Category Archives: Tech News

Is Apple on track to sell 21 million Apple Watches – The Evidence

Apple, Tech News

Cultofmac had an article discussing the real possibility that Apple could sell around 21 million Apple Watches in its first year of sale. 

If that is the case then that is truly incredible. So where did this info come from?

The projections come from Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, who presented his findings at the Glance conference in San Francisco. The conference is headlined by a number of speakers, Dediu included, with observations on the impact of the Apple Watch. 

According to Cultofmac, Dediu should be correct about Apple moving 20 million units in its first year (and he usually is), this would further cement Apple as the king of the fast-growing smartwatch segment. Only 6.8 million smartwatches were sold in 2014 by 89 companies, according to a report by Smartwatch Group, with Samsung leading the pack last year.

If these predictions run true this will be another sector Apple has entered into and taking control at the top of the ladder. It also helps that Apple is selling the watch in many third party retailers as well as their own stores. However, can it last? Whilst I own an Apple Watch, I am still not convinced it is needed. For years I stopped wearing a watch and used my phone for the time instead. For Apple to continue this level of growth will be a challenge as I cannot see people changing their Apple Watch that often. 

Not for the faint hearted – GoPro Hero Footage from the Rooftops 

Apple, Tech News,

Thanks to @kevwright and @gavcuk on Twitter for tweeting this amazing video on a guy cycling across a city’s rooftops using a bicycle and a GoPro Hero. When it gets to the end, there is more. You’ll see what I mean when you get there. 

Truly amazing skill and application of technology to record such a feat. 

Take your Apple iPhone 6S Photography / Video to the next level – Editorial

Apple, Reviews, Tech News

What you see in the above tweet from myself is all coming in for review shortly. Fingers crossed it all works as advertised!

First up is a new product from Shoulderpod, the R1 Pro which is a versatile tripod rig allowing up to 3 items to be attached. I will be looking at using the R1 Pro with the Manfrotto Lumie and Rode VideoMic Go. I am hoping the R1 Pro and Manfrotto Lumie will help with portrait and macro photography and the Rode VideoMic Go will improve the video recordings. Finally, the Shoulderpod S1 is the smartphone tripod mount which I already own and have used intensively already.

Going forward I intend to use the Shoulderpod R1 Pro with up to 3 Shoulderpod S1’s attached to carry out 3 way camera shootouts.

Of course, apart from the Shoulderpod S1 which I have used for ages, the other products are an unknown so may not be as to the task. So stay tuned over the upcoming weeks when I will be reviewing these items and more phones and gadgets as usual.

If you have any questions that you would like answered, please let me know in the comments or on my social media accounts.

Photo source – Shoulderpod

More info on the Shouderpod S1 Grip and Tripod Mount

More info on the Manfrotto Lumie Range

More info on the RØDE VideoMic GO On Camera Microphone

More info on the RØDE SC7 iPhone Accessory

More info on the RØDE DeadCat GO Microphone Wind Shield

LG G5 – The specification so far

Apple, Tech News,

The LG G4 was a master craft piece of phone tech and loved mine especially the stunning still photos produced from its 16mp rear camera along with manual controls.

Then LG released the V10 which was slightly bigger and included other neat tricks including a Sabre DAC, manual controls on video as well as photos and a secondary screen.

The LG G5 is rumoured to have a snapdragon 820, its own secondary display, LG Pay, 21 mp camera, a 5.6 inch display and other goodies.

The new G5 is certainly shaping up to be a splendid phone.

The new Apple TV – Apps and my updated thoughts / review – Editorial

Apple, Reviews, Tech News, ,

So according to Engadget the Apple TV now has 2,600 apps. 50% are games and the balance are predominately in the entertainment sector.

So did Tim Cook get it right when he said the future of TV is all about apps? Maybe.

Currently, I own an Amazon Fire TV, a Google Chromecast and the new Apple TV. My TV, despite its age has WiFi via a dongle and has smart TV services. So I have plenty of choice for obtaining films, apps or TV shows over the internet.

I have stopped using the chromecast. With the Apple TV and Fire TV it offers no benefits at the moment. It also helps that I am using an iPhone instead of an android phone, although my android phone is a Huawei G8. When Amazon provides an app for the new Apple TV and BBC iPlayer arrives, that will be enough for me to unplug the Fire TV as that won’t be needed anymore.

Now to my updated thoughts on the Apple TV. A new firmware arrived a few days ago. It plugged some bugs but more importantly allowed the iOS remote app to work with it. This should have worked from Day 1. Games are plentiful and there are some good ones. Problem remains that the implementation by the developers on supporting a game controller and or the Siri Remote are inconsistent and a PITA to guess which option will work best.

I absolutely hate the Siri Remote. I keep accidentally catching the trackpad and end up skipping or jumping to another part of the film. Finding anything using the Siri Remote and the iOS app is also a PITA. Another issue is how difficult it is to watch the next episode of a TV show. Nothing works like it did on the old layout. Twice the Siri remote didn’t work as it had gone flat. And prior to the firmware update, I was unable to use the Apple TV until I had charged the remote for a short time. Now at least I can use my iPhone to operate the Apple TV via the iOS remote app.

Talking about apps, the discovering process needs to improve. It is getting harder and harder to find new and decent apps or games. The settings option’s menus have been moved and I haven’t got used to all the changes yet.

The neat stuff. During the Walking Dead, someone whispers something. I couldn’t hear. I use the Siri remote, and said “what did he say”. The TV show go back 10 second and sub titles appear temporarily to help reveal what was said. There is an audio setting that allows you to remove loud noises e.g. bangs and level off the sound. This makes it easier to here spoken words and a preferred listening mode for me. You can turn this on per film etc by swiping down on the show or film whilst its playing to reveal this option, or turn it off or on in the main settings. I also like that you can be logged in to several different iTunes accounts, even with one from the UK and another from the US.

So its ok. It needs a further update and some great apps like Amazon and BBC iPlayer.

Twitter abandoning its Timeline – moving to new method – details

Tech News

In a bizarre move, Twitter has started experimenting with a new way of displaying your tweets. Instead of the sensible time organised method, it has decided to ignore the time they were posted.

So now instead of tweets appearing in the the order they were posted, Twitter will reorganise your timeline in the order it decides upon which tweets seem more important or relevant. This is an experiment apparently to gauge users feedback. DON’T DO IT.

Watching an event or conversation unfold live is what makes Twitter special!!

If Twitter keep instigating these alienating moves, I can only see another social network benefitting. And that would be a shame.

Google Play Music Family Plans – Details of Global Rollout

Android, Tech News,

Google Play Music Family plan is arriving in the coming days on Android devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France and Germany.

Google Play Music family plan will allow you and up to five family members who can subscribe to Google Play Music – together – for just $14.99 per month. You’ll unlock all of the same features you’d get from having individual subscriptions, including ad free, unlimited access to more than 35 million songs and the ability for each family member to stream simultaneously on any device, all for one low price. Now, you can keep your listening experiences separate from your partner and get music recommendations tailored to the music you like.

For clarity only my favourites will show up in my device and not my wife’s. And a family plan on Google play will also get your family access to YouTube Red in the US.

So at $2.50 a month for each person that becomes a reasonable offering. More countries will go live soon.

Google

The EU agrees on a new Cyber Law – Network and Information Security Directive – details

Tech News,

Via Reuters

EU lawmakers and member states struck a deal on the bloc’s first cyber-security law on Monday that will require Internet firms such as Google and Amazon to report serious breaches or face sanctions.

The deal, following five hours of negotiations between the European Parliament and EU governments, was reached in response to increasing worries about cyber attacks resulting in security and privacy breaches.

The European Commission’s digital chief, Andrus Ansip, said the new law would build up consumers’ trust in Internet services, especially cross-border services.

“The Internet knows no border – a problem in one country can have a knock-on effect in the rest of Europe. This is why we need EU-wide cyber-security solutions. This agreement is an important step in this direction,” he said.

The new law, known as the Network and Information Security Directive, sets out security and reporting obligations for companies in critical sectors such as transport, energy, health and finance. Web firms will be subject to less stringent obligations, than, say, airports or oil pipeline operators.

Under the measure, Internet companies such as Google, Amazon, eBay and Cisco – but not social networks like Facebook – will be required to report serious incidents to national authorities, which in turn will be able to impose sanctions on companies that fail to do so.

It was only a matter of time for this law to come to fruition and with all the cyber attacks, companies are now going to have to be even more vigilant or face the wrath of the new EU law.

Apple’s iPhone 6S Battery Case – Tim Cook Responds – Plus User Quotes

Apple, Tech News,

Mashable caught up with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook who attended one of Apple’s Hour of Code events in New York yesterday.

“Tim Cook said he was aware of the comments people were making about the case. “You know, I probably wouldn’t call it ‘the hump,'” Cook said. Tim Cook then pointed out that the issue with cases, like those from Mophie, are that they are so rigid it takes considerable strength and patience to put them on and take them off.

“If you make this solid all the way across,” said Cook, indicating the spots where the Apple case’s embedded battery stops and you just have the soft fluoroelastomer casing, “in order to get it on, you’d find it very difficult to get it on and off.” “So the guys had this great insight to put the bend in along with making it a smart case,” Cook explained.

Cook also commented on the viewpoint that the case is an admission the iPhone 6s battery is too small, saying most people who charge their iPhones every day won’t need the case. “But if you’re out hiking and you go on overnight trips… it’s kind of nice to have,” he said.”

So there you have it. The case is a design masterpiece. It is better than the design of the Mophie case and actually those that have genuinely bought the case to use it and not mock it deliberately, actually really like it!

https://twitter.com/dani2xll/status/674503719103406080