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In this month of November I’ve been doing something that I have not done in 8 years, and for good reason. I am growing my facial hair out, and I don’t usually do this because I look very silly with a beard, as my beard is merely a partial beard (and my grandpa loves to let me know that it’s not a real beard). I’ve been doing this however because I have joined with the American Cancer Society to raise money to fight cancer. This annual event has become rather well known, and you’ve likely heard about it, or at least noticed a lot of scruffy beards, or swanky mustaches recently. Well, if you have then the idea is working. There is hope that this gesture will raise both awareness and funds to fight cancer, in particular most of these funds go towards fighting testicular cancer.
With fighting cancer in mind I thought it might be an appropriate time to re-post one of my all time favorite lectures – it’s called “The Last Lecture”. Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon, and his expertise was in artificial intelligence. Randy discovered that he had pancreatic cancer, and he decided that he wanted to live out his childhood dreams. Between the time that he recorded this lecture and the time that he does Randy wrote a book about his life proceeding, and the experience of this lecture. I highly recommend the book, especially the audiobook as he reads it, but most definitely you should watch this lecture if you have not already. Whether you watch it or not, I would really appreciate it if you would take time to donate whatever you are willing to part with right now to help fight cancer, because if not you then who?
Ok, so Apple is overly dramatic with it’s presentations, but I still enjoy them. I think it might just be jealousy as to why I think they are ridiculous… Anyways, here is their new iOS 7 Trailer, and an article from ABC.Com about the expo explaining all of there new and upcoming updates.
Apple’s iPhone, iPad Software Redesign
At Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), held at the Moscone West Center in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other company executives unveiled new operating systems, iOS 7 for i-devices and OS X Mavericks for Macs, as well as a new version of its MacBook Air and a sneak peek at the next MacBook Pro.
Although Apple didn’t announce any new iOS devices, the big redesign featuring an array of new software upgrades in the iOS 7 operating system will make existing devices seem new.
“We want to make the best product that people use more and love more than anyone else’s,” Cook said.
Let’s recap the major announcements:
iOS 7: An Elegant Upgrade
The best way to describe iOS 7’s new redesigned interface is that it looks like a crystal-clear pane of layered glass with elegant “flat” icons and features.
Simple and clean, Cook said, it is the “most significant iOS update since the original iPhone [debuted].”
iOS 7 will be available on the iPhone 4 and newer, iPad 2 and newer, iPad Mini and the fifth-generation of iPod Touch, starting in the fall. Developers can start playing with a beta version of the new operating system today.
In iOS 7, an active home screen features a new, 3D-like experience when you move the phone around and a semi-translucent keyboard. Swiping up from the bottom of the device brings up the Control Center, which allows users to manage several controls such as turning Wi-Fi on and off, opening apps, changing the screen’s brightness and using Flashlight — potentially killing off existing third-party flashlight apps.
Speaking of apps, iOS 7 sports several welcome updates to the iPhone app experience.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, announced that iOS 7 has improved Multitasking for apps — basically, separating apps that are used constantly versus apps that get occasional use — and will allow for better battery life.
Apps will now be updated automatically through Apple’s App Store.
Apps are big business for Apple. Cook announced today that the company has paid out $10 billion to app developers, and there are 900,000 apps available in Apple’s App Store, which has had 50 billion app downloads.
There are hundreds of other new features in iOS 7, including the Notification Center, enhanced Photos, Safari, Airdrop, upgrades to Siri’s interface and voice, as well as the introduction of iTunes Radio.
Airdrop, a feature that allows users to send files from one Mac to another, is coming to iOS devices for the first time, but will only be available on the iPhone 5, the fourth-generation of iPad and the iPad Mini.
iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service based on the music users listen to on iTunes, is Apple’s answer to Internet radio giants such as Pandora and Spotify.
Similar to other online music-streaming products, iTunes Radio has over 200 stations and allows users to create stations based on artists or songs, but Apple’s version also offers stations based on what others users are talking about, including a Trending on Twitter station and an Artists on Tour station.
The feature is built into iOS 7, and will be available on supporting iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad devices, as well as iTunes on Mac and PC and Apple TV.
Internet radio has become the new favorite hook of tech giants to attract new users. Just last month, Google announced it was jumping on the online music streaming bandwagon with its All Access service through Google Play.
OS X Mavericks Revealed for Apple Desktops
Previous versions of Apple’s iMac desktop operating systems have all been named after cats, but “this is the first OS update delayed due to a dwindling supply of cats,” said Apple’s Federighi, who is the chief of iOS and OS X operating systems.
Behold OS X Mavericks, which Federighi said was inspired by the California setting into which Apple was born: the Mavericks Invitational big wave surfing contest is held annually in Northern California.
Lots of new features were included in this upgrade: Tagging, Multiple Displays, Calendar updates, Safari with a new side bar, Notifications and iCloud Keychain updates, as well as the debut of Apple Maps and iBooks, now available on iMacs.
With Tagging, users can now tag files to make them more searchable. You can tag your photos or other kinds of content to group things together.
The Finder window, which allows users to search through content saved or downloaded to the computer’s hard drive, now has tabs, which can be color-coded, so users can toggle between multiple file paths and searches, like a web browser.
The new operating system also included “next advanced technology,” which meant improvement on battery life. The new system brings down CPU activity by 72 percent, meaning more “compressed memory,” Federighi said. CPU stands up central processing unit, which handles the tasks and processes currently running on a computer.
The new system can compress inactive memory to free up space for open memory. This makes things like opening documents or reopening an application happen faster.
Notifications was also given a new upgrade in Mavericks that makes it a smarter tool. Users can now reply to emails and iMessages right inside a notification. Apps that send notifications to iOS devices will also send them to your Mac now, too.
What good would all this new software be without some new hardware to play with it on?
Apple today revealed a new MacBook Air, which will start shipping today, featuring “all day battery life,” according to Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing.
That actually means is that the 11-inch MacBook Air will support nine hours of battery life, while the 13-inch is promising 12 hours of battery life.
The New Air will also include fourth generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, with a new Intel HD Graphics 5000 clip that boasts up to 40 percent faster performance for gaming and graphics intensive apps. Apple executives said the computer’s new flash storage provides speeds up to 45 percent faster than the previous generation and nine times faster than traditional hard drives — good news for gamers and movie watchers.
It will also have dual microphones, a FaceTime HD camera, a high-speed Thunderbolt port and two USB 3.0 ports.
The 11-inch MacBook Air will go for $999 for 128GB and $1,199 for 256GB. The 13-inch Air is selling for $1,099 for 128GB and 256GB on $1,299.
Sneak Peek: New Mac Pro Coming Later This Year
Apple teased a new Mac Pro computer, which is a model that hasn’t seen an upgrade in a while. But it won’t be available until later this year.
Billed as the “future of the pro desktop,” the computer’s hardware features a revamped redesign inside and out.
On the outside, a 9.9-inch-tall, black, glassy cylindrical structure replaces the familiar silver aluminum rectangle.
On the inside, Apple executives promised the new Pro will have a “unified thermal core,” a “revolutionary” system that will include the next generation Xeon Intel processors, dual workstation-class GPUs, Thunderbolt 2, PCIe-based flash storage and ultra-fast ECC memory.
In a nutshell, the new Apple computer promises to have “10 times the speed of any notebook hard drive,” Schiller said.
There was no mention of a price for the new Mac Pro, nor any mention of a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display.
I have started using this, and it’s pretty awesome… You need to have an email address for the person who you’d like to invite to an event, and so far I don’t think that facebook email addresses work. Give this a shot, and let me know if you figure something out that I might enjoy.
When iOS 5 came out in October 2011, it came with iCloud integration. In Apple’s attempt to highlight key features of iOS 5, some of the areas where iCloud shines have not been mentioned. iCloud offers a fantastic wireless syncing service which can also be linked between two people. Apple has not fully developed iCloud to share documents or photos but Apple has been able to achieve this with calendar and reminders. For example, if you are going out for dinner with friends you want yourself and your friends to have the same copy of the calendar event, which synchronises the event to both calendars. iOS 5 and iCloud can allow you to share calendar events on iPhone and iPad.
Just set up a normal event within the calendar application, registering details such as time, date and location. To invite people to the event, there is an ‘Invitees’ tab, located underneath ‘Repeat’ – exclusive toiOS 5. When selecting an email address in the ‘Add Invitees’ tab, select the invitees’ Apple ID/iCloud ID email address. If you are unsure of your friend’s Apple ID, ask them to go to Settings -> iCloud. At the top, their Apple ID/iCloud ID will be stated. Once you have selected the email and pressed done, iCloud will transfer the data to your invitee’s iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. You can add as many email addresses as you like.
The invitees will shortly, in approximately 5 minutes, receive a notification on their device which informs them of the invite. On their device, the calendar application will also show a red badge. When the calendar app is next opened, there will now be another red badge in the bottom right-hand corner. When this is pressed, a tray revealing invitations will appear. When they have clicked on the new invitation, they will see to an expanded view of event details. This includes; date, time, location, the host and others the invitation has been sent out to. The recipient will have options, located at the bottom, to submit whether they are available for the event.
When they have decided to either accept, maybe or decline the host will be able to view people attending by selecting the event in the calendar app. From here the host will be able to see how many people haven’t replied yet, how many are attending, unsure or declining. If the host was to make changes you make to the event, such as adding to the notes, all invitees who have accepted the invitation can view changes to the event by selecting the appointment in the calendar application.
This is the only official way to share calendar events on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The system could be smoother and I hope Apple add notifications of an update to an event in future software releases. It is a very handy feature to have in iOS 5 but Apple’s iCloud integration still needs some tweaking and perfecting.
I know that I’ve been blogging about the iPhone and Apple quite a bit lately, but it’s because I’m excited about the new iOS 6, and the iPhone 5. I’m writing this as my phone updates actually, so I’m still not sure what I’m getting into here. I think I’m most excited about the Maps changes, but we’ll see if leaving Google is for the best or not (I kind of doubt it will be in some important ways, but I love that it’s a GPS now).
New iOS 6 Loses Google Maps, but Adds Other Features
The arrival of the iPhone 5 isn’t the only big news for phone fans this week. Wednesday, Apple is also making iOS 6 available to anyone with a recent iPhone (3GS, 4, or 4S), iPod Touch (fourth generation) or iPad (2 or 3). It comes installed on the iPhone 5 and the new fifth-generation iPod Touch.
(Caution: Not all features are available on the older models. I’ve noted the biggest such exceptions below, but you should check here for full details.)
Apple’s Maps app for iOS 6.
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The challenge in creating a new operating system is always this: How do you add features without adding complexity?
On a tiny phone screen, that challenge becomes even more difficult. The answer, of course, is, you can’t — but few companies try harder to minimize the complexity than Apple. In iOS 6, for example, Apple counts more than 200 new features, but you’d know it with a quick glance.
Here’s the best of what’s new:
Maps. Apple, as you may have noticed, has been quietly dismantling its relationship with Google. In iOS 6, for example, there’s no longer a built-in YouTube app (Google owns YouTube); fortunately, YouTube offers a new app of its own.
And now Apple has replaced the iPhone’s longstanding Google Maps app. Apple says that Google had been steadily improving its Maps app — but only for Android phones, leaving the iPhone in the dust. For example, the iPhone app didn’t have spoken turn-by-turn directions. And on Android, the maps are composed of vector art—smooth lines generated by the computer — rather than the square tiles of pixels that you saw on the iPhone.
In any case, the new iOS Maps app offers those features — spoken navigation, vector maps — and more. You can just tell Siri where you want to go (“Give me directions to LaGuardia Airport”), and let the app start getting you there with one of the cleanest, least distracting navigation screens ever to appear on a GPS unit. The visual cues are big, bold and readable at a glance, and the spoken cues are timed perfectly so that you don’t miss a turn. You can even turn the screen off and let the voice alone guide you.
Real-time traffic and accident alerts are built in — no charge, courtesy of crowdsourced speed and position data from millions of other iPhone owners out driving.
Not all is rosy in Mapsland, though. Apple’s database of points of interest (stores, restaurants, and so on), powered by Yelp, is sparser than Google’s. There’s no built-in public-transportation guidance. For big cities, you get Flyover, a super-cool 3-D photographic model of the actual buildings — but losing Google’s Street View feature is a real shame.
During navigation guidance, you can’t rotate the map with your fingers or zoom in by more than a couple of degrees—to see your entire route, for example. Turns out you have to tap the screen and then tap Overview to access that more detailed, zoomable, rotatable map.
Flyover and the vector maps require a fast Internet connection, by the way. When you’re not in a 4G cellular area, it can take quite awhile for the blank canvas to fill in. (Navigation and Flyover don’t work on the iPhone 3GS or 4, the original iPad, or pre-2012 iPod Touches.)
Call smarts. These are some of my favorite new features. If you’re driving or in a meeting when a call comes in, you can flick upward on the screen to reveal two new buttons: Remind Me Later and Reply With Message. The first button offers choices like “In 1 hour” or “When I get home” (a message will remind you to call back); the second offers canned text messages, like “I’ll call you later” or a custom message, that let your caller know you can’t take the call now. Excellent.
Do Not Disturb is also incredibly useful. It’s like Airplane Mode — the phone won’t buzz, ring or light up — except that (a) it can turn itself on during certain hours, like your sleeping hours, and (b) it can allow certain people’s calls or texts through (people on your phone’s Favorites list, for example). You can sleep soundly, knowing that your boss or family can reach you in an emergency, but idiot telemarketers will go straight to voice mail.
(Similarly ingenious: The option called Repeated Calls. If someone calls you twice in three minutes — possibly someone who needs to reach you urgently — that call is allowed to ring during Do Not Disturb.)
Siri. Siri, the voice-activated servant, now understands questions about movies (“When is the next showtime of ‘Finding Nemo 3D?’” or “Who directed ‘Chinatown?’”), sports (“Who won the Yankees game yesterday?”) and restaurants (“Where’s the closest diner?”). In each case, Siri’s responses are visual and detailed—for restaurants, you can even make a reservation with one tap, courtesy of Open Table.
You can also speak Twitter or Facebook posts (“Tweet, ‘I just broke my shin on a poorly placed coffee table’”) and—hallelujah!—open apps by voice (“open Camera”). That’s a huge win.
Siri is also available in more languages and on more gadgets (the new iPod Touch; the iPad 3).
FaceTime over cellular. FaceTime is Apple’s video-chatting feature — and until today, it worked only in Wi-Fi hot spots. Now, at last, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and cellular iPad 3 owners can make video calls (to other iPhone, iPad, Touch and Mac owners) even when they’re out of Wi-Fi range, out in cellular land. When the signal is decent, the picture looks great. (AT&T doesn’t let you use FaceTime over cellular unless you have one of its complicated and expensive shared-data plans.)
Camera panoramas. You can now capture a 240-degree, ultra-wide-angle, 28-megapixel photo by swinging the phone around you in an arc. The phone creates the panorama in real time (you don’t have to line up the sections yourself). Available on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPod touch (5th generation), and very welcome.
Passbook. This app collects and consolidates barcodes: for airline boarding passes, movie tickets you bought online, electronic coupons and so on. The feature hasn’t gone live yet, so I couldn’t test it except with phony coupons and boarding passes supplied by Apple to reviewers. But the apps for Delta, American, Starbucks and Fandango will be Passbook-compatible almost immediately, and that should be a great time-saver—your boarding-pass barcode appears automatically when you arrive at the airport (thank you, GPS), even on the Lock screen.
Safari browser. You can now save a Web page to read later, when you don’t have an Internet connection, and in landscape mode, a full-screen browsing mode maximizes screen space by hiding toolbars. (I don’t think the third new Safari, feature, iCloud Tabs, will be as useful. It lets you open up whatever browser tabs you left open on your Mac or iPad—if, that is, they’re all signed into the same iCloud account.)
Shared photo streams. You can “publish” groups of photos to specified friends; they can view the pictures on their Apple gadgets or on a Web page. They can add comments or “like” them.
Mail. In Mail, you can indicate the most important people; they get their own folder in the Inbox, helping to lift them out of the clutter. And at long last, you can now attach photos to a Mail message you’re already writing, instead of having to start in the Photos app — better late than never, I guess.
Miscellaneous. The option to publish utterances, photos or other bits to Facebook pops up in a bunch of different apps. In the Weather app, you now see an hour-by-hour forecast for today, in addition to the five-day outlook. A new Privacy settings page gives you on/off switches for the kinds of data each app might request (access to your contacts, location and so on). Tweaks have been made to the App Store app, Reminders, Videos and other apps.
And you no longer have to enter your Apple password just to download an update to an app you already have. Hosannah.
In the end, iOS 6 is to software what the iPhone 5 is to hardware: a big collection of improvements, many of which are really clever and good, that don’t take us in any big new directions. Lots and lots of nips and tucks — that’s Apple’s motto lately.
Unlike the iPhone 5, however, upgrading to iOS 6 doesn’t cost anything. It’s free and available now. In general, you should go get it—and you sacrifice very little (a few Maps features) and gain a lot.
My blog is usually about things on my mind, which usually has to do with current events/politics. So, when I recently decided to blog about the iPhone 5 and I had an overwhelming viewership response it was one of those moments where I am faced with the reality of what people are most interested in, and a lot of times it is not what I’m most interested in. And I’m okay with that, I understand that a lot of people feel helpless about a lot of the problems in the world, and worrying about all of our problems just feels like too much.
With all of that being said I’m going to continue to blog about politics (especially the Presidential race during this fall), but I want to make sure that I do my best to find what is relatable in these stories, and I’m going to try to simplify a lot of the important information that I know people would like to hear if it weren’t so difficult to find among the 24 hour news cycle. I’m inspired by how much people move towards a good product like the iPhone – Apple has done amazing things over and over, and I feel that we should make note their achievements. In the same way, I hope to (with this blog) help people remember to make note of justice and compassion in the world. I realize that a lot of people who might have come across this message are way more interested in the video, but feel free to give me feedback if you care to.
Ok, now for the keynote address. I think that people are too critical in the world. Why do we all feel like we have to be critics? I don’t know the answer, but I’m about to be a little bit of one. This might sound expected, or like an easy critique to make, but the people making presentations during this keynote lacked the charisma and confidence of Steve Jobs. I am not trying to pile on, but it’s just one of those moments where we can remember how good he was at relating to what people wanted. They did stay rather true to his style of presentation however. I think that when it’s all said and done the presentation was fine, but more than that I liked the phone.
*Warning: this is a spoiler alert for the keynote presentation for the phone
Now my thoughts on the Keynote Address:
The Screen is bigger (which means updated functionality)
Better processing chip (A6)
Better battery (even though they’ve increased the speed and ability of the phone)
The Camera is better (I don’t care that much, but I know a lot of people do) – But Panorama is going to be an option
Noise cancellation speaker
New Connector Piece, which means you’ll have to get rid of old chargers, but it makes more room for speakers, and it’s reversible
iOS 6 – Maps is like a GPS (turn by turn) and has Yelp, and a 3D flyover view.
Safari is synced with iCloud, and you can pull up any website that’s open on any of your devices.
The is a folder in the email box for VIP email contacts
PassBook is a new app that saves information like boarding passes (and apparently a lot more).
Facebook & Twitter are now very integrated in everything that iPhone does, so it’ll be easy to post things (people will pretend like they don’t care, but this will probably be the most used update…)
Siri knows more about sports and restaurants
There is more information, but for the people who want the dumbed down version, that’s what I picked up front he talk. They also announced some changes to iTunes, and it is intended to be much more interactive and in the social media world. Ping failed at accomplishing what the update to iTunes seems to aim for. The new iTunes is coming in October.
The new iPod Nano is pretty cool, and I don’t think I can even explain it very well, so I thought I’d just post a picture:
And as for the iPod touch, it’s almost as thin as the Nano, but other than that it’s a lot like the iPhone, as the iTouch usually is. The “Clumsy Ninja” game that he played looked like a big waste of time, but a fun waste of time…
There wasn’t too much to see after that, but the Foo Fighters played a little bit at the end of the presentation, which I thought was a little random, and out of the Steve Jobs model… Oh well, we move forward, it just seemed a little desperate. I hope that they are confident in what they’re selling, and it looks like they should be. If you decide to watch the video I hope that you enjoy it.
I used to think that people who had Macs were just stubborn and argumentative, but then my computer broke down (for the 5th time) and I was forced to borrow/share my roommates Mac for a few days/weeks… I was hooked. After I replaced my old Dell with a MacBook Pro I have gotten excited when I see other people with Mac’s, and I always love to ask them when they made the switch to Mac, or when they found out how easy to use they are.
From what I understand people who do a lot of computer gaming, or programing need Windows based computers, but otherwise Apple computers seem to be the best option. I don’t mean to jump to conclusions, but I do love my computer 🙂 and I plan to use it for a long time.
Below is a breakdown done by Hunch, that looks into defining a little better the different people who use Mac’s vs PC’s. I am posting this for fun, and I’m not trying to “convert” anyone to Apple who doesn’t want one, just trying to educate a little bit. Feel free to add your thoughts with a comment.
Mac vs. PC: A Hunch Rematch
Our latest data project was to analyze how self-described Mac and PC people are different. The infographic below, designed by the talented folks at Column Five Media, breaks it down. Keep reading after the Infographic for more background and analysis, including some comparisons to findings from 18 months ago when we first looked at this issue.
Oh, and once you’ve checked out the infographic, head back over to Hunch.com to create an account and get personalized recommendations that are customized to your tastes.
Back in ye olden days of Hunch — November 2009 — we explored the differences in personality, aesthetic tastes, and media preferences between Mac and PC users. Since then, the Hunch user base and question pool have grown many times over. The 2009 report started with more than 76,000 responses to its base “Mac or PC?” question. The same question now has nearly 400,000 responses. This is all in the context of the more than 80 million “Teach Hunch About You” questions which have been answered on Hunch to date.
Mac’s a mover and shaker. Since our original report was released, we’ve seen the launch of the iPad (and the iPad 2 already), the iPhone 4 for AT&T and Verizon, and the latest versions of various computer models.
Only kidding! Most Hunch users probably know better than I do — I’m in the 25% of self-identified Mac people. Almost an equal percentage of Hunch users would prefer not to define themselves as Mac or PC people, thank you very much. But 52% are on Team PC. Surprised?
The percentage of PC people among Hunch users is a smidge higher now than we noted 18 months ago. Back then, about 48% of Hunch users identified as PC, and the percentage self-identifying as Mac was also a bit higher at 31% vs. today’s 25%. Still, the concentration of Mac fans on Hunch is more than double the amount of Apple’s estimated world share of operating systems (11% or so, according to Canalys).
Hunch users tend to think debates about operating systems are pointless, but Mac people are more likely to think weighing the merits of Mac vs. PC vs. Linux is important. Meanwhile, 13% of PC users draw a blank if you bring up the operating system debate.
Many PC people still use Mac products. For starters, it seems as if almost everyone has an iPod nowadays. Out of 95,562 Hunch users, 48% report that they either have an iPhone or are seriously considering getting one. Keep in mind that this is a long-standing question on Hunch that once answered, isn’t asked again. So we’re guessing there are many more Hunch users who now have the iPhone. Since it’s finally carried by Verizon, perhaps some of the 52% of Hunch users who weren’t interested in an iPhone have gone to the smart(phone) side.
Are these correlations true for you, or would you say Hunch data does not compute?
Just set up a normal event within the calendar application, registering details such as time, date and location. To invite people to the event, there is an ‘Invitees’ tab, located underneath ‘Repeat’ – exclusive to
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