Apple

This week, we discuss some new details on the Apple Watch 2, an upcoming Apple TV Siri Remote app, and all the new stuff released between now and the last episode! The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.

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Almost two years ago to date, Apple acquired a Topsy Labs, an analytics company that made various products that searched and drew data from conversations happening on services like Twitter. Now, Apple has shut down the service according to a tweet from Topsy.

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Last week, I wrote an article called The Top 10 Android Features Apple’s iOS 10 Should Steal, and — surprise — it turned out to be somewhat controversial. Over 120 comments reflected a wide range of opinions on the future direction of Apple’s mobile operating system, with most commenters agreeing that iOS should take some inspiration from Android, but only for the specific features they personally liked. Unfortunately, in keeping with our increasingly polarized society, a few particularly caustic Apple fanboys decided to go crazy, personally attacking fellow commenters who liked the ideas, the author who dared to suggest them (“poor old me“), and the very concept of taking any ideas whatsoever from Android.

On one hand, I understand where the fanboys are coming from. Some people just love whatever Apple releases and does, no matter what. Others are so emotionally or financially invested in Apple that any suggestion of potential improvement is perceived as an attack on the company’s well-being. But it’s hard to sympathize with people who freak out when Apple’s described as anything less than perfect. Walt Mossberg called out “cultists” for this behavior in his article, “It’s Not a Church, It’s Just an Apple Store,” naming it the Doctrine of Insufficient Adulation. Demanding unyielding praise is nonsensical, and ultimately unhealthy for the Apple community as a whole. Simple statistics suggest that under 0.05% of our readers fall into cultist territory, but they’re abrasive enough to turn off the other 99.95% of readers we care about.

It’s important to understand that these hard-core fanboys aren’t just a tiny minority of all iOS users — they also have fringe views relative to the general population. Reasonable people can debate the precise numbers, but Android currently powers roughly 4/5 of the smartphones out there. It’s easy to credit aggressive Android device prices, but it’s clear that Android has features that appeal to people, too. From my perspective, it’s perfectly reasonable for iOS users to want some of Android’s features — especially if they don’t want to switch to Android devices. Yes, Apple’s a great company, and yes, iOS is a great platform, but they’re not perfect. Even if you don’t like Google, there’s room to learn (and borrow) from Android…

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Earlier this month, Apple made good on its promise and made its Swift programming language open source. Following the announcement, Apple’s senior vice president of software Craig Federighi did a pair of interviews to discuss the motivation behind open sourcing the platform and what the future holds. Now, Federighi has joined John Gruber on his podcast The Talk Show to further discuss Swift

Federighi opened the interview by discussing what kind of things Apple has noticed during the first week of Swift being open source. The Apple exec noted that Swift is more active than any other language on Github and that because of this, the Swift team within Apple is more engaged with developers than any other team in the company.

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Image Credit: Maurice Tsai / Bloomberg

According to a report out of Bloomberg, Apple has opened a secret production laboratory in northern Tawain to focus on developing new display technologies. The report claims that the lab, located in Longtan, has at least 50 engineers and various other employees working to develop iPhone and iPad displays.

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According to a report from Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple has recently purchased a former chip fab in North San Jose. The deal reportedly went through last week and saw Apple pay $18.2 million for the 70,000 square foot building.

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The long-running investigation into the legality of Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland has been expanded, with the European Commission now seeking additional information from the Irish government, reports the FT. This means that the investigation is likely to be extended well into next year. A ruling had originally been expected before the end of the year.

While Irish authorities had expected the case to be concluded soon, they have instead been sent bulky sets of supplementary questions, meaning it will be difficult to reach a final verdict until after the 2016 election, which is expected as early as February […]

The Irish finance ministry confirmed that the government was supplying the requested additional information to the commission. “We do not expect any decision until after the new year,” said a spokesman.

If the ruling goes against Apple, it could face a bill for billions of Euros in underpaid tax …

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Three years ago, Apple released the original Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader, a larger, faster, and more expensive version of a Camera Connection Kit component it had previously developed for Dock Connector iPads. When I tested it back in 2012, I noted that the reader was working 3 times faster than its predecessor when used with the then-current iPad (4th-Gen), and 50% faster with the original iPad mini. Since then, iPads have only gotten faster, while the Reader has stayed unchanged.

This week, Apple subtly replaced the accessory with the Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader (USB 3), which carries the same $29 price and arrives in a nearly identical box. As the parentheses suggest, the new Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader is capable of running at USB 3 speeds if the connected iPad supports USB 3 — for now, only the iPad Pro does — but it’s backward-compatible with earlier USB 2 iPads, and thanks to iOS 9.2, both old and new Readers now work with iPhones. If you have an iPad Pro, or plan to get a new Apple device in the future, the new version should be a no-brainer purchase over its predecessor, though other options (such as Eye-Fi’s excellent wireless SD cards, reviewed here) can eliminate the need for card readers altogether, even if they operate at slower speeds…

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Just (barely) in time for the holidays, Walmart.com now carries the Apple Watch Sport in a variety of colors –as long as it is either space gray or silver. The US’s largest retailer won’t carry the Watch in stores and currently the price for the Sport is the non-discounted $349-399 retail which is $100 more than Best Buy and bestbuy.com where it starts at just $249.
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Earlier this week, I wrote about the surprisingly good Motorola Moto G (2nd Gen) phone I was testing at our publisher’s request, and though I wouldn’t switch from iOS to Android, the experience made plain that even a sub-$100 Android phone is competent enough today to serve as a more capable alternative to a $199 iPod touch. I’ve since been testing the $180 Moto G (3rd Gen), which is still less expensive than the lowest-end iOS device, but is faster than its predecessor, and includes still cameras rivaling Apple’s flagship iPhone 6s models. Contrary to Apple’s marketing, Android devices aren’t all bad, and $100-$200 options from major manufacturers are now delivering much better overall value than Apple’s sub-$200 devices.

Google has spent the last few years really closing Android’s overall user experience gap with iOS, while adding and polishing some features that are either Android-exclusive — or markedly better on Android than iOS. So just like Google borrowed elements of iOS to improve Android, Apple should be doing the same. Here are the top 10 features I’d pick for iOS 10 to clone…

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It’s not too surprising that Apple’s new iPhone 6s Smart Case isn’t made to be easily opened for repairs. To get inside for its usual teardown routine, iFixit had to peel off the soft lining of the case by heating up the adhesive. It then had to remove three proprietary Apple screws to remove a metal reinforcement plate and get at the battery itself. So while you likely won’t be able to repair your new Smart Case without destroying it, we do get a look inside of the new product thanks to iFixit’s willingness to do so…
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Update 12/10: Steady Square has now released an update that removes the “Training Mode” in the app that allowed the scale functionality.

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When Apple released the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus with 3D Touch, developers quickly started to realize that 3D Touch could be used for much more than what Apple had originally revealed. It was revealed that the 3D Touch display technology can be used to create a real digital scale app, allowing users to place items on the screen of their iPhone and discover how much they weighed.

The first attempt at releasing a digital scale app onto the App Store, however, failed thanks to Apple rejecting it due to it not being “appropriate” for the App Store. There are several reasons one can speculate as to why Apple feels a digital scale app is not appropriate, but now one developer has gotten around Apple’s ban on the scale apps.

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This week we’ll get into the finale of our iPad Pro saga, talk about Dropbox’s decision to kill Mailbox, and why Apple has open-sourced Swift. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed. Thanks to Audible.com, get your free 30 day trial at audible.com/happyhour.

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Yesterday Apple released tvOS 9.1 for the new fourth-gen Apple TV which adds support for the Remote app on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch just like the previous Apple TV model. This makes setup and text input much easier from iPhones and iPads as you can use the software keyboard versus relying on swiping left and right across a keyboard, but many have wondered if Apple would update the Remote app to offer features more like the new Siri Remote for Apple TV. Apple’s Eddy Cue says the answer is definitely, speaking with Buzzfeed, and it’s coming during the first half of next year…

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Earlier today Apple surprised us with the release of its first ever Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s. The case, which runs $99, in line with popular third-party competitors, adds an extra 1,877mAh of battery power to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s. Popular YouTuber DetroitBorg has gone hands-on with the accessory and explained all of what we need to know about Apple’s first battery case…

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Apple this year introduced several major new pieces of hardware, the iPad Pro, Apple Watch, fourth-gen Apple TV and 12-inch MacBook. Like most Apple fans, the one that had me the most excited at launch was the Apple Watch. I thought Apple Watch would have a huge impact on my daily life, but 8 months in, the new Apple device that’s actually affected by day-to-day technology usage the most is the 12-inch MacBook.

I was incredibly skeptical of the 12-inch MacBook when Apple initially announced it. As someone who types for a living, I was worried about the new butterfly keyboard being less conducive to productivity than the standard scissor keyboard. I was worried that the single USB-C port would prove to be a huge roadblock in day-to-day use. 8 months later, however, I’m entirely sold on the 12-inch MacBook and think it’s the best new product Apple introduced in 2015 and I can’t wait to see where Apple takes it in the coming years. The 12-inch MacBook has renewed my faith in the fact that Apple can still design gorgeous pieces of hardware that actually improve on and fulfill a need in the market.

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Arriving with little fanfare — much like several of Apple’s recent Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad accessories — the new iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case appears to have been designed by Apple to make two statements:

1. The “smart” way to add a battery to a super-svelte iPhone is to graft it onto the back of a case like a hump, clearly identifying its battery-ness.
2. If you’re buying a non-Plus version of the iPhone, you’ll probably want to add an extra battery, and rather than building it into the phone itself or letting third-parties rake in the dough, Apple would like to capture the extra $99 for itself.

Having reviewed lots of iPhone battery cases, and assembled a popular guide to the best iPhone 6 / 6s Plus battery cases, I’m feeling very conflicted about the Smart Battery Case — it doesn’t seem “smart” at all. In polls and in comments, readers have clearly expressed that an Apple-developed solution to the iPhone’s less-than-full-day battery life is long overdue. But the vast majority of people have said they want Apple to improve the battery inside the iPhone, even compromising thinness, rather than requiring an external battery solution.

Since it’s rare for Apple to make a one-off accessory for a single iPhone, the Smart Battery Case strongly suggests that next year’s basic iPhone, too, will struggle to make it through a full day without assistance. And that’s not good news for iPhone users…

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Apple CEO Tim Cook is continuing his public support for equality with a video raising awareness for the Cerebral Palsy foundation.  The campaign ‘Just Say Hi’ encourages people to communicate and interact with people with disabilities in the same way as any other person; hence the ‘just say hi’ moniker.

In the clip, Cook uses Siri to ask how to start a conversation with someone who has a disability. Following the campaign, Siri replies: ‘It’s easy. Just say “hi”.’ You can try this on your iPhone or iPad as well. Siri will repeat the same thing.

Watch the video after the break …

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Spoiler: I like these, but they’re not my picks

2015 proved to be a gigantic year for Apple in terms of shipping totally new products and seeing services go live for the first time. Apple Watch is a brand new category for the iPhone maker, the new Apple TV delivers on long-awaited update to the streaming box, and iPad Pro is every bit the giant tablet that was rumored for so long. My two absolute favorite new things from Apple this year, however, aren’t new hardware products but instead two services that have been criticized but have made a meaningful difference in my everyday life…
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