'We wish we could say more.' →
Apple's September 9th event to unveil new iPhones and maybe a wearable device is now official. The invites are out.
Looks Like Apple Will Announce Their Wearable Device on September 9th After All
Recode's John Paczkowski, the man who first broke the story of a September 9th iPhone 6 announcement, reported today that Apple will unveil their new wearable device alongside the new iPhones. He even references John Gruber's "joke"—and seems to insinuate that Gruber was only covering his ass by later calling it a joke on his podcast—about Apple's wearable being announced on September 9th.
This makes sense. As Gruber points out in the aforementioned podcast, it's a better fit to announce the wearable device alongside the iPhones because, presumably, HealthKit in iOS 8 will be discussed again at the iPhone event, and pairing a wearable device with an iPhone is more logical than pairing it with an iPad. I tend to agree. But, I also think that like when Apple has previously announced new products entering new categories, a wearable device could take a few months to ship after it's unveiled. The original iPhone was released about 5 months after its reveal. The original iPad was about 2 months. New generations of existing devices are usually available for purchase within 10-14 days, but I doubt that will be the case for Apple's wearable.
I'm getting more and more excited for September 9th.
Did Tony die at the end of The Sopranos? →
Just a great read. If you were a fan of The Sopranos like me, you've got to read this. If I had to rate my favourite TV shows of all time right now, it would probably be The Sopranos, The Wire and Breaking Bad, but not necessarily in that order.
The Sopranos was the first, and it changed television.
Conjecture Regarding Larger iPhone Displays →
I've been meaning to link to this for a few days. Great article by John Gruber that is definitely worth a read. His ultimate prediction:
- 4.7-inch iPhone: 1134x750 resolution, 326 PPI
- 5.5-inch iPhone: 2208x1242 resolution, 461 PPI
He admits that if he's gotten anything wrong in his predictions that it might be the 5.5-inch resolution, but he's put so much effort into it that I can't argue with him.
I didn't even think that the 5.5-inch iPhone would see the light of day this year a few weeks ago, but finally the supply chain leaks are starting to come out. It seems that it's now more or less accepted that we'll see both a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone on September 9th. If Gruber's 5.5-inch screen resolution proves true, I'll have a lot harder decision than I thought I was going to have. I was sure I'd go for the 4.7-inch variant, but if there's such a huge difference between the screens—and maybe other specs—I might have to give the 5.5-inch phone a good look. It's possible that they could position it as the higher end device. The rumours also suggest that it will sell for $100 more than the 4.7-inch version.
Crazy Headline of the Day: 9-Year-Old Girl Accidentally Kills Her Gun Instructor With an Uzi →
Only in the United States of America.
Almost daily, I read a headline or article about guns in the U.S. that makes me shake my head in disbelief. It's so sad that mass shootings and other gun violence have become so commonplace as to barely register as top news stories anymore. Those headlines just seem to blend in with all the others. But, a 9-year-old with an Uzi jumped out at me. Why is a 9-year-old being taught how to fire an Uzi? In what world does that even make sense? Would the NRA argue that the original meaning of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1791 was intended to cover 9-year-olds and Uzis? The Second Amendment seems to be the defence for everything else. Because, you know, nothing much has changed since 1791. All the other laws, rights and common beliefs are pretty much unchanged in the last 223 years.
This poor little girl's parents were with her at the shooting range. They took her to a shooting range and allowed her to use an Uzi. This quote from the article blows my mind:
Ronald Scott, a Phoenix-based firearms safety expert, said most shooting ranges have an age limit and strict safety rules when teaching children to shoot. He said instructors usually have their hands on guns when children are firing high-powered weapons.
"Most shooting ranges have an age limit..."
"...instructors usually have their hands on guns when children are firing high-powered weapons."
Merica! I'm speechless.
Keith Olbermann on Mike Carey's Request to No Longer Officiate Washington Games Because of Their Team Name
Good for Mike Carey. And, I'm becoming a bigger fan of Keith Olbermann all the time.
So John Gruber Didn't Confirm Apple's Wearable Device Announcement for September
As I said Friday, I was hoping that Gruber was only joking and that some other sites, including The Verge, that were reposting his comments as fact, would be burned by jumping the gun. Well, it looks like the jumped the gun. On Gruber's podcast, The Talk Show, he confirmed Tuesday that he was joking around and everyone just took him too seriously. He did go on to speculate that he still thinks the device is coming this year and will likely be announced at either the iPhone even in September or the iPad event in October, and that he thinks it would be more logical to announce it alongside the iPhone. But, he was very clear that he has no knowledge of the announcement and did not slyly reveal it on Friday.
Bitcoin Exchange to Launch in the GTA →
CAVIRTEX, Canada's largest Bitcoin exchange:
“Honestly, I believe it’s the future of money,” said CAVIRTEX’s VP of business development, Kyle Kemper. “It’s not going to replace national currencies like the Canadian dollar, but it’s an alternative, and in terms of where it’s going, I can see great things happening.”
A Collection of Some of the Best Robin Williams Tributes
The world will miss Robin Williams.
Here's Conan just after he finds out during the taping of his show yesterday, and a 2005 appearance by Williams on Late Night with Conan O'Brien:
The New York Times obituary:
The privileged son of a Detroit auto executive who grew up chubby and lonesome, playing by himself with 2,000 toy soldiers in an empty room of a suburban mansion, Mr. Williams, as a boy, hardly fit the stereotype of someone who would grow to become a brainy comedian, or a goofy one, but he was both. Onstage he was known for ricochet riffs on politics, social issues and cultural matters both high and low; tales of drug and alcohol abuse; lewd commentaries on relations between the sexes; and lightning-like improvisations on anything an audience member might toss at him. His gigs were always rife with frenetic, spot-on impersonations that included Hollywood stars, presidents, princes, prime ministers, popes and anonymous citizens of the world. His irreverence was legendary and uncurtailable.
For a great collection of video clips from Mashable, follow this link. Here's just a taste:
[via The Loop]
Ted Lasso Is Back, And He's Still Clueless About Soccer →
I love this Jason Sudeikis character. This one isn't as good as the last video, but still very good. That mustache is fantastic!
Here's the most recent video:
And the previous one:
Apple Will Announce Their Wrist Wearable Thing Next Month, Says John Gruber →
This is pretty funny. So, I'm a few hours behind in my RSS feed, and I get to a Daring Fireball post by John Gruber, in which he states:
It looks like Motorola’s designers tried to draw as much attention as they could to the 360’s stupid flat-tire display shape.
The only way this could get funnier would be if it doesn’t even ship until after Apple announces their wrist wearable thing next month.
I read it and thought to myself, 'hmmm, that's weird. It kinda looks like Gruber just outed some inside knowledge on the launch of an "iWatch", or similar device.' My next thought was, 'let's see how fast the blogosphere explodes with that one.' Within about 90 minutes, according to my RSS timestamps (which aren't necessarily reliable), two more sites that I follow, including The Verge, had posted what Gruber said as if it was fact, and not Gruber just jokingly speculating. I really want Apple to launch an iWatch, but I kind of hope that he was just joking and they jumped the gun. That would be more fun—at least for today.
Apple Will Likely Hold iPhone 6 Event on September 9th →
Multiple outlets are reporting that the iPhone 6 will be announced on September 9th. Makes sense to me. The iPhone 5 was announced on September 12, 2012, and the iPhone 5S was announced on September 10th, 2013. My guess would be that they'll announced the iPhone 6 on September 9th and it will be available for purchase on Friday, September 19th.
However, I still don't believe we'll see a 5.5" iPhone 6 on September 9th. We're getting too close to the announcement to have not seen component leaks on the bigger model yet. There have been leaks for several weeks on the 4.7" model. There have also been several leakers and analysts warning of "delays" on the 5.5" model over the past few weeks.
We'll only have to wait 5 weeks to find out. I'm excited.
New Apple Ads
In case you hadn't heard, the Apple acquisition of Beats officially closed on Friday. Here is a video, presumably from Beats, announcing the deal. It's not a good ad. I'm surprised it passed Apple's approval.
This is actually an Apple ad—yes, I know a Beats ad is technically now an Apple ad. This one is the latest ad for the iPhone 5S. There can't be too many more iPhone 5S ads, if any, coming, with the iPhone 6 set to be announced sometime in the next several weeks.
Why I Want Apple to Make an "iWatch"
We've been hearing about the purported "iWatch" for a very long time now, and the rumours just keep heating up. I don't know exactly what Apple is going to do in wearables (nobody, but Apple, does), but I definitely want an iWatch from Apple, as I just don't like what the others guys have been doing so far in this space.
My original reason for wanting Apple to make an iWatch—specifically, in a watch form factor—was really a pretty silly one. I'm right handed, and currently wear a traditional watch on my left wrist and a fitness tracking wristband on my right wrist. So, I wanted a fitness tracker built into a watch that I could wear in place of my current watch. This would serve two purposes: I could eliminate the wristband on my right wrist, and I think a fitness tracker on my non-dominant hand would be more accurate. Currently, I get lots of extra "steps" for doing things like brushing my teeth or washing dishes with my right hand.
I've been wearing a fitness tracker of one brand or another since the original Jawbone Up was released in late 2011. After the Up 1.0 turned out to be a total lemon and the company recalled all units and refunded everyone's money, I started looking for another option. I ended up with a Fitbit Ultra that wasn't a wristband, but a tracker that sort of clipped onto your clothing or into a belt-holster-style plastic thingy. I actually found this style of tracker to be really accurate because you didn't get credit for steps just by moving your arms, but it was a nightmare to keep track of. It was really easy to have it fall off and lose it. Or you could accidentally put it through the washing machine with your clothes. I had one fall off in the parking lot at work, but the Fitbit customer service team was great and replaced it for free. I then moved on to the next generation of Fitbit, the Fitbit One. It was another clothing clip on style of device. I really like it, but it had similar drawbacks to those of the Ultra. Then, when Fitbit came out with the Fitbit Flex, I went back to a wristband tracker. It really is much more convenient to wear a tracker on your wrist, even if it's a little less accurate. I've also experimented with the Nike Fuelband SE and the newest Jawbone UP24. I got the Fuelband SE mostly because Tim Cook said he wears one (that's a pretty serious endorsement), and I liked the fuel vs. steps twist on tracking your progress. I still like the concept of Nike Fuel, but have stopped wearing the Fuelband because I don't like the hardware as much and it really sucks at sleep tracking. That's why I'm using the Jawbone UP24 currently. It's much better at the sleep tracking, it has an amazing app, and as an added bonus, I find its calories out calculation to be the best, or at least, the most conservative. I had my Fitbit trackers linked up MyFitnessPal and the extra calories that it was awarding me were totally unrealistic. After a very average day of 12,000 steps, where I didn't actually work out, but did walk a fair bit, it would grant me several hundred or even a thousand extra calories for burning more calories than my MyFitnessPal plan had allotted for me. I find that the Jawbone UP24 synced with MyFitnessPal is much more conservative and probably more accurate. With the Fitbit's calculations I would have been on pace to gain a couple of pounds per week, not lose any or maintain my current weight.
Okay, back to the iWatch. As I said, my initial reason for wanting one was a pretty silly and simplistic reason. But, as the months have wore on and the rumours have heated up, my reasons and expectations have gotten more specific and complex. The main features I want out of an iWatch are mostly the same: fitness and health tracking. I'm really not looking for Pebble's, Samsung's or Google's take on the smartwatch so far, which is mainly notifications, cameras, and apps on your wrist. I'm perfectly happy using my smartphone for those things. And for reasons including battery life, I don't need a bunch of other smartphone features on my wrist, or a smartphone-style screen that needs to be on constantly to serve its purpose as a watch. Pebble has gone with an e-ink screen to increase battery life, but that's not very attractive. So far, I think maybe the Withings Activité has gotten the closest to what I'm looking for. But, as the Steve Jobs quote goes, "people don't know what they want until you show it to them." So, maybe there is a way to do the smartwatch with notifications, but I haven't seen it yet. Google, Pebble and Samsung have shown it to me, and it's not what I want.
One day of battery life just won't cut it, either. I can't imagine needing to charge my watch every night, especially if one of the things I want the watch to do is track my sleep quality. I would want at least a week of battery life, so that I know I could at least find one time per week when I could charge it at work, while I was idle and not missing any activity. But, I'm a little anal about never missing any steps. I've been wearing an activity tracker every single day for more than two and a half years. I mean, I haven't even missed a day. I've got back up trackers. When I occasionally run into a technical difficulty with one, I switch to another within an hour. Yeah, I know, it's a little weird. But, it's a deal I made with myself about taking my fitness seriously. Not so seriously that I don't indulge. It's really more of just a cancellation effect, but it's a very important cancellation effect. If I stop wearing my tracker for a day or two, I worry that I'll break an important (to me) habit and slip back into some old behaviours that lead to bigger jeans and tighter collars.
The three main purposes I think I want an iWatch to serve for me, are:
1) Tell the time. I'm a watch wearer. I like looking at my wrist to see what time it is. I don't pull out my iPhone to check the time like many other people do in the smartphone age.
2) Look good doing it. A watch is basically a piece of jewelry, and makes a fashion statement. I have always liked nice watches. I've never been able to afford anything really nice, but I don't wear a Timex, either. A watch that looks as good as a $300-$500 watch from makers like Tissot, Esquire, or Citizen would be perfect.
3) Track my activity and health. I'll take this one even one step further. I would like the iWatch to track the standard steps and calories, but some other features would be great. too. If the technology is there to do an accurate heart rate monitor in a watch, that would be ideal. I wear a heart rate monitor often when I'm working out, and the chest strap is a hassle that I could live without.
As for notifications, I'm still not sold. Maybe Apple will do something innovative in this area and my eyes will be opened, but for right now, I'm not looking to have my wrist constantly blinking and vibrating.
The other intriguing thing that I think might be a "bonus" feature of an iWatch would be to use it for identity and security. Take Nymi, for example. It's a wristband that uses your cardiac rhythm, which is apparently unique, to identify you for security purposes, like unlocking your computer, home, car, phone. Apple could maybe do something with this and proximity, for security purposes. They've already got your fingerprints in Touch ID, and could possibly do something with your heartbeat in an iWatch. I think that would be an interesting feature that could create more lock-in to the Apple ecosystem.
But, I'd be happy with an iWatch that just told me the time, looked good, and tracked my activity, as a starting point. If it did that, and had decent battery life, I'd be an early adopter. And I'd probably update as Apple iterates, just like I get the new iPhone every year. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
'To Hell With the Actual Numbers' →
Those are the words of a former IDC researcher on their methodology for coming up sales estimates. Somehow I'm not totally surprised.
[via Daring Fireball]
Wikipedia Begins Taking Donations in Bitcoin →
Nothing but positive news for Bitcoin adoption recently, but the price has been relatively flat, and even down a bit in recent days. I don't think that will last too much longer.
With 1Password and iOS8, You'll Never Need to Remember a Password Again →
Extensions is most likely my favourite new feature on iOS8. It's going to make so many things more convenient. Lack of inter-app communication, a la Android and Windows Phone, has been my biggest gripe for the past couple of years. All that will change in less than 2 months.
Roam Mobility Gets Cutthroat With New Unlimited U.S. Plans →
I use Roam Mobility when I travel to the U.S. and it's so much better than buying a roaming package through your Canadian wireless carrier.
$3.95 per day for unlimited talk, text and data (2G data), plus 300MB of 4G/LTE data is a steal compared to what the "big three" would charge you.
Apple Allows the World's Most Popular Bitcoin Wallet Back Into App Store →
Blockchain is back in the App Store.
As I mentioned back in mid-June, Apple is allowing Bitcoin wallet apps back into the App Store. I'm sure there are many available already, and I'm not going to list them all, but here are a few others: Coinbase, Coinpocket, Bitwallet.