Apple’s Back to School Freebie- ‘Music to Your Ears’
Posted: July 23, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Back to school, Beats, FREE, Moto X, Motorola, Selfies, Wireless Leave a commentYes, it’s time for Apple’s annual back to school promotion, and this year, Cupertino is giving away a free pair of Beats Solo2 headphones to students and teachers that buy a Mac through their education program…literally music to your ears! Theverge.com notes that the headphones usually go for $200, and that for an additional $100 bucks, you can upgrade to wireless ones. The deal’s good on iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Pros through September 18th.
The latest iteration of the Motorola Moto X should roll out next Tuesday. 9to5google.com says leaked pictures indicate a 5.5 inch screen and a front facing flash for selfies. It’s also rumored to have a fingerprint sensor integrated into the bottom speaker, and there may be a version with dual SIM cards to allow for multiple numbers.
Amazon Rolls Out Home Services in 11 More Cities
Posted: July 22, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, American Home Shield, Angie's List, AP, British Movietone, Documentaries, Happiness Guarantee, Historical news archives, Installation service, Repairs, YouTube Leave a commentIt’s been 4 months since Amazon Home Services bowed, and now they’re adding 11 more cities, to cover a total of 15. Home Services allows you to not only buy things like water heaters and wall mounted TVs, but to locate someone to install them…horning in on Angie’s List and American Home Shield. Geekwire.com says they plan to be in 30 cities by year’s end. Already available in New York, LA, San Francisco, & Seattle, Amazon has tacked on providers in: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Jose and Washington D.C.
They are offering what they call their Happiness Guarantee on the jobs.
A big gift for history buffs has dropped…AP and British Movietone have added their entire historical news archives to YouTube, dating back to 1895. That’s more than a million minutes of historical footage! 9to5google.com reports that AP may try to monetize later with ads, but for now are relying on licensing deals with documentary makers and the like.
‘Amazon Killer’ Startup Jet Launches
Posted: July 21, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Cheaper, Costco, Discounts, Excel, Google, Google Drive, Jet, Microsoft Office, Powerpoint, Word Leave a commentJet, which has been operating in beta since April, officially launched today. They’ve raise 225 million in their effort to out-Amazon Amazon. Businessinsider.com reports the site promises prices 10-15% lower than anywhere else. Product prices start at about 8% cheaper, but Jet gives further discounts when you bundle multiple orders into a single shipment. The company claims not to take a cut of product prices, but just be about making money from a Costco like $50 annual membership fee.
Google has released a new plug in that allows you to open files for Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint right from Google Drive. When you’re ready to save, you can save right inside Drive, too. According to engadget.com, it works with Office on Windows machines, but Google hasn’t announced when the plug in might be available on Macs.
Apple Dominates Mobile Podcast Listening
Posted: July 20, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Mag Safe, Podcast listening, Znaps Leave a commentApple has 41% market share in smartphones, compared to 53% for Android, but when it comes to podcast listening, they crush all comers. 9to5mac.com says a report by Clammr on podcast listening habits gives Apple 82% of all podcast listening…with Android owners a distant 2nd at 16%. Even with a large selection of third party podcast apps, three fourths of users listen on Apple’s native Podcasts app.
The Mag Safe connector Apple supplies with its MacBooks has probably saved hundreds of thousands of laptops from damage, by easily disconnecting the cord whey you clumsily trip over it. Now, gizmodo.com reports a new Kickstarter called Znaps brings that tech to the rest of us. The system uses a little adapter that plugs into the Lightening or micro USB port, and another small adapter that goes on the end of your charging plug. A little LED on the connector tells you your phone’s charging. Znaps was shooting for $120,000 on Kickstarter, but has raised a half million. You can preorder a single pair of adapters for just 9 bucks.
Facebook’s Experimental ‘Watch Later’ Button
Posted: July 16, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, e-SIM cards, Facebook, Samsung, Watch Later, YouTube Leave a commentHere’s a solution in search of a problem. Facebook is testing a ‘Watch Later’ button for videos. Video is a big deal to Facebook, because it’s one of their fastest growing categories, with 4 billion views a day the last quarter. Techcrunch.com says they’re testing a little tab in the upper right corner…mouse over it, and a save box pops up. Facebook is intent on really competing with YouTube in videos. It will be great for more views on Facebook, and more of your data they can make a buck off of, but do you really want or need this? I don’t.
Apple is reported to be talking with the cell providers about launching new ‘e-SIM’ cards for their phones. The latest iteration of the iPad has the feature, so it’s not like a bolt out of the blue, but the carriers are much more protective of the handsets than tablets. 9to5mac.com reports that Samsung is also involved in the talks, so a universal embedded e-SIM card could become standard…enabling users to switch cellular providers more easily. Of course, the carriers would still put limitations on this, to avoid an exodus to competitors. AT&T and T-Mobile parent Deutche Telekom are among the telecoms involved in the talks. The e-SIM could appear in phones as early as next year.
Apple TV May Be Coming—As Streaming, Not a Box
Posted: July 14, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple TV, Cable-killer, Google, Google Photos, Google Play Services, streaming Leave a commentNow that Cupertino has jumped into music streaming with both feet, Apple is working on a ‘cable-killer TV app,’ according to theverge.com. There are several reports that they are working to cut deals with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, among others. One sticking point has been the fragmentation of local affiliate feeds, but apparently the networks are close to having rights to negotiate with Apple on behalf of their affiliates. As with apps and music, Apple is looking for a 30% cut of any subscription revenue. Disney and CBS could be first to sign, and ESPN may be included. Rates are rumored to be $10 to $40 a month. No time frame on when it might roll out.
A creepy discovery about Google Photos was uncovered by a reporter. Bgr.com reports that after trying the app, and deleting it, the reporter found his pictures were still being uploaded to Google servers. The uploading apparently takes place independently of the app on your phone, and it’s a feature to Google, not a bug. If you want to stop it, you have to go into Google Play Services and disable automatic uploads.
Walmart to Rain on Amazon’s ‘Prime Day’ Parade
Posted: July 13, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Discounts, Free Shipping, iOS 9, Prime Day, Siri Suggestions, Walmart Leave a commentWednesday is Prime Day, Amazon’s way of honoring itself on it’s 20th anniversary with a sale. Now, cnet.com reports that Walmart will jump in and offer an online sale, too…plus, cut the minimum order for free shipping from $50 to $35. the giant big box retailer also mocked Amazon online for charging $99 a year for free 2-day shipping. Walmart has been testing a $50 a year rival to Amazon Prime, but it’s for 3-day free shipping, not two. The huge retailer will cut prices on 2000 items on Wednesday to compete with Amazon’s Prime Day.
Something to look forward to in Apple’s iOS 9…you may rarely use the home screen. Businessinsider.com has been test driving the upcoming OS, and found that most of the time you can use the new ‘Siri Suggestions’ screen. You get to it by swiping left from the home screen, and it ‘predicts’ what you want to use. Basically, it is a screen of your most recently used apps, and people you’ve called or texted. I have over 100 apps on my iPhone 6, but use about 8 of them more than any others, so Siri Suggests may be the only screen I use most of the time.
Samsung Making an 11k Mobile Display-Mimics 3D
Posted: July 10, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 11k, 3D, 64 bit, Apple, iPod, Mobile, Nano, Samsung, Shuffle, Touch Leave a commentYou haven’t even upgraded to a 4k TV yet, and now Samsung is gearing up to build an 11k mobile display. Engadget.com reports that they expect to have it out by 2018. At 2250 pixels per inch, it would be 4 times higher resolution than their existing quad HD displays. The killer app? It would simulate 3D without the annoying glasses.
Next week could see refreshed iPods. iPods? Yes, Apple still makes them and people still buy them. The Nano and Shuffle may just get new pink, gold, and dark blue colors, but the Touch looks to be upgraded to a 64 bit processor…probably the one in the iPhone 5S, and Apple’s M7 motion processor. According to appleinsider.com, the new iPods should drop on July 14th.
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