electrolytes you’re trying to get rid of!
Chances are also good that you’re going to take a shower after a workout. Just hold your wrist up to the shower head and you’re done!
A top advertising executive at Apple has left to help lead Drawbridge, a fast-growing startup that helps marketers track user identity across mobile devices.
Winston Crawford, the former head of Apple’s mobile ad marketplace, has joined Drawbridge as its first chief operating officer, he said in an interview.
No worries there. People come and go all the time.
But his logic for leaving:
“I don’t believe they are interested in this capability because they have a strict policy around what they do with user data,” Crawford said. “IAd has great assets and great capabilities, but they are going to follow Apple’s policy to the letter of the law.”
That says a lot about Apple’s business practices and privacy.
Here’s the business model that lured Winston away from Apple:
Crawford’s experience overseeing ads on iPhones and iPads lends credibility to Drawbridge’s business of monitoring users as they move between mobile devices. The four-year-old startup can detect when the same user logs onto the Web from a PC, tablet or smartphone, or purchases a product in a retail store, based on their browsing habits and other clues. Drawbridge then sells that information to marketers who want to show the same person ads on different devices and measure the ads’ effectiveness.
“‘I can’t support this, you need to pay us from the first stream,’” Borchetta, the CEO of Big Machine Records, says he told Apple execs. “And those conversations led up to the weekend where Taylor posted the blog.”
Apple’s discussions with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox initially foundered over the tech giant’s desire to offer on the soon-to-launch service local live TV feeds streamed on any Apple device, sources said.
But networks don’t control affiliate feeds. So Apple CEO Tim Cook’s team asked the networks to obtain those rights — instead of having Apple chase those rights around the country itself.
Now, it seems, Cook’s strategy is paying off, sources said.
The networks are close to having the right to negotiate with Apple on behalf of their affiliates, the sources added. Those affiliate groups, which include Tribune and Sinclair, are being told by the networks that if they opt in and offer their feeds, they will be able to share in the added revenue the Apple streaming product will produce, sources tell The Post.
Hard to judge the veracity of this story. The New York Post is not typically a source for tech news. But this has a feel of truth to it. If nothing else, the mechanics of this deal make sense and are worth understanding.
A while back, Barry Diller’s Aereo built out an antenna farm, designed to grab over-the-air broadcast signals from local network affiliates, then rebroadcast those signals over the net as part of the Aereo paid service. Aereo got sued, ended up going out of business.
According to the Post, Apple is stepping in to do the job that Aereo could not. Rather than grabbing the signal behind the networks’ collective backs, it seems Apple is negotiating with the networks to get the rights to broadcast affiliate feeds. At the same time, the networks are negotiating with their respective affiliates to secure the right to negotiate with Apple on their behalf.
Apple Pay rolled out in the United Kingdom this morning, with support from American Express, MasterCard and Visa, as well as MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, and Ulster Bank.
Bank of Scotland, HSBC and its subsidiary first direct, Halifax, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, and TSB are prepping their systems and will be available soon. Obviously, this list will expand as Apple signs up new Apple Pay partners.
One prominent use case, shown in this image, is the use of Apple Pay to pay for the tube or metro. Think long lines, combined with short transactions. Another similar case would be entry to a stadium for a concert or sporting event.
The Apple Watch is perfect for these sorts of transactions. No reaching in your pocket or backpack for your phone, something made even harder in the crush of a long line in a crowded metro or tube station. In these settings, the value of Apple Pay is leveraged by an Apple Watch. As useful as the Apple Watch is in a meeting, the additive efficiency of a long queue of similar transactions, each made slightly faster, makes a strong case for the long term prospects of the Apple Watch.
As Apple proves time and time again, it’s all about the ecosystem. Apple Watch, Apple Pay, Apple Music, iPhone, iPad, and the Mac all contribute to the ecosystem. In return, the ecosystem adds value to every device Apple rolls out to the consumer.
Apple Pay has officially launched in the UK. Users will be able to useApple Pay at more than 250,000 retailers with support from eight banks UK banks. The service is currently supported with credit and debit cards from American Express, Visa, Mastercard, First Direct, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, and Ulster Bank.
Good news for our friends in the UK but the downside is purchases will be limited to a £20 cap that will expand to only £30 in September. So no buying big ticket items just yet. The £20 will just cover two pints of lager and a packet of crisps.
Tap your way to cash at these Apple Pay ATMs. Click here to locate Apple Pay ATM near me.
CORRECTION: There are only seven UK banks at launch, not eight, with seven more “Coming Soon”. My apologies and thanks to Tim Green for spotting my error.
A CBC News crew was interviewing an Ontario police officer as a road-rage incident was happening right behind them.
CBC’s Neil Herland was speaking with OPP Const. Graham Williamson about a fatal collision on Black Creek Drive in Toronto on a nearby overpass, but shouting interrupted the interview, which was quickly captured by CBC camerawoman Tyna Poulin.
“Hey! Get back in the car,” Williamson yelled.
Less “road rage” and more, “road slightly peeved off”. No punches thrown, no gun fire, no horns honking – yeah, so Canadian.
Apple on Monday released an update for iTunes supposedly fixing some issue with iTunes Match and Apple Music. You can download the update by launching the App Store on your Mac and clicking Update.
Sometimes I wonder if people understand how organizations like Slice work. They make money by selling their services to client companies, and they attract new business by sending out press releases that become “news.” The more shocking the story, the more PR they get — and, in theory, the more new clients they can reel in.
In this case, Slice got exactly what it hoped for. Its name was attached to one of the biggest stories of the week. But, in the absence of any numbers from Apple, just how believable is the story?
As someone who is forced to read this stuff for a living, watching this particular feeding frenzy is simultaneously frustrating and unsurprising. While the general public’s lack of critical thinking when it comes to the media is slightly understandable, when the media itself is guilty of the inability to look at press releases and see them for what they actually are – simple promotion – it’s particularly aggravating. We can’t expect the consumer to think critically when the media refuses to do so.
After 25 years, Berkeley Breathed is returning to his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip, “Bloom County.” Breathed announced the new incarnation of the politically-minded strip via a post on Facebook that featured him working on a new comic with the words “Bloom County 2015” at the top.
“Bloom County” originally ran from December 1980 until 1989, just two years after he won the Pulitzer. The characters, such as Bill the Cat, Opus the Penguin, Hodge-Podge the Rabbit, Milo Bloom, and Cutter John, lived on in the Sunday-only strip “Outland” from 1989 to 1995, as well as “Opus” from 2003 to 2008.
Along with “The Far Side” and “Calvin and Hobbes”, “Bloom County” was always one of my favorite comic strips. For those of you who know me, you’ll know how excited I am to have Opus back. Thanks to my friend Sly for the link and Donald Trump for the inspiration.
While some smartphone makers chase market share, Apple is pulling away when it comes to profits: For every dollar of operating profit in the smartphone market, Apple is nabbing $0.92, leaving the others fighting for scraps.
That estimate comes from Canaccord Genuity as noted by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend.
Considering that Apple’s iPhone sales globally account for roughly 20 percent of all smartphones sold, the situation for its competitors will only get worse.
Android users and vendors can and do brag about market share. I’m sure Apple is very happy with profit share and wouldn’t have it any other way.
If everything goes according to plan, a NASA spacecraft, called New Horizons, will fly by Pluto at 7:49 am ET. New Horizons is the first spacecraft in history to ever visit Pluto, and it’s been a long time coming after 9 years in space.
NASA will stream live countdown coverage of the event starting at 7:30 am, followed by a briefing on the mission from 8:00 to 9:00 am ET.
It’s more than a little mind boggling to think that something we flung into space nine years ago is now about to send us pictures of the tiny little planet.
If you have even the slightest love for Star Wars, this will quicken your pulse, gladden your heart.
Fans at San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H were treated to a special look behind the scenes of Star Wars:The Force Awakens by director J.J. Abrams, producer and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and writer Lawrence Kasdan. The filmmakers were joined on stage by cast members Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford to the surprise and delight of fans.
At the end of the Hall H presentation, the entire Hall H audience of more than 6,000 fans were all invited to continue the celebration and join cast and filmmakers at a surprise Star Wars Fan Concert. The San Diego Symphony performed the classic Star Wars music from John Williams at the Embarcadero Marina Park South.
This is a real gift from J. J. Abrams and company.
A sense of perspective is unavoidable from 22,000 miles out. Looking down at Earth from that distance — almost three times farther than the diameter of the planet itself — allows a view of the globe as a massive organic system, pulsing with continuous movement. Below, images from the Himawari-8 weather satellite’s first official day paint a living portrait of the western Pacific, with Typhoons Chan-hom and Nangka spinning slowly westward.
Locked into a stationary orbit above New Guinea, the satellite takes 144 photographs of the entire planet a day, three times as many as its predecessor. The images show how weather systems evolve and help forecasters develop more nuanced models of Earth’s atmosphere.
This vivid, moving imagery is riveting, breathtaking.
Kirk McElhearn, on Apple Music and your listening history:
If you listen to music on your Mac – music that you’ve added to My Music, and that shows up in your iTunes library – then it shows up in a Recently Played playlist, if you have one. (iTunes creates this by default, but you may have deleted it. See below for instructions on how to create it again.) However, if you stream music through iTunes, or on an iOS device, it doesn’t get added to this playlist.
There are two issues here, both important.
First, there’s the lack of access to your listening history. This is valuable, both for the convenience of going back a few songs to remind yourself of a song you like, and for the value as social currency (sharing your music history/likes/experience with others). Apple is missing something basic here.
Second, there’s a huge divide between the Apple Music experience on your Mac and your iOS device. The first time you like a piece of music on your iOS device, you’ll get a “first love” alert. Smart. Apple is making sure you see the value of clicking on the heart next to a track.
But if you then hop onto your Mac and click your first heart, you’ll get that same notice. This is just a small example that illustrates that your left hand (Mac) and right hand (iOS) are not connected when it comes to Apple Music.
One of the most interesting things I’ve experienced while using the Apple Watch over the past two and a half months is the growing consciousness that I am now wearing several machines that are capable of talking to each other.
This was illustrated one morning when I was in the New York City subway, deep underground. There—far from any cellular signal or internet connection—I used my Apple Watch to wirelessly change the podcast that was playing on my iPhone, which was being wirelessly transmitted to a pair of Bluetooth earphones. I had my own invisible, personal network, off the grid.
This phenomenon—some are calling it the “personal cloud” or “personal mesh”—is one of the most important changes that will come out of the rise of wearable devices, such as the Apple Watch.
Will the idea of portable clouds evolve? Imagine traveling with a group of friends with a local cloud of shared maps, links, photos, texts, etc., all accessed as part of a local, perhaps temporary cloud.
Though Matt’s article does capture a lot of the facts, one important facet of Satoru Iwata’s leadership that clearly mattered both inside the company and out was the fact that he was a developer who rose to the top without losing his passion for the community of which he was a part.
This tweet from Xbox division head Phil Spencer is just one example that shows the esteem in which Iwata was held:
Sad day for Iwata-san’s family, friends, and gamers everywhere. His passion, creativity & leadership elevated our industry.
One final link: To truly get a sense of Iwata as a person, take a read of this interview he did with his own employees, part of a series called Iwata Asks. To me, it really captures the essence of his playful spirit.
Earlier this week, Apple released the first public betas of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, and, knowing that would be the case, I cautioned MacStories readers against leaving negative reviews on the App Store for third-party apps that developers can’t update with new features and fixes yet.
Unfortunately, since yesterday I’ve already seen tweets from the developers of two excellent iOS apps – Screens and Day One – post screenshots of negative reviews they’ve received by users who are unsurprisingly running into problems when using their apps on the iOS 9 beta.
People posting negative reviews on the Apple Store because apps broke while they were running a beta fundamentally misunderstand what the point of a public beta is.
All I had to do to turn my phone into a stealth Google Photos uploader was to turn on the backup sync, then uninstall the app. Whereas one might reasonably believe uninstalling the app from the phone would stop photos from uploading automatically to Google Photos, the device still does it even in the app’s absence. Since making this discovery, I have re-created the issue multiple times in multiple settings on my Galaxy S5.
So, you delete Google Photos and it continues to upload your photos without your consent. Perfect.
Peter Cohen, writing for iMore, lays out a nice tip for disconnecting from your current network without toggling WiFi off and back on. More importantly, he talks about launching Apple’s Wireless Diagnostics, a built in utility to help you diagnose a troublesome network issue.
Thanks to Hullo for sponsoring The Loop this week. Have you ever slept on a buckwheat pillow? It’s kind of like a beanbag for your head. The hull fill supports your head and neck in a way that can’t be matched by traditional pillows.
Hullo’s features include:
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Drop what you’re doing—go and check out Hullo. Try it for 60 nights. If it’s not your favorite pillow, return it for a refund. You can’t lose!
