Apple Releases 'No More Printing' Ad

In line with their other Twitter-based iPad Pro ads, another ad has surfaced in the series. This one touches on how instead of printing, you can digitally annotate a document and send it. I'm sorry, this just isn't a selling point. I don't spend $99 on the Apple Pencil to sign documents. I would use it to draw, personally. Printing is going nowhere. Most people will only take signed documents printed. And, based off my school's printing system, printer queuing isn't the biggest issue. While the Twitter concept is clever, I'd like to see Apple tackle more creative aspects of the iPad Pro, especially considering the recent Windows 10: Creators Update.

10 Minute Mail

If you've ever needed a temporary email, like for a quick verification email for an account, try 10 Minute Mail. Upon entering the site, you are assigned a randomly generated email immediately. A countdown timer starts from 10 minutes and any email sent to that generated email will appear. You can also reset the timer if you need more time. Definitely a useful tool if you ever find yourself in the situation. 

Clinical Document Architecture

In the Health app for iOS, you can now store health records. However, it requires a CDA file to work. You may ask, "What is CDA?" It stands for Clinical Document Architecture. It works as a format for health records to follow. It's written in a standard markup language, with special attributes for the medical field. It may change how medical records work forever. The hope is that it will become a standard across all doctors and hospitals. In addition, part of the intention is that this file could have legal integrity, and could be used to confirm medical information. It's easy for the patient to read on a phone. I'd like to see this take off one day, and that day may be soon.

Third-Party Screen Repairs No Longer Void iPhone Warranty

Previously, if a third-party performed an iPhone screen repair, your warranty would be voided. This changes with the condition that the issue being fixed is not because of the display. If it was a display-related issue, you will be charged out-of-warranty prices for future repairs.

Apple S'well Bottle

S'well Bottles are very popular today. They definitely have a e s t h e t i c. Well, Apple has picked up on the trend and has custom S'well bottles with their logo on them in their Company Store in Cupertino. I'm hoping I can get one if they still have them the next time I go. It comes in Space Grey and White.

Image Credit: pollo3571 via eBay

iPhone 7 Explosion Video Goes Viral

Brianna Olivas claims that her iPhone 7 Plus started smoking an exploding yesterday. In the video she posted (viewer discretion advised), the iPhone can be seen smoking and melting the case. According to Mashable, the phone started squealing next to Olivas while in her bed and her boyfriend threw it in the bathroom, where it exploded. The reason I'm talking about this is to give my stance. Obviously, after the Note7 explosions, this wouldn't look good for Apple. However, I, along with many other people in the tech community, don't buy this video. Not to the point where it was directly Apple's fault anyways. I could use my fancy AP Lang and AP Lit skills and analyze the tone of Olivas voice in the video. I even have a thesis statement. "In the video, Olivas' tone is very monotone and shows very little concern for the smartphone burning in front of her, using particular diction and imagery to describe the situation." But I take things from a technological standpoint. Could it be a one in a million chance of a faulty battery? Possibly. More likely, the phone was put through conditions no phone should be able to go through (microwaves?) or an off-market, bootleg charger was used to charge it. Who knows? Maybe people will catch on and these will be the next "1000 Degree Knife" videos. Apple will have a cause for the situation within a week.

Apple Park

Apple has announced that Apple Campus 2 will be called "Apple Park." The new campus will open in April. In addition, the theater within Apple Park will be named the "Steve Jobs Theater," in honor of the late CEO, who would've turned 62 this Friday. The campus definitely looks Apple. I'm looking forward to visiting it eventually.

Snapchat Spectacles Available Online

After being sold in popup vending machines, Snapchat Spectacles are now available online for $130. The glasses that take 10 seconds of video come in three colors: coral, black, and teal. In my opinion, these seem way more overpriced and gimmicky than AirPods, but to each their own, right? Spectacles are available online for $130 with 2-4 weeks shipping [Direct Link].

iOS 10.3 App Compatibility

iOS 10.3 has confirmed that non-64-bit apps will no longer work with future versions of iOS. As such, developers have been put on notice for this. To submit an app to the App Store, the app must be 64-bit. That has been the standard for some time. However, app developers who neglect their users and don't maintain their apps will soon find that their apps no longer work at all. In iOS 10.3, which is currently in beta, you will be able to check which apps need to utilize 64-bit. I recommend the users contact the app developer to implement 64-bit.

Reverb

With Siri making its debut on the Mac last year, third-party developers have made it so Alexa is available on macOS and iOS. Reverb is a free app that uses AWS to emulate Alexa's abilities. It's really impressive. If you're embedded in the Amazon ecosystem, this is definitely the app for you. Reverb is available for free from the iOS App Store [Direct Link] and Mac App Store [Direct Link].

iPad Pro Twitter Ad Campaign

There's a new iPad Pro ad campaign revolving around Twitter messages from real people. It's a bit funny to see how Apple interprets these tweets. It's also good to see that Apple knows iPad Pro isn't a computer. It's an enhanced tablet, but it does what it does well. Apple shouldn't try to advertise iPad Pro as something it's not, and these commercials seem to show that. The first commercial is embedded below.

YouTube Will Get Rid Of 30-Second Ads

YouTube's ad system has gone downhill. It's annoying to viewers and does little for content creators. A 30-second ad definitely won't make me anymore likely to purchase a product than a skippable 5-second ad. So, YouTube will be removing these 30-second ads in 2018 [Source: Campaign]. Definitely a welcome decision by me and many others. Hopefully, there's no crazy catch with this change.

Microsoft Office Adds Touch Bar Support for Mac

In December, I used Microsoft Excel for a statistics project on my 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. After updating, I was shocked to see there was no Touch Bar support, even though it was announced at Apple's event. I searched the topic, but no one seemed to have any information. Today, Touch Bar support is finally available. This is particularly awesome with Excel, because of how functions are used. A very welcome update from Microsoft.

Pokémon Go Adding Johto Region Pokémon

Pokémon Go, that one game that was popular for about a month, is receiving a long overdue update. So long overdue, that it may be too late to revive the once sensational game. What many Pokémon players don't know is that the 150 Pokémon available in the game aren't all of the Pokémon. These are just the Pokémon from the Kanto region, the setting of the original games. There are over 800 total Pokémon. Yeah, that brings new meaning to "Gotta Catch 'Em All." The Johto region, which will be added to the game, consists of about 80 new Pokémon. And while this is the largest update since the game's inception, I don't see it jumpstarting interest. The update will be coming later this week.

Siri Gives LEGO Batman Movie Responses

For the upcoming film, The LEGO Batman Movie, Siri will give a witty response when you say "Hey 'Puter" or "Hey Computer" [Source: MacRumors]. This is a reference to how Batman can say the phrase to his computer and get a response. There are quite a few responses, mostly summed up in the image below.

Image Credit: MacRumors

Amazon Flyers

In my opinion, I think if Amazon made their own digital flyer, it could be a great way to get customers to buy new things from Amazon. What I mean by this is a weekly advertisement, similar to Target, tailored to each Prime member by their interests. This isn't just an email lost in the inbox. This is a beautifully designed flyer with embedded coupons. Sellers would create graphics of various sizes to be put into each edition. If they have a big sale or their product deserves a spotlight in some way, larger images would be used, with accessories around it. Maybe it won't be Amazon to do this, but whichever marketplace adopts this idea first, will likely change the way weekly ads are looked at.

Watch Face Showcase: Cat Photos

My Cat Photo Watch Face

Watch faces are integral to Apple Watch, and they truly can make it feel like a premium timepiece when used right. With so many options, the possibilities are endless. Here's one of my favorite watch faces for my Apple Watch. It's a picture of my grandmother's cat. I feel this particular watch face brings meaning to the phrase, "less is more." With all the troubles in life, it's nice to just have a picture of a cat to look at on your wrist. In addition, even with the Apple Watch's small screen, the photo's finer details are still present. I personally like how the positioning is just a bit to the left, giving some space for the time, date, and weather. It also pairs well with my iPhone wallpaper for continuity sake. I hope this post inspires fellow Apple Watch users.

My iPhone Lock Screen

Catch, Swim, Play Ad

Apple has debuted a new ad for Apple Watch, called "Catch, Swim, Play." The ad focuses on the three activity rings in watchOS: move, exercise, and stand. It's short, but it still gives a basic understanding of some of the fitness features Apple Watch has. It shows people doing ordinary normal tasks, instead of just hardcore exercise. These activities all contribute toward these rings.

BeatsX Officially Launch

Today, after a super long wait, BeatsX have finally been released. These are one of Apple's less popular pairs of wireless headphones, but are still in high demand. I believe this is the first model of Beats headphones to be charged via a Lightning cable. BeatsX are available from Apple for $149.95.

BeatsX Comes With Apple Music Trial

I've always said that AirPods would be so much better if they added a three month trial of Apple Music. Apple Music combined with AirPods or Beats headphones truly is a premium listening experience, and getting people into streaming is integral to that. According to Jonathan Morrison's latest video, BeatsX comes with three months of Apple Music. I think this was a great idea. Hopefully, they also add this to AirPods eventually. BeatsX are $149.95 from Apple.

iPhone 8: Lightning vs. USB-C

Although the iPhone 8 is going to have Lightning, there have been thoughts of having the smartphone switch over to USB-C. In some ways, this would be a good move, since everything from the Nintendo Switch to your Mac would be charged with a single cable. However, the switch from Lightning to USB-C obviously shows there isn't much fidelity when we buy our cables. How long until they're obsolete? That goes for most technology, but cables are different. They outlive the products they work with and are reused. How long until USB-D revolutionizes everything again? And cable companies will be all too happy to sell you one.

BeatsX Launches February 10

If you thought AirPods took forever to launch, look no further than BeatsX, which were announced at the iPhone 7 event and still haven't been released. Today, we now finally know that they will be released on February 10. BeatsX was made as an affordable option for Beats with W1 chips. At $149.95, these are the least expensive headphones with a W1 chip as of this post. Hopefully, everyone who wants a pair gets one this time.

Apple File System

The Apple File System (APFS) is a new file system optimized for flash storage, being developed for Apple's operating systems. It also has various security features, but the big kicker is how well it will optimize and save storage. The system can create copies of items while occupying minimal drive space. This will be coming to iOS in iOS 10.3, perhaps next month.

Ok, Google Super Bowl Ad

The Super Bowl took place today, and with that comes a slew of ad campaigns. However, Google Home may have wanted to be a bit more subtle with their trigger phrase. While this ad is nothing new, many more people have the device in their homes. So, when the commercial played, Google Homes around the country would be set off. Many expressed their experiences with this on Twitter.

That @Google home trailer made my google home have a meltdown.

— Jared Feldman (@jfeldman452) February 5, 2017

The Fall of Jawbone

Jawbone has recently revealed that they have pulled out of fitness trackers (via TechCrunch). While this seems to be the equivalent of them going out of business, Jawbone plans to release a medical device in the future. However, their company's condition says otherwise. Jawbone has let go of all of their support staff, which isn't good considering how many angry customers there are who can't get help. In addition, they have an F rating on the Better Business Bureau. Certainly not helpful for investors. Unfortunately, it seems this will be the end of Jawbone, while Fitbit continues to thrive in a growing wearable market.

White Hat Hacker to FBI: "Be careful in what you wish for."

A year ago, there was a lot of controversy about Apple not creating a backdoor for the FBI to access locked information in a criminal's iPhone. Although Apple was going to be forced to help unlock the phone, Cellebrite stepped in and unlocked the device for them. That seemed to be the end of it. However, a white hat hacker has hacked Cellebrite and leaked the bypass tools they made to unlock the iPhone [Source: Motherboard]. Yeah, maybe the FBI should rethink what hackers are capable of. In a file, the hacker left this note: "@FBI Be careful in what you wish for." Truly, something the FBI should consider when dealing with the security of millions of devices.

iPhone 8 Concept

Moe Slah created an awesome iPhone 8 design concept that I think looks amazing. Most iPhone 8 concepts just show hardware, but Slah's video shows a completely new flavor of iOS designed just for iPhone 8. There's a digital contextual home button, acting as Touch ID, in the bottom left corner. The extra screen space of the edge-to-edge display is filled with detail. It might even inspire me to do my own concept designs. Anyways, the video is embedded below.

32-Bit Apps Will Not Work With iOS Eventually

If you have run a 32-bit app on your phone recently, you would've noticed a prompt that said it would slow down your phone. 32-bit apps are usually older apps that haven't been updated by their developers in quite some time. Well, in future iOS updates, they won't work at all. According to MacRumors, in the iOS 10.3 beta, this slow down message has been replaced with a "won't work at all" message. Hopefully, app developers can do some spring cleaning on their apps soon.

Image Credit: MacRumors